Logan's eyelids still felt heavy, but he figured he could hardly afford to sleep with an angry X5 in the
house. An angry X5 who obviously didn't like seeing him cozied up with his sister.

Logan and Krit hadn't had the chance to talk a lot since the raid on Manticore, when they'd met, but they
talked some. And Logan liked the quiet, cynical young man. They were on pretty friendly terms, he
supposed. In fact, they got along rather well. They even hung out, on occasion, when Krit was in town, but
his sister was otherwise engaged with Original Cindy, or Syl.

But their friendship stopped at Logan's involvement with Max.

Krit never said as much, would evade the question if it was posed, but he was decidedly unkeen on the
perimeters of Max's companionship with Logan. He eyed the intimacy between the two like Logan
supposed he eyed an enemy in battle. And Logan wasn't sure, but he would put good money on the reason
being a man named Zack.

Logan didn't mind. He had nothing against Zack, really, though he and the younger man often clashed
when they were together. The truth was, if Max thought she'd be happy with Zack, then Logan wanted her
to be happy. He didn't consider himself an obstacle to the other man any longer. But Zack hadn't been
around, and even though Logan had actually looked for him, for Max's sake, he hadn't come up with
anything.

And he might have accepted losing his chance with Max, but he wasn't about to let her go altogether. They
were friends, and Zack or no Zack, he'd be damned if that would change. Krit would just have to deal with
it.

In the meantime, however, Logan figured it would be best not to push the guy. So he gently tried to wake
Max up.

"Max…"

He shifted his legs a little, an awkward movement for him, even with the exoskeleton, and rubbed her
shoulder.

Slowly, she began to stir, opening her eyes just a bit.

"What? Logan…"

Max smiled up at him, then she saw something just over Logan's shoulder. At first, he thought it was Krit,
but Max's quick, exuberant exclamation told him otherwise.

"Syl!"

Max bounded over the couch, and pulled her sister into a hug, before Logan had even gotten on his feet.

Standing there in the room, was Max's sister, all long blonde-hair, and delicate features, and big blue eyes.
Syl was the complete antithesis to Max, but she was every bit as lovely. Beauty seemed to be a prerequisite
for being an X5 – male or female.

"Hey, baby sis," she greeted Max, with a warm smile. That smile wasn't quite so warm when she directed
it at Logan, however.

"Hey, Logan," she said quietly.

And Logan felt a chill at the icy tone in her voice. Funny that it actually made the room feel a little
warmer, as well.

"Syl," he said back, wondering if what he saw flash through her eyes when he said her name was disgust or
just plain indignance. He didn't like either.

Meanwhile, Max was oblivious to all of this.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" she teased, bringing Syl's gaze back to her, and bringing the good
humor back into Syl's expression. Or at least a little of it.

'Something's wrong.'

He didn't know how he knew, but Logan had been around the X5s long enough now that he could gauge
just a few of their expressions. And Syl's said that all was not right in the world of liberated transgenics.

"Krit's in the kitchen," Syl said instead of answering. And Max was too happy to see her sibs to pick up
the clue Logan just had.

"Really?" Max shot Logan a look and headed for the kitchen. "Hope you don't mind some company," she
threw over her shoulder.

"Not at all," he replied.

But then his eyes found Syl's. She was staring at Max's retreating form, and then when she turned to
him…

Were those tears in her eyes?

Logan's stomach just suddenly dropped.

'No…'

"We won't be staying long," Syl was telling him. Her voice was just as quiet and emotionless as it always
seemed to be around him as of late. But Logan barely heard her.

There was only one reason Syl would be looking at her sister that way – all concern and sorrow and barely
contained empathy…

And tears?

All Logan could think was, 'Zack.'



**** ****