I meant to post this weeks ago, before I went on vacation, but ff.net went down. I have up to Chap 17 writen, but we'll see what kind of response I get to what I post. Hope you enjoy.



Chapter 15:

"God, I'm bored!" Max moaned for at least the fifteenth time in a half hour. Logan's finger's fumbled on the keys of his laptop. He didn't have the slightest idea of what he was still doing here. Max hadn't shown a single sign of any after effects of her seizure, she was back to her normal bitchy self. He should be back at his quiet office, working on next months issue, with a light Chopin Suite in the background.

Instead, he was sitting in the floor in Max's living room, his laptop set up on a messy coffee table, a trashy talk show about transvestite love triangles serving as his background noise. The TV was so blaringly loud that anyone in the house could hear it, even if they didn't have enhanced hearing to do so. Now, unless Max decided to stray from tradition, she was going to go get food, and then come bug him about what he was working on.

"I'm going to go get something to eat." Max said as she pushed herself off the floor she had been stretched across. "You want anything?" She offered as she passed him.

"That's quite all right." He answered as he deleted the last line that he'd written. He was going to blame his complete writer's block on the unstructured environment, but he knew deep down that he could have been in solitary confinement and he still wouldn't feel like writing this ridiculous piece. He could hand it off to one of the junior reporters that were just begging for a break, but in reality what else did he have to do? With a small smile that was meant only for him self, he saved the work on a disk and opened up an Internet search engine.

"What'ya doing?" He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and prayed that she was less predictable than this when she was on a mission of international security. Max sat down on the couch, a bowl of favored pretzels in hand, and leaned over his shoulder to look at the screen. Logan tried another set of commands, and narrowed his eyes when the 'Access denied' box flashed onto the screen.

"Just some basic research on someone I'm interviewing next month." He answered calmly as she leaned farther forward. The ends of her hair grazed his neck and made him jolt.

"It looks like," Max said matter-of-factly as Logan recovered enough to type in another attempt. "You are trying to access someone's financial records. Do tell." She said mischievously.

"Prime Minister Donovan."

"Nice guy." Max said as she threw a handful of pretzels in her mouth. "He insists that I come to dinner next time I'm in the UK."

Logan arched a brow. "You know Richard Donovan?"

"You remember back about eight months ago, his son and daughter got kidnapped?"

Logan nodded and then grinned. "One interview had the daughter saying that the lady who saved her jumped from a building three stories high."

Max has no choice but to smile back. "Sweet girl. She didn't like the fact that we were swinging from a cable off the bottom of an helicopter flying over the Thames, but I guess if I wasn't wearing a harness, I would be too."

"Everyone discounted that story as an overactive imagination triggered by stress." Logan commented thoughtfully.

"People only chose the believe what they want to believe, what they're ready to believe." Max took her eyes off from the screen to glance down at Logan. She was surprised when she found their faces inches apart. She sat back in the couch, disturbed, and suddenly quiet.

"Do you always manage to fly three feet under the radar?" Logan asked oblivious to her change in mood.

"Until now at least." She said with more bitterness than she had meant to.

Logan nodded, barely fazed by Max's words. "If you would have just been nice to me to begin with, this might have never happened." Max's mouth dropped open when he smirked. "Does that teach you anything?"

"Leave no survivors?" Max smiled. "Thanks for the free lesson."

Logan simply stared. "Right." He stretched the word out into several syllables before turning back to his computer.

Max sat back in silence a minuet, watching Logan as he went back to work. She thought the most endearing thing about his working was the way he typed one handed as he took a sip from his coffee mug. From what she could tell, the security was higher than he had thought it would be, since he scowled every time he got the 'Access Denied' screen.

"Damn." He muttered as he tried to completely bypass the password, usually his last attempt because it was the easiest to trace. Even that didn't work. Either he was losing his touch, or they had upped security recently. Chances were the latter. When he noticed his coffee mug was empty, he decided to take that opportunity to stretch and get a refill.

Max flipped off the TV and leaned forward on the couch again. "Mind if I give this a try?" She asked as Logan stood up.

Logan looked at her somewhat skeptically. "Do you know how to use it?" She seemed to be the more in your face, talk or die, kind of person that would have very little use for computers.

Max smiled demurely. "I think I'll manage." She typed slowly and deliberately, without the practiced grace of someone who used computers a lot.

He just reached to doorway when he heard the TV turned back on. "Give up already?" He questioned, trying to keep from sounding smug.

"I'm done." Max said evenly, crossing her legs. He shook his head. For what she did for a living, she wasn't very persistent.

She was still in the same spot when he walked back from the kitchen. He was lucky he was sitting on the floor when he looked at the computer screen. In those thirty seconds it'd taken him to walk to the door, she'd managed to hack the bank of England, when he'd been at for a half hour with no success. "How…what?" Logan sputtered, thinking his eyes were playing some sort of cruel joke. There was no way, simply no possibility that she could have pulled that off.

"I also reconfigured your hard drive to make the partitioning more efficient." Max said with a distracted grin. "I'll be ready in a half hour. You're taking me up to Seattle, and your going to find me something to do."

Logan heard her run upstairs before he even realized what he'd agreed to. 'God help me.' He thought as he tried to figure out how Max had done what she did.


"I'd rather die than get in that car." Max stated firmly as she and Logan walked out the front door of the house.

"Well, chances are I'll die if I get into your car with the way you drive." Logan shot back while Max locked the door.

"Stop being a pansy, Logan. I've only been in a handful of accidents, and most of them weren't my fault anyway."

"Just let me drive and we'll be okay."

"You think your going to drive Ramon?" Max snorted. "You must have eaten lead paint as a child."

Both of them saw Krit's Corvette still parked in front of the garage at the same time. "Got a key for it?" Logan asked.

"No. But I can hotwire it in less than sixty seconds." Max grinned as she rushed towards the Corvette. Krit might be a little freak ninety nine percent of time, but next to Ramon, he had about the nicest car in the family. Max grinned as she lay across the seat and saw the small piece of paper taped over the spot where you gained access to the wires. 'Get the hell out of my car, Max.'

Max didn't even bother to take the note off as she pulled out wires and began sorting through them. Within seconds the engine purred to life. "All yours." She said as she slid over to the passenger seat.

They were about halfway to Seattle, complete with Max fiddling with the radio, going through every inch of the car, and criticizing how he drove when Max finally though to ask what they were going to do.

"I have no id…" Logan trailed off as the grin spread across his face.

"What?" Max asked warily.

"It's a surprise." Logan took his eyes off the road for a minuet to glance at Max. "I think you'll like it though."

"Tell me." Max demanded, to which Logan's grin spread. "Just so you know, I've killed before, and I'll do it again should the occasion arise. If this involved publicly embarrassing me, history will repeat itself."

Logan only hoped that what Jhondie had said earlier applied to all of them.

Logan parked the Corvette a block away from his destination, knowing perfectly well that the place was going to be packed, seeing as it was one of the last ones left in the city. "Come on." He said to Max.

She was silent, walking down the street in step with Logan, but it was easy to tell that she was unsure, almost nervous about what was going on. Then he knew the instant she realized where they were. Her shoulders tensed and he was pretty sure that he was screwed. "The movies? You brought me to the movies?" She asked quietly.

The Classic Six was one of the few places left in Seattle where you could actually see a movie and not have to take a baseball bat into the theater with you. It had six screens, three being used for pre-pulse favorites on a regular rotation, and three being reserved for whenever Hollywood deemed in necessary to produce a new film, which wasn't very often. So if you wanted to see a movie, your best bet was going to be to see a classic.

"Yeah. Jhondie mentioned that you guys hadn't ever gotten to go to one, and I know how many movies you watch…" Logan shrugged. "I thought you might like to check one out."

Max stared at the long line of people awaiting their tickets. "You brought me to the movies." She repeated. Logan was immensely relieved when he saw the smile bloom across her face. "I've always wanted to go to one. At first it was because we weren't allowed, but after that it was pure unmotivation. Wow…I don't know what to say."
"Max…speechless. Someone call God, I think hell froze over."

"You don't have time to make any calls. You're taking me to the movies." Max said as grabbed Logan's arm and drug it towards the long line behind the ticket counter. It was a basic fact that the only reason Max was holding Logan's arm was because it was attached to his body, which was where the wallet was.

"Welcome to the Classic Six." The adolescent teenage said in a monotone. "How can I help you this afternoon?" It looked and sounded like the guy was on the fifth hour of an eight hour shift, and the below minimum wage pay he was getting just wasn't doing it for him.

"What's showing?" Max asked practically bouncing. The ticket seller testily pointed to a sign over his head.

Max glanced at him helplessly. It was kind of scary that a person who could hack into the bank of England in less than thirty seconds couldn't decide what movie she wanted to see. "We'll take two for "The Silence of the Lambs." Logan said.

They stocked up on food, Max insisting that she would not be able to make it two and a half hours with just about one of every food the concession counter carried. It took both of them to carry it into the theater.

They were luckily about fifteen minuets early for the show, so it wasn't too terribly hard to get semi decent seats. After settling back in her seat, Max immediately dug into her Snow Caps and silently tossed them into her mouth. Logan was about to tell her that it wasn't polite to put your feet up on the chair in front of her, but hell, it was her first movie, she could do whatever she wanted.

The movie theater started to slowly fill, everyone from older men and women who were probably around when 'Silence of the Lambs' was first released to young teenagers that weren't there for the movie anyway.

Max was talking a mile a minuet, practically jumping up and down in her seat as the lights dimmed. Logan just smiled, watching her as she leaned forward in her seat as they announced where all the exits were. He was glad he brought her here; it was certainly a learning experience watching Max see her first movie way into adulthood. She looked like she was five and being distracted by a ball of tin foil. The usual tough wall that surrounded her was dropped, however momentarily, and Logan planned on enjoying it.

"Hey, girlie, put your feet down." The high-pitched voice hissed at Max from behind. That relaxed innocence that Logan had referred to melted away in a heartbeat. She narrowed her eyes and deliberately uncrossed and crossed her ankles on the chair in front of her. Logan had to stifle a laugh as Max loudly slurped a sip out of her soda.

Jodie Foster jogged through the woods outside of Quantico when the woman who must have had suicidal tendencies decided to bother Max again. "Hey, girl." The woman leaned so close to Max that she could feel her breath on the back of her neck, which was just truly disgusting. Logan was pretty sure Max snapping her neck would ruin the mood that they had going a few minuets ago. "Move your feet, I can't see the screen."

"I bought my ticket, I can put my feet wherever I damn well please." Max shot back, and several heads turned.

"Look, I'm just trying to enjoy the movie, and your huge feet are preventing that from happening." Max turned around in her chair, ever so slowly, and faced the woman. She was probably late thirties, early forties, a mass of gray hair teased and sprayed so that Max could throw a brick at it and chances were that hair still wasn't going anywhere. The lady was complaining about her feet, well the man behind her probably couldn't see over her hair, either. She was your classic white trash that resembled a poodle more than anything. Max did the only sensible thing she could think of.

Logan just about died laughing when Max, again slowly and deliberately, threw a handful of popcorn at the irritating woman. She let out a little screech as she picked particles out of her hair.

"You little bitch!" People weren't watching the movie any more; they were watching the soap opera going on three rows from the top.

Max grinned wickedly as she turned around in her seat and returned her feet to the top of the chair. Logan was covering his face with his hands, suppressing laughter as best as he could. She caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, but it was already to late. She started to turn just as she felt the ice-cold liquid hit the top her head, sliding down her neck, back and face. She heard Logan's quick intake of breath, and then the final straw was when the piece of ice slid down the front of her shirt and got caught in her bra. The bitch was dead.

Logan was already grabbing for Max as she spun in the chair, halfway over the back, when he managed to nab her around the waist and pull her back. She landed kicking and squirming in his lap, and he grabbed her wrist, wondering where exactly she'd managed to hide the knife that she'd somehow gotten in her hand in the blink of an eye. "Let me go." Max hissed, desperately trying to pull herself off of Logan's lap. "I'm going to gut her." She purposely raised her voice projecting it towards the woman who had just spotted the knife and now was shrieking hysterically that Max was going to kill her.

Sadly, Logan believed her, and as much as he hated hurting women, he applied pressure to her wrist and her fingers jerked, dropping the knife. Logan grabbed it before she could make another swipe at it, and shoved it in the bag of popcorn as a manager quickly walked down the aisle towards them. Speaking of the woman, she was currently screeching and running as fast as her cellulite legs could carry her away from this hissing Max.

"Is there a problem here?" The manager asked warily approaching the pair. He looked afraid, and had reason to be, since Logan was still basically holding Max down.

"Nope." Logan said with a false grin. Max somehow managed to punch him in the stomach and the smile became very tense and he spoke again. "We're all good here."

"Fuck this! I'm going to kill the bitch!" Max shouted into Logan's shoulder as he tried to muffle her words.

"She had a knife!" Some random audience member spoke up. The din that had overcome the room when the woman had dumped her coke over Max's head came to complete silence as the manager assessed Max.

"I think we're going to have to ask you to leave," When Max stilled, it was much more scary than when Logan had barely been controlling her.

"And why might that be?" Max asked, sitting up slowly. She was still in Logan's lap only because he didn't trust her enough to let her go.

"Umm…you brought a concealed weapon into the theater and you caused a disturbance to the other patrons." He sounded like he was reading it straight out of a manual. That and the fact that he wanted to get far away from this psycho woman as soon as possible made him forget his people skills.

"The concealed weapon, as you call it, I have a permit for. I'm a government agent, and I must be armed at all times." Max shot back annoyed. "Want some ID?"

"Th-that's okay, I believe you." She could have claimed to be the Pope and he would have said the same thing.

"Then what's the problem?" Max asked dramatically, as if trying to attack someone with a knife was a common thing. Of course, in her life it really was.

"Max," Logan said slowly, reading the young manager's expression carefully. "Let's just go." This guy was getting ready to call the police, and that would just be interesting, explaining to Lydecker why someone who was supposed to be speaking to shareholders was arrested in a movie theater in the middle of the day. The manager shot him a relieved look, glad that he was lending a hand. In reality, it was kind of funny watching Max flip out on people, especially since this was where she ended up.

Max shot daggers at Logan with her eyes. "I want to watch the movie, Logan." She hissed menacingly.

"We'll rent it." Logan said quickly, letting go of his hold from around Max's waist, but still watching her carefully. "Let's just go."

Everyone stared at them as they gathered their stuff. Logan had his hands full of candy. When they started to walk down the aisle and Max saw the dozens of pairs of startled eyes locked on her every move, she had no choice by to lunge forward and yell "Blah!" At least two people yelped and countless others jumped out of their seats. Logan grabbed Max's hand and dragged her down the aisle before she could send any more people on the short trip to the therapist.

When they both pushed through the glass doors into the humid afternoon air, their hands still linked from Logan dragging Max out of the theater. Both their faces were sober as Logan quietly spoke. "I have never, in my life, been kicked out of a place before."

Max managed one choked sound as she shoved her wet and matted hair back off her face. "This isn't funny at all."

Max turned her head to look at Logan. Logan turned his head to look at Max. When their eyes locked they stared for a moment before both burst into hysterical laugher. They had to stop walking, Max leaned weakly against a light pole, Logan against her shoulder as they giggled uncontrollably. Max's sides started to ache and Logan was short of breath when they finally calmed down enough to function.

"Oh god, I left the bag of…" Max suddenly trailed off as the manager walked out of the theater. He spotted them immediately and held up the bag of popcorn with two fingers, as if it was poisoned.

"Hey!" He called over. "You forgot your knife." Logan watched a sector policeman who had been standing at the end of the street on his patrol look up. This couldn't be good.

"Oh good." Max said as she started to walk forward. "Now I don't have to go look for it." Logan jerked Max back by the hand he still held, and over her yelp of protest, he started to drag her towards the car that was parked down the street. "Logan! I need to go get my knife? What's your problem?"

"You were carrying a concealed weapon, and even if you have a permit for it, they'd call Lydecker and you'd have to explain why you were at the theater in the middle of the day." Logan hissed. Max acknowledged this and stopped fighting him, falling into step beside him. When Logan started to pull the keys out of his pocket and unlock the car, Max pulled him away, quickly backing into an alley. "Wha--" Max shot him a look that cut him off. She sensed something he didn't. She shoved Logan against the wall, pressing her bodies into his, blending them into the shadows.

Max's mind, which had previously been thinking of escape and evade, simply went blank as her eyes met Logan's in the shadowy darkness. It was suddenly very quiet, neither of them was sure if it was just their imaginations or what, but it was silent, eerily so. Logan frowned slightly, as if he was trying to talk himself out of something.

Max knew she should shove him away, she knew it was a mistake, that she didn't want this to happen. Well, at least she shouldn't want it to happen. But when Logan's hand came up to brush across her jaw, she didn't shove him away, but slightly moved forward, suddenly wanting him to touch her more than she wanted to breathe.

Logan didn't know what he was doing. He was just waiting for one sign from Max that she didn't want this, and he would stop. Instead, she leaned forward. And that was when he knew he was lost, helplessly lost.

Max's face instinctively tilted back as Logan lowered his own. Max had been through a lot of things in her life, but that endless amount of time, her stomach was jumping in anticipation. His lips brushed against hers in that first tentative kiss, as if he was asking for permission. And that was what made her want to melt into a weak puddle at his feet. If he'd been demanding, then she could have brushed him off with one flick of her wrist, but the gentleness that still carried such intensity broke down all of her barriers and had her arms rising to lace around his shoulders.

Logan was startled when Max suddenly shoved him back. "Get off me." She muttered as she stalked out of the alley. Logan followed her completely thrown off. She hadn't exactly been fighting him off, and unless he was terribly mistaken, she'd responded quite well, thank you.

"Max?" Logan called up to her. She was walking in quick jerky steps, her arms crossed as she stared at the ground. "What's the matter?" 'What'd I do?'

Max took three more steps before suddenly whirling to face Logan. "What the hell do you want from me?" She practically shouted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Logan, in contrast, kept his voice calm and his thoughts collected.

"Is this about your article?" She raged. "Are you just trying to kiss my ass so you can get a interview out of me?"

Max let out one startled gasp when Logan shot forward and grabbed her arms. "Listen to me now, and listen to me closely." His voice was still that deadly quiet that sent a shiver down Max's spine. "This has nothing to do with some article. Nothing at all, and if I recall correctly, I wasn't kissing your ass, I was kissing your lips, and if I get my way, I'll do it again. Don't even try and pass what just happened off as me using you, because both of us know it's more than that." Logan let go of Max's arms and leaned back slightly. There was still fire behind his eyes, but Max now knew everything she needed to.

"Good answer." Max said. In one quick movement, Max cupped her hand around Logan's neck, dragging his face down to hers. He was startled, thrown off balance as Max fused her lips to his. When he stumbled forward, they knocked into the Corvette parked behind them, and Max knocked her elbow into the side view mirror, but her gasp of pain quickly turned into a moan of pleasure when Logan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

It took them a while to actually let go of each other long enough to get into the car and start the long ride back to Max's house. It was especially longer because of having to pull off onto the side of the road every three miles when Max attacked him again.

This was going to get interesting.