An Emergency Change of Command, 17
by pari106

pari106@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/pari106/damain.html

Disclaimer: See part 1; Code: M/Z, Logan/Syl; Zane, Krit, All; Rating: PG-13

A/N: The confusion continued! Please don't hate me for torturing them, like this! But,
really…they had it coming, you know ;)


An Emergency Change of Command, 17
by pari106


Zack entered the cabin's front door just after Max exited the back. He mounted the stairs,
two at a time, and changed into a fresh shirt in the guestroom he'd been using since he'd
gotten there.

In the kitchen, Syl pulled her bloody hand out of the dishwater with a hiss.

"Ow! Shi…"

She pulled the hand to her, grabbing the deep cut that had developed in her right palm
when that plate broke in her hands.

Jace looked at her.

"Dios mio…what the hell did you do?" she asked, noticing the blood with alarm.

She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Syl's hand.

"I broke a plate."

"Yeah, I noticed. Am I the only X5 who can touch a dish without killing it?"

Syl rolled her eyes, but then she hissed again at the cut. It would heal soon, of course.
But in her mood, this was the last thing she'd needed tonight.

"Damn it!" she cussed, wrapping the towel even tighter around her fist.

Jace watched her quietly. Then she grabbed her by the arm.

"Let's go," she said.

Syl opened her mouth to speak, but Jace stopped her with look.

"We're going to the bathroom to clean you up. You are going to tell me what is wrong
with you. And I can go back to being the mother of one little girl, instead of two."

Syl stuck her tongue out at her and Jace rolled her eyes.



**** ****



Zack was just coming down the stairs as Jace and Syl were finishing up in the bathroom,
cleaning Syl's cut and bandaging her hand. His mood was beginning to improve. He
even smiled.

He'd seen Max heading for the lake through the guest room window. And he planned to
join her. He'd been waiting to be alone with her again all night, to tell her what he'd
been waiting to tell her for too long.

He'd even gained a lighter perspective on the little Max incident. So the kid peed on
him. He'd live. She was his niece. It was almost funny, if he thought hard enough about
it. Zack could almost laugh.

He wouldn't be holding the kid again for the next, say, six or seven…years. But he could
almost laugh about it.

Then Zack reached the foot of the stairs, and for some reason, the voices coming from the
bathroom just right of the kitchen, underneath the stair well, made him stop and listen. It
was Syl and Jace.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me."

Jace gave her a look.

Finally, Syl sighed.

"Okay…"

How could she explain this? She didn't want to think badly of her sister. She loved Max.
She wanted her to be happy. But she loved Zack, too. And as for Logan… She was far
from being in a position to view this situation non-objectively.

"You know how Zane brought us all here because of Max…and Zack?"

Jace smiled, leaning against the counter behind her.

"Yeah." She'd been surprised, at first, when she'd heard. But not displeased. She'd
known love before. With little Max's father, Victor. She was happy that her brother and
her sister could find the same with each other. Earlier, Syl had asked her if she minded
the others stealing little Max away from her for the way.

"Doesn't it bother you? You've barely gotten near her since y'all got here without
someone taking her away to play," Syl had said.

And Jace had shrugged, uncomfortably.

She loved her child. Her Maxita. Max was her life; her reason for living. From the first
moment she felt her child move within her, Jace became a different woman. A woman
whose utmost priority was her beloved daughter. But she was also a single mother. A
woman who'd lost the one man she'd loved. The only man she'd ever been with. And
she was confronted with that loss every time she looked at her child. Every time she
looked at little Max, she saw Victor. And now, being here, seeing Max and Zack find
what she and Victor had found and lost… Jace felt badly, but it was nice to step away
from her parenting duties for a while. To simply be with her others siblings and not be
constantly assaulted by memories of her love. Even though the love she'd shared with
Victor was one of her most prized memories. Even though Max was the prized part of
her life.

It was good to simply watch someone else, someone else she loved, deal with the
complexities of love.

"It seems to have worked," Jace said now.

Syl looked away. "Yeah…"

Then she met her sister's eyes once again.

"But, Jace…Max…she's…"

Jace waited.

"What?"

Syl shook her head.

"She what, Syl?"

Syl took a breath. Here goes.

"She's living with Logan."

Silence.

"Logan Cale?" Jace had met the man briefly. Good-looking, the silent type. He hadn't
liked her then. At all. Not that she blamed him. When they'd met, she'd still been in
Manticore, and she'd been assigned to kill a doctor who'd been helping Logan regain his
ability to walk. He'd had this really cool, confident air about him that had somehow
reminded her of her brother Zack, back when they were children. And she'd detected
some sort of…something going on between him and Max. But now that Max was
here…from what she understood was going on between her and Zack…

Jace shook her head.

"That can't be right."

Syl shook her head, too. But it was true.

"Max told me herself, Jace."

Syl's fist flexed over her wound, just thinking about it. Everything was so fucked up.
What was she supposed to do? Just sit back and let Max play both men? What else
could she do? She still couldn't believe that was what was happening, but she'd seen
Max out on the porch, in Zack's arms. Just as she'd seen Max in Logan's arms when she
and Krit had gone to get her from Seattle. Krit had told her Max had said she loved Zack
on the night of the raid. But before they left Seattle yesterday, she'd said the same to
Logan. What was she doing?

And what was she planning to do? She couldn't be with both men indefinitely. And
when Zack found out about Logan it would hurt him. Bad. If Logan found out Max was
here making out with Zack, it would kill him.

"I just can't believe she'd do this to Zack," Syl said. She just couldn't believe it.

Neither was Jace. She was frowning.

"But Krit said…"

"Well, Krit doesn't know what he…"

Suddenly Syl's words were interrupted by the deafening sound of Zane's back door
slamming shut. Slamming shut hard enough to splinter a piece of the doorframe.

"What the hell was that?"

That was Zack on his way out to the lake. And Max.



**** ****


Brin was still in the living room when Max left and Zack ran up the stairs. She went out
on the porch, hoping to follow Max around the cabin and see why she'd rushed out so
quickly.

She spotted Jondy by the Jeep, trying to wrestle little Max into a diaper.

And she hadn't taken one step in any direction before, suddenly, Zane came running up
to her side. He grabbed her by the arm and drug her to his truck.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going for a ride," Zane told her, looking about him with concern.

"What? Why…"

Zane pushed her in through the driver side.

"Because Krit won't shoot out the tires if you're in here with me."

Zane jumped in, revved the engine, and they took off.

Brin sighed. She'd have to find Max later.

In the rearview mirror, she saw Krit come running up, rifle in hand. As he saw her and
Zane drive off, he lowered his weapon.

"Damn it!" he cussed. Then he sighed. And hobbled back to the cabin. If Zane hadn't
broken his kneecap, he would have had him by now.

But it was just as well.

He really needed a bath.

He could vandalize his brother's truck when he and Brin came back.