Disclaimer: Same as usual, I own nothing, I wish for no profit, etc.
Authors Nots: Well to say I was overwhelmed by the reviews I received would be an understatement. I can't believe I received so many, so shortly after posting it and they were pretty positive, another bonus. Just a few things some people have mentioned. I am from Australia and so spell things the Australian way, i.e. colour, with the 'u'. I apologise for the time it took to up load this. I sort of jumped in the deep end with the first chapter, posting it with out having any other back up chapters to slap up quickly. Don't worry I will write more, it just takes me some time. I am also fairly busy. Thank you all for the reviews, I am touched. You may have noticed, I need a beta. If anyone is interested, I offer 50 an hour with full health benefits.
Story Note: Right, well I've had a few people point out that there was a reference to Red Cordial made in the story – although I can't understand why – at some point. Here's the thing, I will explain why Logan has Red Cordial instead of the American equivalent which is something in the order of a Kool-Aid drink or something to that effect. Please just deal with it until I get around to explaining the Red Cordial situation. Until then, every time red cordial appears, just know that it is a Kool-Aid style drink, but nicer and Logan has it.
Chapter 2 – All or Nothing
"Max!" Logan was pretty much screaming at her now, while still trying to maintain some control of the car.
'Oh god, what's wrong with her. Well obviously she has a dirty great hole in her leg somewhere and she is losing blood. Too much blood.' As Logan thought this he decided pulling over and checking her out was the best thing to be done.
A few more kilometres up the road he noticed a reasonably busy pre-pulse fast food restaurant.
'Well I'm sure that those army guys won't come to look for us in a crowded place.' He assured himself as he drove around the back and found a quite place to park so he could get out and check on Max.
On stopping the car he flung his door open and jumped out, only to have his legs buckle under him, causing him to fall flat on his face.
"Damn! I need you guys to work now." He addressed his legs through gritted teeth.
Slowly but surely he could feel the sensation flooding back through his muscles and his feet start to twitch as he sent orders to them, orders to move and move fast.
'Come on, come on. Max needs me, she's unconscious or… Well she has to be unconscious she was only talking a while ago.' He tried to change the subject on himself so he didn't have to address the issue she could be a little more than unconscious.
Meanwhile Max sat in the car, still slumped against the window, not moving.
Finally Logan got his legs into order and stood up. Gingerly he made his way to the other side of the car, it was then he noticed to smell of over cooked meat coming out of the kitchen behind him.
He moved around to Max's door and opened it.
Max's body fell out and onto him.
'Logan you idiot, you saw she was leaning against the door!' He berated himself as he tried to get out from underneath Max, apparently his legs didn't agree with the idea that they should be able to support someone else's body weight just yet.
Max began to stir ever so slightly atop of Logan.
"Max? Max, are you alright, what happened?" Logan had noticed the movement and was attempting to rouse her back to the world of the living.
"Huh? What happened? Logan we need to get going, those soldiers are right behind me." Max managed to get out, although it took some time and was somewhat slurred. She had forgotten she was very angry with him, now she was only concerned for his safety and also wondering why she was lying on top of him in a dimly lit area.
'What the hell is he trying to pull. Damn he feels fine underneath me. Whoa there you go again girl, cool it.' The internal debate was quickly finished when Logan managed to worm his way from underneath her and uncertainly get to his feet. 'Oh well it was fun while it lasted.' This thought brought a slight grin to her face, a grin that quickly faded when she tried to stand and feel over.
"Damn." She sounded more embarrassed than anything.
"Max, are you ok?" Logan asked from his position on the ground, his voice full of worry and compassion.
"Yeah, sure, just a little light headed." She responded, obviously trying not to draw too much attention to the fact she had just fallen over.
"Well you've been bleeding all over the place, it's no surprise." Logan responded, trying to make an excuse for her whilst lightening the mood.
"At least now it's not only my clothes that are ruined." Max pointed out as she got to her feet and was able to stay there. Logan looked down and noticed that when Max had landed on him, some of the chemicals and quite a bit of her blood were now soaking nicely into his clothing. 'Oh this isn't good.' Logan thought with a sense of impending doom. 'No time for this, Max is still bleeding.' He deliberated as he looked over and saw the steady stream of blood still flowing from her lower right leg.
"Max, did you notice that you'd been shot?" Logan asked carefully, thinking it was a pretty stupid question and so expecting a sarcastic reply in return.
"What? Logan I've already had enough of you jerking me around tonight." Max started, there was a level or anger in her voice, anger and hurt remembering what had happened earlier that morning.
"Max, look at your leg, there is a hole in it and blood all over the place, I'm assuming that's why you lost consciousness." Logan tried, although quite tentatively knowing she was thinking about earlier and how much he had upset her.
Max did a quick scan of her senses, testing all the important muscles by stretching them a little. When she got to her right calf muscle she winced. 'Great just what I need a hole through my leg.'
Without asking she went to Logan's car and got the small medical kit that always accompanied them on their little late night excursions. She got some gauss and bandages out and tied them around her leg, blocking the bleeding.
"Max, shouldn't you clean that first?" Logan asked, a little puzzled knowing Max had a great knowledge of mid-combat first aid.
"Nah, it's not worth it. As you said before I'm already immune to all the chemicals made before I was, I'll be fine." She wasn't too happy with what she had just said, she hated reminding Logan that she wasn't just a normal girl, that she was a creation. Logan's next comment didn't help.
"Well super-girl, do you think you could give me a little hand? My leg's have given up for the moment." 'Damn I'm an idiot, I just keep putting my foot in it tonight. I know she doesn't like being reminded she is different, it's so obvious, she gets all shy and sullen.' Logan wasn't happy either anymore. The elation from realising Max was alright was quickly stifled by him saying something stupid… Again.
Max bent down and picked him up, a little too hard, sending him a foot or two above the pavement before his feet came down and again buckled, this time however he fell onto her, and she caught him.
For a fleeting moment they just stood there, Max standing erect, Logan slightly bent, both at eye level.
'Her eyes are so deep, there is such great brooding of emotions. These are the most amazing things I have ever seen. I now know, I really like this girl. Why does she keep looking at my mouth?'
'His eye's, they're so intense, so many mysteries I need to unravel. He knows everything thing about me and I know that he is Eyes Only, and that he is amazing. I think I'm glad I kissed him that time, maybe I could just…'
A hoot from one of the people populating the restaurant brought them back to earth, both very embarrassed with their current proximity to each other. Max, nearly dropped him in an attempt to get away from the situation then she realised Logan still needed her for support. She helped him back to the car then got back into the passenger seat. They left in silence, each one in a world of their own, of course each world was the same, they just hadn't realised it yet.
When they got back to Logan's apartment, he offered her a shower.
"Yeah sure, these clothes stink, you owe me…" Her sentence was cut short when she noticed that Logan was also covered in chemicals, and appeared to be sweating a lot more than usual. He then lurched forward and fell, hitting the hardwood floors with a resounding thud. In her attempts to stop him Max also nearly fell over, it appeared that her shoes were still wet and wet shoes and a hardwood floor didn't lend themselves to a high coefficient of friction.
When she finally got to him, he was having coughing fits. She flipped him over and lay his head on her leg – she was by this time also on the floor with Logan – and felt his brow.
"Logan, you're cooking, we need to get you cooled off…"
"Max, you're so pretty." Logan stated in a childish tone with a huge grin on his face.
Max blushed deeply even though she new he was hallucinating. 'Although they say people often speak what the truly feel during an hallucination.'
"Yeah, what ever." She wasn't quite sure if she was replying to Logan or trying to stop her own over imaginative thinking.
It was then she realised Logan had taken a chemical bath and wasn't as immune to them as she was. 'Oh god, he could die now.'
She bent down and sniffed the shirt Logan was wearing.
"Sodium, Nitrate, Hydrochloric Acid, oh something very pleasant, which is you isn't it Logan? Damn! Ammonia." Max listed the chemicals on his shirt and when she got to the last one, she started to get really worried. Ammonia was a very nasty chemical to come into contact with, in a gas form it can kill in only a few minutes, however she was pretty certain this wasn't a gas so there was still a very good chance he hadn't inhaled any. Of course if he had ingested some there could be some real trouble.
"Logan, try and answer me. Did you lick your lips or anything?" She was trying to establish if he had in fact consumed any. Her thought was interrupt by some more coughing, this time more serious, and blood was starting to splatter the floor.
"Max!" Logan yelled, this made her jump a little, as she wasn't expecting such an outburst.
"Yes, I'm here Logan, it's gonna to be ok. I just have to clean you up a little. We're taking a shower." With out thinking what she had actually said, she picked him up and carried him towards the bathroom.
"Max?"
"Shhh, it's going to be ok Loga…" Logan interrupted her.
"I was lost Max."
"Where, what?" Max was becoming increasingly confused and distressed with the state Logan was in, she noticed he was shaking now.
"I was lost, in your eyes. You have the most amazing eyes I've ever seen. Can you be mine?" Logan said, again in a childish voice before losing consciousness.
"Logan, Logan! Wake up!" Max was shouting at him, there would be time to consider what he had said a little later, even though it had been a hallucination she still liked hearing him say that.
They arrived at the shower and Max dumped him in, taking his shirt off in the process.
They didn't hear the door opening.
Max turned on the shower and tried to direct the spray at Logan, it wasn't working too well. The corner he was slumped in was just out of reach for the showerhead, so only his lower legs were getting washed.
"That won't do." Max said to Logan's unconscious form, she knew he needed to get cleaned quickly.
She took her jacket off and jumped in the shower with him and picked him up. 'Well I need to wash off too.'
They stood there in the shower – Max stood holding Logan at arms length slowly turning him around (and admiring the view) to get all the chemicals off his upper body, Logan hung, suspended by Max and flopped around as she only had hold of him mid chest. The room was filling with steam and Logan appeared to be breathing a little easier, at least the shaking and coughing blood had stopped. Max moved closer to him, she told herself it was because her arms were getting tired holding him at that length, in truth she could have held him at that distance for over a day, she just wanted to get closer. Max had only intended on bringer herself a little closer but she slipped on the soap and nearly hit her head on the shampoo caddy. 'Lucky, that would have hurt like the dickens' She thought to herself, then she noticed that instead of a nice little buffer of half a foot she had intended on, they were now squashed up against each other. Her first reaction was too jump back but that little part of her conscious, the one she knew was going to get her into trouble, seemed to have taken hold of her body. Not only did it not let her to jump back, it made her push herself against him more. 'This is crazy, he could regain consciousness any minute now and find me rubbing up against him.'
However she didn't stop, she enjoyed being this close to him. She then bent her head so her nose was only an inch away from his shoulder. Max inhaled deeply, sucking up as much of his scent as she could. God she loved the way he smelt.
She could feel someone looking at her, she looked up and saw Logan gazing down at her, a slight look of confusion but mainly one of desire. Max let him stand on his own now but still didn't change position. She slowly raised onto her tiptoes, looking him in the eyes the whole time.
"Hey you." She barely whispered.
"Hey yourself." Logan replied still a little confused with the situation but enjoying it none the less.
"I keep forgetting how tall you are." Max said, again it was barely audible
'Her eyes are so deep and full, looking up at me, up, I'm standing. Anything's possible now.' Logan could see the compassion, the insecurity, the fear but mainly the desire, something that he was sure his own eyes were betraying as well.
'Maybe I should kiss her, just to see what this relationship is about, I mean I can walk maybe she doesn't see me as such a charity case now. And I really want too.'
'I can't believe I'm still pushing myself against him, I should really just stand back and let him clean himself off. Those eyes, they're not letting me move, I can't believe all the mix of emotions that can be seen in his eyes. He is torn so many ways. He want's the kiss me, I can see the desire, why doesn't he kiss me? I want him too.' As Max said this, she again looked to his mouth while slightly inclining her head downwards while pushing herself up onto her toes.
Nothing.
She lowered slowly to the balls of her feet again, then changed her mind. 'It's worth another try.'
So again she pushed herself back onto her toes inclined her head and kept glancing between his wonderful eyes and his mouth.
This time she was rewarded. Logan leant down ever so slightly and kissed her gently.
'Oh my god! He kissed me!' Max was going insane, she pushed herself further up to deepen the kiss, Logan responded by lowering his head more towards her, the intensity increased.
'Oh god, I kissed her. This is amazing, I can't believe it.' Logan was about to lower his head to kiss her deeper when he was pleasantly surprised by the movement of her face towards him. He considered it for a moment and then put his arms gently around her lower back, just resting them there, trying to tell her that she was welcome to stay and not real desired to leave.
Max thought she heard something, then decided that there was nothing more important than what was going on here.
'Maybe I should put my arms around his neck.' Max entertained the idea then concluded it would be a little too much for the moment.
She knew if they didn't break the kiss soon, it was going to get too difficult to deal with, at the moment she didn't know what she was going to do afterwards.
Slowly and very grudgingly she withdrew from his embrace and stepped back.
They just stood there and looked at each other.
"Wow." Max barely said, so quiet because she didn't want to speak in case her voice didn't work properly.
"Yeah, wow." Logan replied
They stood there for a while, not really knowing what to do and trying to avoid eye contact.
"I should just…" Max began, speaking quickly and obviously embarrassed, using her thumb to point over her shoulder.
"Yeah, let me just finish up here, then you can have a proper go." Logan said, also rather rushed with his face turning a shade of pink.
When Max got back into Logan's room –they had some how ended up in his ensuite – a familiar smell assailed her nostrils. 'Now what were you doing here?' She thought to herself.
"Oh well, they're not here any more, the smell is probably still hanging around from earlier and I didn't notice when we got in." Max said, 'Why am I speaking to myself? My god I've been doing a lot of thinking tonight, first with the Red's then Original Cindy, but mostly Logan walking again. And now there is this.'
"Face it Max, you're in trouble." As she was saying this she remembered Logan had more than one shower. 'No point waiting around.'
She got up –she was sitting on Logan's bed, if she had actually realised this more thoughts would have invaded her mind – and went to the guest room the jumped in the shower.
'Nice work Cale, you've managed to destroy another excellent friendship. Max is either going to deny it again, not want to talk to me, or run. At least if she runs I know that she does actually care and is just afraid of getting involved again.' Logan's thoughts depressed him.
"Look at it this way, she seemed to want to kiss me, I mean she stood on her toes and was looking at my mouth the whole time. Maybe she did want it to happen." 'Yeah right, nice try there Logan, you know that you are no where near good enough for her. You can walk, so can everyone else. She is just such a good person, how do I stand a chance to compare…' Logan was becoming increasingly depressed, falling into an abyss he felt certain never to escape from.
Then.
"Right enough of this filth." He angrily told himself. 'Just get a grip and remember that you both kissed, that's all that counts. Also regaining consciousness only to discover the perfect woman pressed up against you, staring into your eyes, hers full of compassion and concern for your well being.'
With this a huge grin spread across his face and stayed there.
Max was in the guest shower, unable to remove the silly grin off her face.
'I can't believe he kissed me, I can't believe he put his arms around me. I can't believe I was willing to stop.' She just stood there for a small while, allowing the warm water and pleasant memories to flow over her. After a while however a dark reckoning started to creep in. 'Oh god, what's going to happen now? He's going to be waiting when I get out of the shower, what are we going to say and do? Should I walk up and sit on his lap?' Max discarded that idea pretty quickly although it appealed to her the most. 'Maybe a quick peck on the mouth or cheek.' While still appealing she noticed the slide she was taking. 'I think the best I can hope for is acknowledgment of what occurred and it won't be put down to being "real emotional".' She was getting upset now. 'No, he's going to pretend it didn't happen and just forget about it.' Panic was setting in, Max didn't think she could handle not being 'like that' with Logan now, not after this. She felt a great weight in her chest and a swelling in her lungs. 'Oh god, he's not going to want to see me again, he's just realising that he has kissed some science fiction freak, made in a lab, he is going to be disgusted with himself.' With out realising it, Max was sobbing, shoulders rising slowly then dropping sharply and dramatically. She felt torn and lost, and that's how she looked.
"Stop it Max, you are showing weakness." She told herself, in an attempt to regain some composure and she slipped back into Manticore mode. This really started to piss her off.
'Right so he doesn't want you, you're a freak get over it and move on.' Max was addressing herself internally, with great aggression.
It was then that she noticed the pain in her leg. She looked down and saw that the wound was recovering nicely, probably only needed a few more hours to be fully functional again. 'Oh that's right, wonder boy screwed up again, cost me my clothes and got a me a nice hole through my leg.' She was steaming now, Logan was going to get a chewing out for this. All of it.
Logan fell out of the shower and crawled into his closet. Usually this would have really hurt him emotionally and physically but at the moment he still had a stupid grin plastered on his face and thoughts of Max flooding through his head. He got dressed, then discovered that his legs were killing him, happy as he was the feel the pain, he knew he had over done them tonight, so he got into his wheelchair and went to the kitchen and fixed some food.
As soon as she stepped out of the shower she could hear Logan in the kitchen preparing food, she also noticed she had nothing to wear because her cat suit was ruined and all she had with her, in that room, was a towel. Of course that hadn't stopped her before and if she wasn't so angry it would have stopped her now. Considering the circumstances.
"Logan!" She yelled from the guest room as she wrapped the towel around her. 'Ok Max, remember start off on something nice and safe, him screwing up at the Manner tonight.
"Little to no security, now where have I heard that before?" She yelled sarcastically as she made her way down the hall to the kitchen. She stopped and looked at him with an expression able to shatter rock.
"Max, I'm so sorry about that. I didn't know they had planned to ship the guns out tonight. That was always a bit dodgy I'm really sorry." Logan was pleading, he knew there was serious grovelling to be done. 'It's making it hard to come up with something decent to say with her standing there in a towel, I mean, god she hasn't even dried herself off so everything is glistening.' Logan was having a very difficult time concentrating.
"Well it looks like, again, you screwed up and I had to pay for it." Max attacked, happy with the fact she could look at him – not his eyes yet – and not crumble to lose her well airted anger.
"Max, I…" He began but knew he had no chance. 'Hell hath no fury like a womans scorn', seemed to come to mind, then he added, 'Yeah well mine is genetically engineered, that's real trouble'. Trying not to smile, not only at his thoughts but also at the fact Max was attempting to be threatening and scary looking, which would usually work, however seeing her wrapped in a towel – a short towel he noticed – and with her body glistening with drops of water it was impossible for him to feel like he was in trouble. He recalled a night not too dissimilar to this only a short while ago. He'd upset her then and he didn't care, he was completely wrapped up in Eyes Only to even notice she was telling him she may never see him again, that time she wore nothing but a towel as well but it hardly registered. Now, he was fighting with all his might to hold in the grin that was threatening an appearance. The sensation of earlier in the shower was replaying itself again and again in his head, which also wasn't helping the situation.
"Look at you!" Max yelled snapping him back to reality, he hadn't been paying attention but not because of Eyes Only, this time it was the woman in front of him, numbing his senses.
"I was right, you don't even care about me, you just sit there ignoring me. All you want me for is so you can have a genetically engineered killing machine to do your leg work for you." Max had been ranting on for a while and when she hit the hard stuff, stuff concerning her and Logan, she started getting upset, noticing that he wasn't paying attention didn't help either. 'He doesn't even care, I was right, he's disgusted we kissed he hates what I am. He hates me.' Struggling with the urge to either cry or smack Logan back into the last century now occupied her thoughts. She was furious but more than that, her heart was breaking.
'Serves you right Max, what did you think you'd get? Happy families? You're a freak, nobody want's anything to do with you, not even Logan.'
"Are you done?" Logan asked flatly.
"What? How dare you." Max said, all the potency gone, it was more of a whimper.
"I said are you done? Got everything out? Good." The questions were more rhetorical.
"Look Max, I know I screwed up tonight with the whole Eyes Only case and the red cordial business." He was going to mention some of the stupider things he said but decided against the emotions it was bound to evoke within Max.
"But." He began, this time he grabbed Max by the chin, not roughly but swift enough to catch her a little bit by surprise.
"I don't know where the rest of this rubbish came from."
"Rubbish? That's all I am is it, rubbish?" Max snapped.
'Right, that didn't go to well. I suppose it's all or nothing here Logan.'
"What I mean by rubbish, is what you were saying was rubbish. I could you possibly think that's what I think of you? If you weren't standing there in a towel I might actually be a little hurt by that." An attempt to lighten the mood seemed to work a little, Max's expression softened and for a fleeting moment Logan was sure he saw a small quirk at the edges of her mouth.
"Max." He dragged her chin around so she was looking him in the eyes.
'Damn I lose.'
"There is no way I would do anything like that on purpose to hurt you, we both know I screw up but I would never intentionally hurt you." There was a deep sincerity in his voice, and a sad look in his eyes.
"I don't think you'd have a chance. I'm genetically engineered remember?" She tried that to see if he was repulsed at the reminder she was made in a lab. His expression changed dramatically although not in the way Max was expecting.
Logan's face dropped, his grin gone, he felt very useless again. Not because he couldn't walk, just helpless and upset that Max had been hurt so bad by him.
"You know I'm not talking physically, I'm talking emotionally, you know feelings and stuff?" Crap, big mistake asking that question.
"So you mean that because I'm created I don't have feelings!" Max screamed at him, jumping back and breaking the hold he had on her.
"How could you Logan?" The difference in volume levels and emotion were staggering, one minute she is screaming at him, full of rage, now it looked as if she was about to break, her voice sounded like she had.
"Max, I do care about you. A lot…" Logan began
"You already said that. I bet you say that to everyone you want help from. Pity I don't have emotions I might care." She cut in, her voice dripping with sarcasm and pain.
"Max, I never meant you didn't have emotions or couldn't care, I was trying to lighten the mood, apparently to no avail. I do care about you, I only tell people I care about that I do." Logan tried again, pleading with her.
"I also like you a lot. I think I want to spend more time with you on matters not related to Eyes Only and Manticore." He was being as honest as he could, also very cautious he was laying a lot on the line here. He didn't know where to look, he could feel Max's eyes boring into the top of his head, he was too scared to look at her, so he just occupied his gaze with the intricacies of the thread in his socks.
Max softened greatly when she heard this. 'He does like me, he said he wanted to spend time with me. Not with Manticore or Eyes Only but me, maybe I'm not such a freak after all.'
She decided that he was forgiven for the second half of the night, since she had concocted most of it psychologically before leaving the shower, her clothes on the other hand… 'I think it's time to have a little game with him.'
"So you finally realised did you?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm but there was something else there as well, Logan wasn't quite sure. He slowly looked up at her and saw the stern look on her face.
"Real-realised what?" He stuttered, there was nothing for him to do but panic, he had just given up all his feelings for Max – well maybe most of them and to certain degrees – and she was still as pissed as ever.
"That I'm wearing a towel this time." Her voice changed and it was the happy playful Max again, a huge smile gracing her features.
"W-What?" Logan still hadn't quite recovered.
"The towel, the un-dried body. I thought it might not work since the last time I did it, you didn't even notice. I didn't think you were that different from other men." Logan sensed the mood so decided to join in.
"Well you know, that towel is actually due for a wash, so if I can just have it I'll send it down the chute." He challenged her with this.
"Ok." Max simply responded.
'Oh god I didn't expect that, Logan was torn between the excitement of the impending view and the embarrassment which would accompany it. Excitement won quite easily.
"But first, I need some clothes.' Max had bent down and was leaning on each hand rest of the wheelchair, their faces inches apart.
For a moment they were locked there, each other's eyes confessing their secrets and resounding apologies, each imploring forgiveness for what they'd said and done.
"There's some in my room, closet somewhere." Logan finally said.
"Cool.' She got up and trotted off to his room, secretly a little disappointed that he hadn't taken the opportunity to express his 'care' for her but still elated with the outcome of the conversation or more accurately confrontation.
She came out of his bedroom and Logan was a little disappointed to see she had found a small stash of her own clothing. He really wanted to see her in his clothes.
"Guess what I found?" She asked playfully.
"Um… My favourite tank top, you must promise you don't stretch it before returning it." Logan said, also playfully.
"So got any breakfast for me? I'm starved."
"Let's see, how about… this." He performed, before retrieving two plates from the oven, keeping them warm. Each plate had a healthy serve of scrambled eggs on it.
"Real eggs. You served me real eggs?" Max was a little stunned, real eggs were hard to find in the city, and when you did they were very expensive.
"I have a personal supplier. This is only the beginning of my grovelling." He replied.
"Grovelling?" She asked, completely unaware of what he was talking about.
"Yeah, you know, the whole Eye's Only mission this morning, resulting in ruined clothes and a hole in your leg. God, I forgot let me have a look at that."
Max came over to where he was, and put her foot up on the counter, making a nice right-angle with her legs. Logan peered up – he was still in his wheel chair – and was amazed at what he saw.
"Max, that's only a scab, you were shot right?" Logan asked just to be sure, the puzzled look on his face was priceless.
"Yeah, just one of the perks of being a genetically engineered killing machine."
"Well as long as you're alright." He stated, again checking the wound.
"I'm fine." A wicked idea suddenly sprung to mind. She put on her best pout.
"But it hurts so bad to walk on still. I think I need a lift back to the dining table." With out waiting for a reply, she flopped onto his lap and grabbed the plate of food.
"Now mush, this girl is hungry." Logan just barked and wheeled them over to the table.
"Again Logan you surpassed yourself as a cook." She stated, standing up and taking the plates to the sink.
"It was probably the real eggs that helped." He replied, there had been something he was trying to bring up all breakfast but couldn't quite pluck the courage. 'Ok Cale, it's now or never.'
"Max, about… before." He heard dishes breaking, apparently dropped. 'Oh dear I think she's taking it the wrong way.
She had. She was leaning over the kitchen sink, trying to breath. 'No, how can he, he told me he cared, now he's just going to take it back again.' Max was very upset and responded trying not to let her emotions seep into her words.
"What about it?" Logan winced he could tell she was hurt already. 'Ok spit it out Logan.'
"You know how I was saying I wanted to spend some more time with you, without Manticore and Eye's Only?" He asked.
'Oh god, please don't let him take that back, it's all I have keeping me going at the moment.'
"Yeah." This time she didn't bother trying to hide the tears in her voice, the distress and pain.
"Well I was wondering if you'd like to have the long weekend with me. At my families cabin. Dizzying heights, mountain climbing in the Catskills, bushwalking, shmoors by the fire. It could be fun."
Max nearly collapsed, she thought she was being given the brush off, instead she was being invited on a long weekend retreat with Logan, only Logan not Eye's Only or Manticore. She bounded in the room and without thinking kissed him on the cheek.
"Sounds great." She said reddening quickly with what she had just done.
"We'll talk about it later" She said as she straightened up, Logan made a desperate attempt to grab her arm but missed.
"I've gotta blaze, I don't want to lose my job." She said as she bounced towards the doorway, literally brimming with excitement.
"Max? Your leg seems fine from here." He said as she ducked out the door.
She popped her head in and said.
"I just wanted a lift."
He thought that was the case.
That grin was back with a vengeance.