'Canada's beautiful this time of year.' Max drawled as she stopped her motorbike. Joshua climbed off it and scratched his head in bewilderment.
'Why Max and Joshua in Canada?' He asked.
She shrugged. 'For a break. Now. Shall we go find a place to stay or what? Alec paid me back the money he owes me, so we can afford somewhere pretty nice.'
They found a hotel that suited Max's requirements, and they got adjoining rooms. Joshua went straight to sleep in her lap. Later that night, she got up, and left him on the couch. She left the room and headed for the lake outside.
She found a rock and sat down. She took a Tryphotan for her seizures, as her hand was shaking. She couldn't stop thinking about the past. Her whole life.
Being an X5, at Manticore, with her hair shaved off, training to be a soldier. Starting as X5-452, and then becoming Max Guevara. Meeting Logan and getting wrapped up in Eyes Only. Original Cindy. Sketchy, Herbal Thought, Normal. Lydecker and Asha. Going back to Manticore after getting shot, and all those desperate attempts to escape. The horror of finding out Alec was trying to mate with her! And finding Joshua in the basement. All these people who she had come across in her short but eventful life. How had it all gone so wrong?
She couldn't shake the image of Logan's angry eyes away. Just the thought of not being able to return to him was enough to make her sick. Not seeing him at all was worse than not even being able to touch him.
Then she returned to the hotel to find Joshua up and about. He stopped in his tracks when she entered. Then he said 'Max sad.'
'Yeah, I know. But it'll soon pass. I'm gonna make some money, then find this damn cure.'
'Logan and Max- that's the plan?'
'I don't know what the plan is anymore.' She sighed, and locked herself in the bathroom where she began to cry silently- for the first time in her life.