AN: None of the characters are mine, yadda, yadda.
This is a sequel to "When the past comes ahaunting". Starting with part
three it's all new stuff I never posted before. Quick review of what has
happened up to here - though you'd better go read the first story, cause
this is just the bare skeleton of the plot: After the events in "Designate
This", Max and Logan meet Natalie, a geneticist with a mysterious past. She
agrees to help them find a cure. After that, well... read and find out.
Part one
The door of the cabin flew open and slammed on the wall. Just a bit harder and the door frame would have been no more.
"What's up, Logan said you were in urgent need of help. Doesn't look like it to me."
Natalie was sitting on the old couch, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands to warm up. This didn't look good at all. Max seemed pissed. And good old Logan had backed out of the deal, leaving Natalie to face it head on. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't faced her share of monsters in her life, human or otherwise, Max would just be at the bottom of a long list. Just come right out with it and she won't have the time to kill you.
"Logan asked me to help find a cure for the virus you carry."
Max tensed, arching forward.
"He did WHAT?"
If she hadn't known she had absolutely perfect hearing she wouldn't have believed it. But that still left her reasoning to doubt, or rather Logan's. How could he not tell her about it? Did he think he could hide forever? She noticed the long line of test tubes, petri dishes, vials and assorted medical equipment cluttering the kitchen area.
"You heard me, Max. And don't tell me you can't understand him at least on some level. In fact, I'm pretty sure you would have done the same."
Natalie watched the young X5 with slight apprehension. Max had a tendency to run away at the worst possible times. Before the young girl could bolt, Natalie decided to go on the offensive: "Give me your arm."
Max recoiled.
"Hey, I need some tissue samples. Or am I wrong in assuming you want the cure, too?"
Max grabbed a chair, turned it around and straddled it, streching out her arm. The girl certainly must have had her share of needle poking, Natalie mused as she grabbed some of the instruments that had arrived this morning. If she were to succeed she needed to earn her trust. If that would be as tough as with Nick, she had some hard times ahead. But no, this was not a repeat of the situation with Nick. She had to find a cure, no matter what. Or else she had a hunch she would feel too useless to go on.
Max hadn't even blinked at the needle piercing her arm, but Natalie almost dropped the vial when Max attacked again:
"What's in it for you?"
Natalie went on as if she hadn't heard anything, stashing the samples in the fridge. She hadn't counted on being pinned face on to it after shutting the door.
"I'm listening."
What was wrong with this girl? She wouldn't be as easy to deflect as Logan. In a crazy moment's decision, Natalie decided to lay it all out. Well, almost all of it.
"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I tell you a bedtime story?"
Max was so surprised, she let Natalie duck under her arms and head for the couch. What was wrong with this woman? She didn't look like she would be afraid of anything. Was it recklessness ? Or something else?
"I mean it, Max, you're making me nervous."
"If you ask me, you could use it." But she did as she was bid.
"I used to be a coroner in Toronto before the pulse." Natalie watched the woman in front of her to gauge her reaction. In her days people hadn't reacted too well hearing about her profession. She had fought lots of battles over that and lost most of them. But Max seemed unfazed.
"And?"
"I worked the night shift. And one night, it was my 28th birthday, they brought in a very mangled corpse. The man had tried to deflect a pipe bomb and was torn to pieces in the process." Should she go on, or would Max think she had gone looney? After all, it wasn't her secret, a bit of censorship was needed.
"That night I met Nick Knight, a cop with the Toronto PD. We became friends, I even fell in love with him and was very frustrated to see him keeping his distance. He had a genetic problem which made him go violent at times. His past had been marred by that and he felt guilty. I offered to help him, tried to find a cure for his condition. I failed."
Natalie stopped and gulped down the rest of her coffee.
"So I guess this is for me as well as for Logan and you. I'm probably just trying to make up for my failure."
Now she did have Max' attention. But not in the way she had thought.
"There is no such thing".
"What?"
"I said there is no such genetic condition to make you violent. At least not one where you could function as a cop without getting caught. The only thing could be a double Y chromosome, but then he would be a serial killer and quite asocial. Not the type to fall in love with, if you know what I mean."
If she only knew. But she had to give it to her, Max was exceptionally bright. Natalie could imagine what Max thought: a former coroner in love with a genetically deficient violent cop.
"So, aren't you going to tell me what happened? Or are you afraid I'll have nightmares form your bedtime story?"
"I can't tell you more because I don't really remember how it all ended. He almost killed me one night and then I think he felt so guilty he killed himself."
"Ah, Romeo and Juliet, pre- Pulse version, huh? You haven't gone looking for him?"
"They told me he died. I ended up in the US and couldn't go back. There were complications with his family."
"You must be joking? Oh well, it's your problem. You want to dish out lies, it's none of my business after all. All I want to know is that you contact no one besides Logan or me and that you can find that cure. Gotta blaze."
Natalie sighed as the door slammed shut for the second time that morning. Oh, well, so much for telling the truth in its barest form. What would have happened if she had added all the details?
Max revved up her bike and headed for Logan's. The man was so lucky she had taken out her anger on Natalie... In fact she missed him so much it hurt. She had this strange urge to see him, hold him and... Oh... Heat? How many months had it been, three and a half? Hopefully not. After all, she needed to check some things in Natalie's story. It was either the worst lie she had ever heard and in that case the good doctor couldn't be trusted, or she was hiding things that could get dangerous - which also meant she needed to find out more.
Part one
The door of the cabin flew open and slammed on the wall. Just a bit harder and the door frame would have been no more.
"What's up, Logan said you were in urgent need of help. Doesn't look like it to me."
Natalie was sitting on the old couch, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands to warm up. This didn't look good at all. Max seemed pissed. And good old Logan had backed out of the deal, leaving Natalie to face it head on. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't faced her share of monsters in her life, human or otherwise, Max would just be at the bottom of a long list. Just come right out with it and she won't have the time to kill you.
"Logan asked me to help find a cure for the virus you carry."
Max tensed, arching forward.
"He did WHAT?"
If she hadn't known she had absolutely perfect hearing she wouldn't have believed it. But that still left her reasoning to doubt, or rather Logan's. How could he not tell her about it? Did he think he could hide forever? She noticed the long line of test tubes, petri dishes, vials and assorted medical equipment cluttering the kitchen area.
"You heard me, Max. And don't tell me you can't understand him at least on some level. In fact, I'm pretty sure you would have done the same."
Natalie watched the young X5 with slight apprehension. Max had a tendency to run away at the worst possible times. Before the young girl could bolt, Natalie decided to go on the offensive: "Give me your arm."
Max recoiled.
"Hey, I need some tissue samples. Or am I wrong in assuming you want the cure, too?"
Max grabbed a chair, turned it around and straddled it, streching out her arm. The girl certainly must have had her share of needle poking, Natalie mused as she grabbed some of the instruments that had arrived this morning. If she were to succeed she needed to earn her trust. If that would be as tough as with Nick, she had some hard times ahead. But no, this was not a repeat of the situation with Nick. She had to find a cure, no matter what. Or else she had a hunch she would feel too useless to go on.
Max hadn't even blinked at the needle piercing her arm, but Natalie almost dropped the vial when Max attacked again:
"What's in it for you?"
Natalie went on as if she hadn't heard anything, stashing the samples in the fridge. She hadn't counted on being pinned face on to it after shutting the door.
"I'm listening."
What was wrong with this girl? She wouldn't be as easy to deflect as Logan. In a crazy moment's decision, Natalie decided to lay it all out. Well, almost all of it.
"Why don't you make yourself comfortable while I tell you a bedtime story?"
Max was so surprised, she let Natalie duck under her arms and head for the couch. What was wrong with this woman? She didn't look like she would be afraid of anything. Was it recklessness ? Or something else?
"I mean it, Max, you're making me nervous."
"If you ask me, you could use it." But she did as she was bid.
"I used to be a coroner in Toronto before the pulse." Natalie watched the woman in front of her to gauge her reaction. In her days people hadn't reacted too well hearing about her profession. She had fought lots of battles over that and lost most of them. But Max seemed unfazed.
"And?"
"I worked the night shift. And one night, it was my 28th birthday, they brought in a very mangled corpse. The man had tried to deflect a pipe bomb and was torn to pieces in the process." Should she go on, or would Max think she had gone looney? After all, it wasn't her secret, a bit of censorship was needed.
"That night I met Nick Knight, a cop with the Toronto PD. We became friends, I even fell in love with him and was very frustrated to see him keeping his distance. He had a genetic problem which made him go violent at times. His past had been marred by that and he felt guilty. I offered to help him, tried to find a cure for his condition. I failed."
Natalie stopped and gulped down the rest of her coffee.
"So I guess this is for me as well as for Logan and you. I'm probably just trying to make up for my failure."
Now she did have Max' attention. But not in the way she had thought.
"There is no such thing".
"What?"
"I said there is no such genetic condition to make you violent. At least not one where you could function as a cop without getting caught. The only thing could be a double Y chromosome, but then he would be a serial killer and quite asocial. Not the type to fall in love with, if you know what I mean."
If she only knew. But she had to give it to her, Max was exceptionally bright. Natalie could imagine what Max thought: a former coroner in love with a genetically deficient violent cop.
"So, aren't you going to tell me what happened? Or are you afraid I'll have nightmares form your bedtime story?"
"I can't tell you more because I don't really remember how it all ended. He almost killed me one night and then I think he felt so guilty he killed himself."
"Ah, Romeo and Juliet, pre- Pulse version, huh? You haven't gone looking for him?"
"They told me he died. I ended up in the US and couldn't go back. There were complications with his family."
"You must be joking? Oh well, it's your problem. You want to dish out lies, it's none of my business after all. All I want to know is that you contact no one besides Logan or me and that you can find that cure. Gotta blaze."
Natalie sighed as the door slammed shut for the second time that morning. Oh, well, so much for telling the truth in its barest form. What would have happened if she had added all the details?
Max revved up her bike and headed for Logan's. The man was so lucky she had taken out her anger on Natalie... In fact she missed him so much it hurt. She had this strange urge to see him, hold him and... Oh... Heat? How many months had it been, three and a half? Hopefully not. After all, she needed to check some things in Natalie's story. It was either the worst lie she had ever heard and in that case the good doctor couldn't be trusted, or she was hiding things that could get dangerous - which also meant she needed to find out more.