Chapter Seventeen:

Second Chances

Jondy passed Asha in the hallway outside Logan's apartment. She said a friendly "hello," but seemed somehow preoccupied and more than a little sad, though she did her best to offer a smile. Sensing that something was wrong, Jondy didn't stop her or try to make conversation. She'd bet her right arm that Logan and Asha had had a little talk.

She frowned as she approached his door. Manners and subtlety, she decided as she raised her hand to knock. He answered a moment later, knitting his brow in confusion as he recognized her.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Usually, you guys just . . . nevermind." He shook his head. "Nevermind." He glanced down the hallway before stepping back to allow her to enter. He didn't see Asha. He hoped she was okay. She'd listened to his explanations with a sort of a sad smile, then kissed him on the cheek and said, "I don't know who I thought I was fooling. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be, but you and Max . . . good luck." He felt a little guilty. He hadn't even mentioned Max's name during their talk, but Asha was a smart woman, and if she could wish them well, then he hoped that she would be okay.

Jondy followed him back into his office. "Sorry if I'm a little preoccupied," he said as he seated himself in the chair. "I just got some information on a couple of doctors who appear to be smuggling medicine out of Metro Medical and selling it on the black market." It was a half-truth. He was also feeling a little guilty about Asha. He really had been a jerk.

"So Eyes Only's back in the saddle again, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He lifted one corner of his mouth slightly.

"It's okay. I'll let you get back to what you're doing. This won't take too long." She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket with two fingers and dropped it on the desk in front of him. He picked it up and gazed at the words written on it in black ink. A name and a phone number with a southern California area code. He glanced up at her in confusion.

"I took a walk yesterday evening, when Max came over here to check on you." She sat down on the corner of his desk, one leg swinging carelessly over the edge. "I got to thinking about some things, and I remembered that Max had told me about that Manticore lab tech that contacted you a few years ago. That's how Brian knew about me, too." She smiled weakly. "Thing is, if he contacted you through Brian, and got in touch with Brian through someone else, I figured that if I traced it back far enough, eventually I just might be able to find the guy." Logan glanced back down at the paper in his hand. He felt hope rising, and it worried him. Maybe Max was right. Getting your hopes up could be a dangerous thing. They'd been down this road before with depressing . . . and expensive . . . results. He held his breath, waiting for Jondy to finish.

"Anyway, I made a few calls and tracked him down. In the beginning, he did a lot of work in the genetics lab. Hell, who knows? He might have spliced Max and me." She shrugged. She'd decided a long time ago that it didn't matter if she'd been conceived the old fashioned way or super-glued together in a petri dish. Either way, she was here. "After a few years, he got booted farther up, moved to another section. Biological warfare, weird bacteria, genetically targeted retroviruses . . . you know, just your standard high school science projects . . ." She grinned, trailing off mid-sentence to let the news sink in. "Anyway, he's been told what's up. He's waiting for you to call."

Logan didn't say a word. He just stared down at the paper in his hand in silence, as if afraid that if he turned his gaze away it would vanish into thin air. He finally looked up at Jondy.

"So he's willing to help?" Jondy almost laughed at his shell-shocked expression.

"Yeah, he's willing to help. Quite willing, actually. I think he's feeling sort of guilty about--" She was interrupted by the slamming of a door in the distance. Max walked into the room.

"I got your message," she told her sister. "Although I have to say that the day Normal told me you'd called while I was out on a run and left a message for me to 'get my transgenic butt over to my man's place' is one that I may never forget." Amused, Jondy shook her head. She hadn't expected Reggie to deliver her message verbatim. "So, what's the big dealio, anyway?" she asked from her place in the doorway.

Jondy grinned mischievously. "Actually, I think I'll let Logan give you the news. I've got a dinner date." She shook her head again and straightened the collar of her jacket. "I promised Reggie a lasagna dinner. You should really teach him how to cook, you know?" she told Logan with a grin as she walked past Max. "Anyway, I've got to go. You two have fun, okay?" she called back to them as she headed for the door.

"What was that all about?" Max asked after Jondy had left. Logan dropped the paper on the desk for her to see.

She walked forward for a better view and raised an eyebrow. "So, who's that?"

"The anonymous lab tech that originally passed on information about Manticore to Eyes Only. Brian Dubetsky was the one who passed that information on to me, and Jondy tracked the guy down yesterday." Max stared down at the piece of paper. She was pretty sure that she knew what her sister had done, but she was afraid to hope. She stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned her back against the doorjamb.

"So . . . "

"So, he started out working in the genetics lab and ended up working with biological warfare, including engineering genetically targeted retroviruses." A small smile appeared on his face. It was beginning to sink in.

Max took a breath. "And you two seriously think he's going to help?"

"Actually, Jondy's already contacted him. He's waiting for us to make the next move."

Max stared down at the paper for a moment. So he seriously wants us to call . . . She thought back to their last experience with a Manticore lab tech, the creep who'd made this virus in the first place. It hadn't mattered to him. He hadn't known how much it would hurt her to stand in this room watching Logan with that goofy grin on his face and not be able to reach out and run her hand along the stubble on his jaw. Just following orders . . . She sighed. Shifting slightly to lean her shoulder against the doorjamb, she wrapped her hand around the doorframe. Her fingers just grazed the other side of the frosted glass partition. Here, here was another chance. A second chance to find a cure when so many other leads had left them empty-handed.

She lowered her gaze to the floor. What if it doesn't work out? she asked herself. Nothing changes, came the answer. This virus will still be here, just like it will be if you don't try at all . . .

But what if it does work . . .

Her eyes focused on the paper lying in front of her on the desk, and Logan watched as the smile began to tug at the corners of her lips. When she looked up at him, she was smiling in a way that he hadn't seen for months. He wanted to reach out his hand, to cup her chin and look into her eyes and tell her how amazing she was. He wanted to lean over and kiss her until the world faded away, but that was out, so he did the next best thing. He reached out his hand and touched the glass on the other side of her hand instead. They'd done this before, he realized sadly, only this time it was different.

Max looked down at his hand, realizing after a moment what he was doing. Their eyes met. God, but she's beautiful, he thought. The most singularly beautiful face I've ever seen, he'd once said. It was still true.

Stepping sideways on the other side of the partition, Max slid her right hand to the side to make room for the left, which she placed against the panel palm forward. She looked through the glass at Logan. His eyes softened. Following suit, he slid his hand sideways and lifted his other to the glass, so that they stood, palm to palm, eye to eye. Logan leaned his head forward, resting his forehead against the partition, and they stood, holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes through the frosted glass. She raised a hand and ran her finger down the glass in front of his face. It was the best she could do. Lord, but it was easy to get caught in his eyes. They shared a few moments in silence.

"Logan?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Max?"

She raised one corner of her mouth amusedly, her eyes dancing. "Are you gonna stand here all day looking at me like an idiot or are you gonna go make a phone call?" They both smiled at that, but he took her in for another moment before stepping away and reaching for the telephone.

It was all about second chances, Max decided as she returned to her apartment later that evening. She and Logan had found their own second chance, and Jondy was taking a second chance at life. She tiptoed around Milly, who had decided to take a nap in the middle of the floor, and walked to the window and looked out. Even if this week hadn't been the greatest, today had been a good day. She yawned and shook her head. Usually she didn't need much sleep, but tonight she was feeling tired. She crept past Milly again and went to bed.

When Jondy returned some time later, Max was already asleep. It was good, she thought, because she'd come to a decision this evening, and she didn't want to darken Max's day by telling her that she was leaving tomorrow.