A/N: Hey, now, don't you worry. The pairing hasn't been decided yet (So, don't freak out, Chris) and when it happens, I'll warn you. ;)
-Charity
"Little fella's little fella.." Joshua called behind Vada, making her turn around. She smiled at him.
"No one ever told you my name, did they?" She asked sweetly. He shook his head.
"It's always, 'Not now, Joshua' or, 'You wouldn't understand, Joshua'." Joshua grinned, though. He seemed used to it. "The others have explained."
"My name, Joshua, is Vada Marie. Vada Marie Whitman, according to my ID." She beamed at him, taking a sip of soda.
"Do you think Logan and Max getting busy?" Joshua asked innocently.
Vada choked down her gulp of soda. "I sure hope not."
Joshua looked at her in confusion.
"Exposure.." Vada whispered as an excuse. "Yeah! That's it! Exposure! It would be exposure! You saw Sam."
"Oh." Joshua nodded.
"Living in Terminal City sucks monkeys, Max." Vada pouted as she fell back onto the guestroom bed.
"Well," Max began with a dreamy smile, "You can move in with us."
Vada scowled slightly, but gave her mother a tight-lipped smile. "So, are you guys getting married?"
Max kept smiling but didn't say anything.
"And will we have little Bennets and Logans and Maxines running around here?" Vada continued, raising her eyebrows and picking at her nails.
Max began laughing a bit as she moved another box of paints out of the closet. "Actually, you, OC, Alec, Joshua and Sketchy have the first naming rights. You would have the first name, and Logan and I would handle middle names."
"What if you have a boy?" Vada, in spite of her problems with Logan, sat up eagerly. "I was thinking of naming him after Alec."
Max laughed.
"What? Alexander Zachary Cale. Sounds good to me." Vada grabbed her duffel bag and started unpacking.
Max smiled. Alec Zack Cale.
"And for the girl, I'm thinking.. Rachel Alexandria Cale. Rachel Cale. Alec Cale." Vada was getting carried away as she sorted her knickknacks on top of the white wicker dresser.
"We'll worry about it when it happens." Max told her firmly, making Vada drop the subject.
Max glanced at the dresser and saw that in the midst of the 'organized chaos', her little diamond dancer was dead center, frozen in mid-pirouette. She smiled.
"Vada, I have to go to the Crash to meet up with OC. She'll kill me if I don't tell her in person." Vada's eyes were pleading. "You can't go."
"You're no fun." Vada pouted.
"Please, be nice." Max begged as she headed toward the master bedroom.
Vada sent the doorway a dark look but decided that she'd have to talk to the guy eventually.
"Hey, Logan." Vada murmured as she plopped down on the couch. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Booking us all a nice family visit to the doctor's to see exactly how much of the Virus is in you." Logan answered, not looking up.
"Oh." Vada whispered, picking at her fingernails again.
"That's a disgusting habit, you know." Logan said from his position at the computer.
Vada scowled. "How did you know that I was doing that?"
"Joshua's tendency to be observant is in my blood, I guess." He replied coolly, and Vada found herself laughing.
"Yeah, well, I have to have something imperfect about me." She found herself retorting. "I mean, with Alec being the king of cool and Max being the 'Chosen One', I don't have much room for junk DNA."
Logan grinned and whirled around. "All done. Is there any particular reason why you came down from the Lair?"
Vada smirked. Her room had gained that name when she had screamed that she'd shut herself up in it for a week as a protest for living there. But then she smelled spaghetti and came back down.
"Well, for one thing, I'd like to apologize for my behavior the other night. It was raining, I was wet, the Oregon sunshine joke was told.. Yata, yata, yata.." Vada trailed off, not looking him in the eye. "Plus, I wanted to play on your computer."
Max's voice interrupted her thoughts. Remember, Logan's computer is NOT a toy.
"Never mind. Mom told me not to.. Um. Right." Vada just looked around the room and began picking at her nails again. She looked up. "So are you going to ask Mom to marry you?"
Logan grinned. "Would that be alright with you?"
Vada shrugged. "I suppose. But I'll let you know now, I'm not exactly babysitter material. I don't like little kids. I've never liked little kids. Not even when I was one. I thought we were disgusting."
Logan leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Max explained naming rights, right?"
Vada smiled, nodding. "It's Alexander Zachary and Rachel Alexandria for the first two, and from that point on, it's Samantha Vada, and then Anthony Logan and then Marie Maxine, and then.."
Logan began laughing hysterically. "You realize how many kids we'd have to have for you to name?"
Vada's face fell a bit. "Well, the first two are Alexander Zachary and Rachel Alexandria. Rachel and Alec for short. Or Rachel and Zack."
They sat in silence for a while.
"So, when you guys get married, do I have to call you Dad? Or do I have to call you Logan? How about Logie? Or Logie-Bear, like a rip-off of Yogi-Bear. Or will I call you Pop-Pop or Papaw or.." Vada scowled. She hated having to think for more than a few minutes.
"Why don't you go heat up some leftover spaghetti for us? There's some gloves in the kitchen just for you." Logan suggested and Vada smiled.
"I'll stick with Logan, for now."
Vada headed for the kitchen, finding two pale-pink oven mitts trimmed with ruffled lace and covered with little ballerinas. She smirked and opened the refrigerator door.
"Heeey, Logan." Alec drawled when Logan's face popped up.
"Hey, Alec. Where's Max?" Logan sort of scowled.
"She's at the Crash, Logie-Bear!" Vada called from the kitchen.
Alec raised his eyebrows, not recognizing the female voice. "Logie-Bear? What, is Max not good for you anymore?"
Vada bounced in with a plate in each hand. "Here you go, Logie-Bear. I'll get the forks and the Parmesan. And yes, I'm using the gloves. Disgustingly frilly things that they are. Oh, hi, Daddy. Logie-Bear won't let me play on his computer."
Alec scowled at the sight of his daughter in oven mitts. "Hey, Princess. Remember.."
"Logan's computer is NOT a toy. Mom—Max has already given me the lecture." Vada rolled her eyes. "You should come on down. The spaghetti is still left over."
"Why don't you come down here, Princess?" Alec requested hopefully.
"Mom—Max won't let me drive at night without the supervision of an X5, or Matt with the X7s." Vada whined. "Hey, I got to get the forks before this stuff gets cold."
Alec watched her exit the screen. "Take care of her, Logan."
Logan turned back to focus his eyes on the screen. He nodded solemnly.
"She's the only family I've got left."