"Logan…Logan wake up man

Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't profit from them,just like to play with them.

"Logan…Logan wake up man." I raise my head startled and groggily look around wondering who is shaking my shoulder in the middle of the night. Bright sunlight stings my eyes and I realize it is full day and Bling is standing there looking at me. My shoulders are stiff as I straighten up from my workstation. Last I remember I was working on a hack into the Manticore systems. I was close, so close but I must have fallen asleep waiting for the system to respond. I look at my screen but it is blank, just a blinking cursor winking mockingly in and out at me. Manticore has revamped their security since our attack and I am having the devil of a time breaking in. I may have to bring Sebastian in on this but I am trying to keep him out of the line of fire.

"Logan, man, you been there all night again?" I realize Bling is talking to me. I know he is worried about me and my state of mind since… well, since. "Man, you ain't gonna accomplish nothing for your girl if you run yourself into the hospital. You need some food and some rest and a shower wouldn't hurt. "

"Bling, I don't have time. If she's alive and in there I have to get her out. She needs me."

"Man, I know how you feel but you ain't doin' no one any good this way. Get your skinny ass into the shower while I make you some food. Then we'll talk about plans." Bling is determined I can see. If I don't go along he is more than capable of dragging me into that shower himself and afterwards stuffing food down my throat. He doesn't understand that everything tastes like ashes to me now, that all I care about is finding Max.

I give in grudgingly knowing that the sooner I stop arguing with him the sooner I can get back to my search. As I head into the shower I smell the scent of frying bacon and coffee brewing and resign myself to forcing down the food when I come out.

I shower quickly and dress, pulling the exoskeleton on first. I am determined to use it as much as possible, to build up the muscles in my legs so that when the time comes to get Max I can participate fully. Bling nods approvingly as I enter the kitchen freshly showered and shaved.

"That's better, man. Now sit and eat with me and let's talk." I join him at the table and start to eat the enormous plate of bacon and eggs he's placed in front of me.

"Tell me what's going on, man. When you first came back you told me Max was dead, that she was shot in the heart. Now all of a sudden you're on that computer night and day trying to find her. What's the deal?"

"You're probably going to think I'm crazy." I tell him. "It started a few days after I came back. I started having dreams at night, dreams about Max."

"It's only natural for you to dream of her," he says gently. "You loved her. A man doesn't get over that in a day or two." I briefly wonder what lost love he has had in his life to speak so knowingly of the feeling, then decide if he wants me to know, he'll tell me.

"Yeah, but these dreams were different, Bling. I mean I wasn't just dreaming of her, of the times we shared. " I pause then go on. "Did I ever tell you about the dream I had when I was unconscious in the hospital and Max was transfusing me?" He shakes his head no.

"I had on a tux and she was dressed in this incredible silvery white dress. She was the most beautiful… anyway, we danced. We waltzed to 'Valse Triste' by Sibelius. She asked me to never let go and I promised I wouldn't"

"Nice dream but…?" he doesn't understand yet.

"The thing is, I'm positive Max had the same dream. That we were together somehow, sharing the dream. When she came to see me I was humming the music and she gave me the strangest look and said to me 'that's the music' I know she meant from the dream even though she tried to pass it off as something else." Bling is silent for a moment then slowly says.

" My momma told me something once. About how sometimes, if you truly love someone and they love you back there's this connection; that you can almost read each other's minds sometimes. She said she had that with my daddy, that she couldn't explain what it was or how it was but that she knew it was there. She said it only happened once in a while but that it was real. She swore by it. And my momma was a very wise woman."

I nod slowly glad that Bling isn't about to have me locked up somewhere as a raving lunatic.

"The thing is Bling, these dreams I 've been having feel the same as the dream I had in the hospital. Like they're not really dreams, more like I'm somehow connected to Max. And if that's true then she's not dead, she's still alive."

"Then you should be happy man. All you have to do is find her."

"Yeah, but if she's alive, Manticore has her. And from what Lydecker said she's in even worse danger. At least with him in charge she was relatively safe. Reprogramming yes, but no mortal danger. But this bitch who's in charge now sounds like a psycho. Lydecker doesn't know her agenda and I'm worried about her plans for Max. She killed her sister in some sick experiment; what if she plans the same for Max? I have to find her and get her out." I start to rise from the table but Bling stops me with a hand on my arm.

"Okay, Logan, I believe you. There's always been something between you two even when you were both too stubborn to admit it. But you making yourself sick trying to do this alone won't help."

"But don't you understand?" I cry desperately. "She needs me. At night I hear her calling out to me, asking me to help her. I have to get to her, I promised her."

"You'll get to her. I have faith in you. But you gotta do it smart. And maybe there is something you can do for now to help her." Bling gives me a considering look. "If what you think is true and you do share some kind of link with her she should be able to get your feelings back too. Your being all desperate and frantic won't help her if those are the feeling's she's getting. You need to try to let her know that you've heard her and aren't giving up on her. You need to let her know you love her. Bet you never told her that, did you?"

He knows me too well. I nod. "So how do I do that, Bling?" I'm desperate enough for anything at this point.

"In your dreams, man. " He smiles at me. "Your link seems to be through dreams. I've heard you can control what you dream if you concentrate on it before you sleep. Maybe you need to give it a try."

Now he sounds crazy but what the hell. I have nothing to lose and maybe it will work. I have to try. I nod at him. Looking down I realize I've finished the plate of food. I feel better, stronger than I have in days. I feel hope.

"Thanks, Man." I place my hand on his shoulder. He shrugs it off. "I didn't do nothing more that feed you and listen to you."

"You did way more, Bling. So what do you say to some pt? Maybe if I get physical for a while I'll have some new inspiration when I go back to my hacks." He rewards me with a smile and a nod and we get up to head for the workout room.

"Logan, there's one more thing I gotta tell you man." I look at him waiting." Your girl is special to me too. When you find her you better plan on counting me in on getting her back." Our eyes meet and I reach out to take his hand. We shake and in that moment I fell that much less alone. I have Bling to watch my back and that's a good thing.

It's night now, sometime after midnight and I reluctantly close down my system. I've made progress and I think I have found a way to get into the Manticore systems through a back door. I'm going to take a break and try in the morning because it is going to be tricky and I don't want to get caught. I need all my faculties on full alert when I try.

I may be crazy but I'm going to try Bling's idea about communicating with Max tonight. It's worth a try and I have nothing to lose. I walk into my bedroom and get myself ready for bed. Before I get in bed I reach over and start a CD playing. Sibelius, the music from our last shared dream fills the room.

As I lay in my lonely bed I try to empty my mind of all thoughts except those of Max. I go back over every time we were together from that first time I saw her to the last. Soon I am floating in a sea of images of us together. I think of the good times ands the not so good times. Max mad at me over my obsession with saving the world, laughing with me about her friends at Jam Pony, sitting with me while she endured her seizures, walking with me on the beach, riding with me on her Ninja...

The music shifts into "Valse Trieste" and I find myself alone in a golden haze. I look around and I see a dim figure coming towards me. As it gets closer I see that it 's Max. She is dressed in her black catsuit and her face looks drawn and tired. She reaches her hand out to me but our fingers don't quite touch.

"Logan." she whispers. "Logan is it really you?"

I take a step towards her holding out my hand. "It's really me, Max. " I say. Our fingers touch and I clasp my hand around hers pulling her closer.

"Logan. Is this my dream or yours?" she asks echoing my words of that other time.

"It's ours, Max." I tell her pulling her into my arms. She feels so fragile resting there her head on my shoulder. "I'm here Max. I'll always be here for you."

"Promise?" she whispers.

"Promise." I answer her. "You have to hold on until I can find you and get you out. Don't give up on us, don't give up on you."

"It's hard, Logan. Zack is dead you know. They gave me his heart." Tears are falling down her cheeks. I am stunned by her words and don't know what to say other than,

"Max, I'm so sorry. "

"She says he killed himself for me. So I could live. I can't bear it, Logan."

"Max, he loved you he wouldn't want you to give up. If he really did kill himself for you that's all the more reason you have to hold on and fight them. "

"I'm trying, Logan." I hug her closer wanting to give her my strength and my love. We stand there for a few moments and she turns her face up to me. I reach down and gently kiss her. She clings to me for a moment and then the music starts to fade. As it does she pulls out of my arms.

"I have to go now, Logan. Come back to me again." She is fading away as I watch.

"Every night, Max. In your dreams."

TBC