Title: E r a s e a n d R e w i n d
Author: Mysticalmyst
Email: ochbas@msn.com or daenyte@yahoo.com
Spoilers: Medium is the Message, Bit of Braniac and Borrowed Time (Partial Spoilers)
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Don't Sue!
Rating: PG13 (Just to be safe)
Summary: This is the sequel to 'You Complete Me'. You don't have to read it (but I'm not stopping you ;). I noticed there was hardly any M/L fics about, so I wrote this! This story is for the shippers out there! Anyway, Virus being cured, M/L drawing close to each other as the virus becomes a distant memory. But will a transgenic with a mysterious power and hidden abilities post pone their romance? R & R
A/N: This is where the Borrowed Time Partial Spoiler comes in, so if you haven't seen BT and don't want to be a teensy bit spoiled then don't read yet, read after and review! lol. Wow…this chapter took a loooong time; I kept finding all these little inconsistencies…so it took forever. Hope it turned out all right though! ;) Read on…
Chapter 4: Cure
Bloodcurdling screams ripped through the dead calm of the still and silent black. Running, always running. Hot but sharp breathing against my neck. Soldiers like me. Clouds escape my frozen lips, forming erratic shapes in the harsh cold of a winter, dark and gloomy. The taste of death is on my lips and the cold eats my skin with its deep and piercing bite. The gruesome feel of leaves whipping at my frost bitten flesh vibrates through me. But stopping was not an option.
The screams heard, echoing in the forest remind me of what is close behind and what I plan on never returning to again. The perimeter fence is so near I can almost feel the rusted chain against my chilled skin. My military issued clothing is ripped in dozens of places, whipping free in the breeze as the wind rushed in my ears. My bare feet are dead weight, frozen by the icy ground but I don't stop, and I won't until I'm free. My breathing is ragged and my throat is sore from each breath of frigid air entering my lungs. But I won't stop.
"Crack!" The air splits with a sound like thunder erupting at my feet. I look down in shock as the ice I was once running on crumbles inwards, ripping away and plunging me into a cold so intense, it fills every crevice. I feel as if I'm drowning----and I am, in water that is inky and thick. Falling in to a black abyss that envelops me in its vice-like embrace. My eyes open and I watch as the surface slips away and I sink farther and farther. A voice in the distance, familiar "Max!"…
"Jondy?" Max asked in a foggy daze, struggling to yell to her sister above the ice.
"Max!? Max!?"
My name. But not screamed by a 9 year old this time. A loud and oddly childish voice with an underlying rumble that could only be echoed by an animal.
Joshua shook Max's shoulders lightly with his oversized hands tipped by sharp nails, trying to rouse her.
Her eyes slowly opened and Max found herself drenched in sweat, tangled in a frazzled wool blanket. It was a dream. About a night years ago, when she and 11 others like her had escaped the barracks of Manticore. Max shook her head slowly, trying to lose the last dredges of the dream from her mind, the images of a life that she had long since left behind. Only to be reminded of every time she looked in the mirror.
Max pulled away from her thoughts and looked at Joshua's anxious face, "Max alright?" He was crouched beside the sofa she had been sleeping on.
"Yeah—I'm fine, just a bad dream. It's nothing."
"Manticore?"
"Yeah."
They watched each other in silence for a moment. Each remembering their separate stays at the place where their nightmares had been reality.
"Little fella, want some tea?"
Max smiled slightly and shifted in to a sitting position. "I'd like that."
Joshua spread his lips in a large toothy grin and walked to what passed for a kitchen in a room off the main hallway.
Max slowly pulled herself from the fabric of the couch, it stuck to her slick flesh and when she peeled away, it made a sound like skin being ripped off an orange. She ran a hand through her damp hair and headed over to where she had been working before deciding to take a nap. She sat down in a hard wood chair and peered at her earlier calculations jotted down on a note pad, if she was right, the virus would be history. Which meant that she and Logan could finally…shake hands. Max smiled, dazed.
It was all too much to take in.
Joshua saying something about bright colors had reminded her of the only non-yellow-painted patch of calculations on the lab tech's papers. Max had glared at the tech's barely legible scribblings for hours on end and must have overlooked that one function countless times. Now because of a paint happy nomalie and the help of a cocky dumb ass, she had found a cure. It was like some kind of cruel, twisted joke.
Max mentally checked through the formula, 'F (x1) times delta x is approximately equal to delta q. The messenger RNA would codify an interruption in the protein strand, the DNA wouldn't be able to replicate, and the virus would hit a dead end.'
She hoped.
Max smirked bitterly. A year ago she would have laughed, 'hope'? Bull shit. Hopes a con job people trip behind till they finally get a grip on the cold hard truth, right? Now she wasn't so sure. Hope was all she had left to cling to. All she had left.
At that moment, Joshua returned with Max's tea and lowered it carefully on to the desk in front of her. "Careful, it's hot." He warned indicating his burnt finger.
"Thanks Joshua."
"So…the virus bitch is going down?"
"Could be. You know, I never would've caught this if you hadn't painted over my papers." She said thoughtfully sipping her tea. 'Damn. Joshua forgot to put sugar in this again.'
Tea half-finished, Max left the house with a hug and goodbye to Joshua. As she took the steps, foot poised in the air a step away from hitting the ground; a thought popped in to her head and waged war against others.
'I have to tell Logan… no, I should wait until I'm sure…I should at least tell him that there is a possibility of---no I don't wanna get his hopes up…but he would tell me if there was even a chance of--- '
"Ah, shit. Looks like I'm gonna be payin' Logan another visit tonight."
* * *
--Logan's Penthouse--
'To knock or not to knock…hmm…decisions, decisions.' Max questioned, hesitating in front of Logan's door. In seconds she had her trusty lock pick in her hands, making quick work of the brass doorknob. 'Not to knock.' Max pushed the door open and entered the apartment swiftly, closing it shut behind her. Her footsteps were light, her shoes not making a sound.
"Logan?" She asked the darkness, the only light came from the direction of his office. Max listened for the familiar sound of Logan's skilled hands clacking against the keyboard. Nothing. Her movements were slow but quick, as she crept toward the dull glow of the room where he spent most of his time. As Max came upon the office, she had to stifle a giggle at the sight before her.
Logan lay slumped on the desk; hands still upon the keyboard and mouse, head resting awkwardly on his arm, hair sticking out in all directions, glasses askew. But most priceless of all was the low, whistling sound that escaped his parted lips every time he exhaled. 'Guess he wasn't joking when he said he snored…mmm…he looks yummy…STUPID THOUGHTS!' Max scolded inwardly.
In an effort to shift her gaze from Logan's closed eyes and dark lashes; she peered at the time in the bottom right hand corner of his computer screen, 11:53pm. 'Wow, it's early. I can't believe Logan's already dead to the world…no point waking him up. I should just leave and check with a doctor first… '
Max nodded in agreement and padded silently back the way she came. Moving with Manticore-given stealth she was seconds before reaching the door, her hand stretched to take the doorknob; when a sudden tremor rippled through her arm. 'Oh please not now, please just not now…' But her body refused to obey her mental commands, and this time the quaking spread down through her like white-hot fire. Though this seizure wasn't as bad as they usually were, if she didn't get hold of some Tryptophan soon…things were going to get ugly. Max moved forward on shaky legs, 'Bathroom. Logan's always got some extra pills in the---' Before she could even complete her own thought, her body jerked forward and her footsteps faltered.
Max paused, taking a moment to catch her breath and wait for this particularly bad spasm to finish racking through her. Staggering ever forward, she made her way to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. A bottle--- that had never looked more beautiful in its life--- greeted Max's tired eyes. Her hand shot out quickly, she opened it and dumped a few pills in to her shaking right hand. Swallowing them dry, she let herself slide to the cold tile floor and wait for the seizing to pass.
F L A S H B A CK
Images of Max handing a small, clear bottle to the thin blonde before her. The woman grasps it in her small hands and eyes it curiously, looking back up at Max's anxious face. Asha hurry's off to the bathroom and the sound of a cabinet door opening is heard.
The living room is hazy and out of focus; as Max bites her lower lip in worry, her eyes scouring the large living quarters for any sign of Logan. There, slumped on the lush leather couch. His body is covered in large red blemishes, his head drooping as he struggles to hold it up.
Images of the blonde appearing from the bathroom, the needle filled with antigen. It pierces Logan's skin but he barely notices, his eyelids slowly closing and popping open, as he struggles to stay awake.
Max disappears from the room; the bathroom comes in to focus and Max leans queasily over the toilet bowl. The contents of her stomach are emptied into it as she vomits. Hot tears are welled up in her eyes and her body shudders with every loud shaking breath she takes, her legs crumple beneath her and she curls in to a ball on the floor.
From Max's view on the floor, her eyes focus on a familiar golden tinged bottle placed haphazardly on the edge of the countertop.
E N D F L A S H B A C K
Minutes later, Max's seizure had subsided but the images that had filled her mind still pounded down in to her like a sledgehammer. 'I hafta get out of here now…I can't let that happen to Logan again---I just can't.' She pulled herself up from the ground and moved to close the still open cabinet. That is, if the light switch hadn't flicked on at that exact second.
"Max?" A hoarse voice asked clouded with sleep. Logan stumbled into the bathroom; hand still on the light switch, his eyes blinking furiously trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.
"Uh—hey." Her voice squeaked painfully and Max's eyes shut in annoyance. 'Damn it. I can't believe I didn't hear him. He slept in the exoskeleton…Lydecker would be rolling over in his grave…that is if he is actually dead, which is not possible. The man's friggin immortal. I would just have to explain to him that his perfect soldiers had a certain pain in the ass defect---'
"What are you doing here?" Logan asked more puzzled than angry, cutting off her claustrophobic thoughts.
'I can't tell him yet. Not until I'm sure.'
Stalling for time, Max's gaze slipped downwards; his black shirt was halfway unbuttoned, exposing smooth muscles and bronze skin, his blue jeans hung loosely on his waist hiding the exoskeleton from view, but as her wandering eyes reached the "danger zone" she couldn't help but chuckle. Though her voice was weak.
"What?!" Logan questioned, confused at the giggles that escaped Max's throat.
She pointed a finger at his crotch and erupted in to a full-fledged fit of laughter, forgetting the pain of her recent seizure. For the moment anyway.
Logan glanced down and all confusion was swept away, to be replaced by a crushing wave of nausea and embarrassment. Turning away slightly from Max he tugged up the zipper of his pants. Realizing a bit too late that in his hurry to get to the washroom he had unbuttoned and unzipped the offending garment. Seeing Max in his penthouse 'uninvited' made him forget his state of dress and now he was going to pay for his stupidity.
Max's laughter died down agonizingly slow for Logan, cheeks going from a blazing red to a dull pink.
Picking up what was left of his shredded dignity and ego, Logan mustered together his earlier question, "So…what are you doing here Max?"
"I'm out of Tryptophan and since you always have an extra bottle, I thought I'd just pop in and grab it." She explained in between forced giggles in an effort to mask the half- lie. To add to Logan's discomfort and distract him from actually taking in her somewhat cryptic words Max added, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." She threw a seductive smirk in for good measure.
Logan blushed, but his eyebrows scrunched up and collided over dark blue orbs. Being an undercover journalist the years before he had met Max helped him to distinguish the truth from the bullshit. 'Oh crap, he isn't buyin' it.'
He opened his mouth twice to speak, deciding which question he liked better. "Did you have a seizure? ---Why didn't you wake me up?" He liked both.
'You're on a roll tonight, Logan. He just has to be concerned and have "that look" on his face. This would be the perfect time for me to spew out some sounds, words, something!!'
"It was a mild one and I don't think another electromagnetic pulse could have woke you up. Though it seems the call of nature helped to accomplish the unfathomable." Max finished with a smile playing on her lips. 'Please let that be enough.'
Miracle of miracles, he laughed. It was the most beautiful sound Max had ever heard, the tension ebbed away. 'Ok Max, edge toward the door now. You don't know how long you can keep standing.'
"I should probably go." She uttered softly, the sound echoed in the sudden silence.
"You sure you don't want to wait a bit. You don't want to start seizing while you're on your bike." Worry lines creased his ruggedly handsome face, his eyes burrowed deep in to hers and for a moment her body froze. 'I can't do this to him--why don't I just tell him I might've found a cure for the virus? No, I can't do that. I don't even know if it'll wor---'
"Max?"
"I'll be fine. I have to go—I'll check in tomorrow k?"
"Uh-okay…you sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine Logan."
He walked behind her as she made her way to the door.
"Oh and Logan?" She spun around and began walking backwards, facing him.
"Yeah?"
"You should probably wait until you're safely in the vicinity of a bathroom before unbuttoning your pants. Just a thought." She winked before turning around and exiting the penthouse, leaving behind an embarrassed Logan.
Max breathed a large sigh of relief as the elevator made its slow crawl to the ground floor. The lids of her eyes felt heavy and they slid closed, only to be opened again by the loud "Ping!" of the elevator reaching the ground floor.
She allowed herself a moment of rest, leaning against the brick wall of the garage. The seizure had taken a lot out of her, but she had gone through worse. Seeing Logan looking particularly fine had helped her to realize that the pain didn't matter. Not as much as going through another day without being able to touch him, of being too scared to go near him for fear of endangering his life. Without Logan, her life was going to suck. Hard. Pushing thoughts of an empty existence aside and with a burst of newly found energy, she walked to her baby. Sliding on and revving the engine she sped off, feeling the familiar thrill she always felt when she sensed her life was about to change.
* * *
--Alec's Apartment--
Max knocked hard on a scarred wood door, her foot stamping impatiently while she waited. 'Alec, you better be home…'
The door jerked open and an annoyed pair of green eyes answered, meeting her dark eyed glare. Max shoved past Alec, not waiting for an invitation and entered the apartment without a word. Alec, still standing by the door and eyeing the spot she vacated spoke dryly in a voice laced with sarcasm, "Why don't you come in." He turned slowly around to face her.
"I need 20 large." Max pursed her lips in a thin line, her posture leaving no room for argument.
Alec stared, his mouth open, a look of bewilderment written across his face, "I'm sorry Max but I don't have that kinda cash."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. I need 20 large. Now." Max moved forward, getting in his face and staring him down.
"Listen, I'd love to help with whatever crisis you're having but like I said before---"
"It's for the virus. I might've found a cure and need the cash tonight." Max stated, concealing her anxiety with a monotone voice and leaving behind the hostility that came whenever she talked to Alec.
"Sorry Max but---"
In a flash, Max had slammed Alec against the door and was holding his arms down. Her knee moved simultaneously and positioned itself just above his groin, "So where's the cash?"
"Jacket pocket." Alec answered automatically, knowing there was no point of escape or fight. Max would end up kicking his ass in the long run, either way.
He stood docile as Max plunged her hand in to his pocket, keeping her knee in place as she probed the leather interior.
Her fingers closed around the thick wad of cash, she pulled it out to dance between her fingertips in front of Alec's face. "You're paying me back right?" He asked in a weak voice, eyes pleading. Although he knew what her answer would be.
Max laughed shortly and her expression became serious, moving closer she spoke right in to Alec's face, "No." Her knee dove straight toward Alec's nether regions and he let out a strangled gasp of shock. It slowed seconds before meeting the point of contact, knee dipping downwards slightly and slamming in to the space between his thighs and below his crotch, hitting the closed door behind him. The door shuddered in answer and Alec's body vibrated in perfect rhythm with the quaking the blow had caused.
With that Max left, shoving Alec's stunned body aside and throwing open the door before stalking out. A slow smile of triumph spread across her face, 'Next stop the doctor's office.'
* * *
--Crash--(2:45am)
"So you and Logan can kick it again?" Original Cindy asked. Her honey brown eyes stared playfully in to Max's, her demeanor eager and hopeful.
Max gave a small smile at her eager tone and spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, so as not to appear too excited. Who knew if it would work, it'd be best not to let her true feelings show. "12 hours."
"What?" Cindy asked, disbelieving.
"12 hours." Louder this time.
F L A S H B A C K
"12 hours."
"What?" Max asked eyes filled with ill-contained excitement.
"12 hours." The doctor repeated in a voice that was slow and deliberate.
"That's it? And the virus will be terminated?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" Max just couldn't believe it. It was beyond her comprehension. She rubbed the spot idly on her arm where the needle had entered. One painless shot and the virus was gone.
"Yes. The antibodies will have completely encased the virus nuclei and protein coating by then." He spoke, bored and seemingly disgusted at her questioning his ability to perform a simple task.
"Now if you could, I have other business to attend to." He gestured with his hands toward the door of the lab.
"Right---Thanks again."
She left; passing by the envelope she had given Dilbert (another lab tech creep she had found), in it lay 20 grand—courtesy of Alec.
"Joshua's in for one hell of a large box of Little Debbie's." Max muttered to herself.
"What?"
"Nothing." Max blew a kiss at the balding man and left, the balls of her feet bouncing with every step, her eyes spewing bliss like a fountain.
E N D F L A S H B A C K
But as soon as Max had set foot on the grimy streets of Seattle, every ounce of joy had been sucked out of her. "What if's" cascaded down on to her like rocks in a landslide, the fear consumed her. 'What if it didn't work? What if Logan contracts the virus anyway? What if this is only temporary? What If Logan dies? What if---STOP…think happy thoughts, happy thoughts---chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate, motorcycle, new carburetor, actual toothpaste, coffee, kissing a pair of smooth lips, haunting blue eyes,---STOP…non-Logan thoughts, non-Logan thoughts…'
Max had continued with her painful mind games until she found herself stumbling in to Crash. Where she always ended up whenever she felt like losing herself in a pitcher of beer, in a place where she was anonymous. And this was where she began a new train of thought 'Think unhappy thoughts, never get hopes up, squash all joy…'
So here she was sitting down across from Cindy (who had slid herself into the seat across from her the moment Max had sat down---apparently Crash wasn't a place where she could be completely anonymous), staring down at a still-full glass of beer, talking to her while trying to appear unmoved, "I found a cure for the virus that will take effect in 12 hours." Her voice was flat, her words blunt and she felt in no mood to elaborate her response.
Original Cindy's hand appeared from nowhere and smacked her upside the head. Max moaned rubbing the spot with a palm, "Damn OC, that hurt." Her dark eyes clouded in confusion.
"Yeah, well you deserved it. What is with you?" Original Cindy's eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes looking straight through Max's façade as she spoke. "You been waitin' for a chance to get together with Logan all these months…now you got it and you're acting all 'who cares'?" All anger had disappeared from her voice but she held Max's gaze.
Max sighed and held her head in her hands, "I just don't want to be disappointed if this doesn't work and I sure as hell don't want to get Logan's hopes up again." She looked up into sympathetic eyes, "I can't risk hurting him."
"Life's all bout risks boo, you don't take em' and life's just gonna pass you by."
"You're right…" Max replied slowly, doubtful.
"I'm always right." Original Cindy replied, picking up Max's untouched beer and drinking from it.
"Now do me a favor suga' and give me the uncut version of how the love bug got squashed."
Max spent the next couple of minutes explaining her stay at Joshua's; how she had realized that a specific formula could be used to cure her of the virus. Max pondered telling OC about her trip to Logan's penthouse and the little encounter she had with him and the red silk boxers sticking out of his pants zipper…
'Nah Logan's suffered enough.' She decided fondly remembering the blush that had crept up on to his freshly stubbled cheeks.
"Boo?"
"Huh? —Oh right. I found a specialist who used the formula I gave him and created a cure, for 20 g's. The virus should be gone in 12 hours." Max stretched and yawned, the seizure finally taking its toll on her body.
"How'd you get the cheddar anyway?"
"I have my ways."
Original Cindy narrowed her eyes and raised a hand---smacking style.
"Fine, I know-- uncut version. I-uh-had a little chat with Alec. " Max grinned slightly, a devilish look in her eyes at the memory of the cash retrieval.
"And he gave you 20 grand? Just like that?"
Max nodded her head, trying in vain to conceal the smile threatening to break loose. "Yeah…well I gotta do one more thing before I can come home tonight. Tell Normal that I'm sick tomorrow--uh--today, k?"
"Got ya' covered."
"Thanks, late."
"Late."
---Space Needle---
The night sky is like a velvet cloak sheathing the city in its black folds. Lost in its infinite depths the lights of Seattle glow dull and faint. Only the wind seemed alive, tearing at her hair until it flowed out behind her, moving in tumultuous waves. Here, silence is deafening. But Max loved it on the Space Needle, from this height it seemed she could really get some perspective on her life. She sat comfortably lost in solitude, a slave to the thoughts flitting in and out of her skull.
'I found a cure for the virus. Maybe if I keep saying it over and over it'll actually sink in. I found a cure for the virus. I found a cure for the virus. I found a cure for the virus…Nope, didn't work. All night I've been trying to keep from getting my hopes up…but that isn't really possible is it? I need something to cling to. This is my rotten, miserable life, anyway. Something's bound to go wrong, right? Maybe this is just a side effect of always being let down. Maybe tomorrow will be different.'
Max glanced down at her beeper as it counted down the hours left.
'10 hours from now, I'll be in Logan's apartment telling him—wait…what am I going to say to Logan? Hmmm…maybe I could just forget the whole talking thing, throw myself at him and spend the night in his be---Woah! Where'd that come from? I can't be in heat can I? Max mentally ticked off the months in her head. Nope…must have been temporary insanity. Yup, definitely temporary insanity…who am I kidding? I love him…and I'd do anything to be with him. I'm sick of the complete bullshit we both hid behind a year ago. Tomorrow I'm gonna tell him how I feel. Second chances don't come around very often and I sure as hell am not going to waste this one. OC was right, life is all about risks.'
Max sat staring out into the fading darkness, eyes reflecting determination mingled with fear for what the new day would bring.
A/N-I tried to think of a new and different way to cure the virus but…well it sucked! :P lol. Even though this chapter was probably very unoriginal tell me what you think, how I can improve it, if I should just keep writing etc…Thanx a bunch!