A/N: I apologize for not posting. I know I said middle of December, but school is so hectic, and I'm applying for grad school so I have extra work on top of essays and exams. I'm so sorry for not posting for a long time. I know you're all waiting. I just wanted to say that I WILL finish this story. There are only 3 chapters left I think. No matter how long it takes, as long as you all still leave me reviews to let me know that you're still reading, I reassure you all that I'll finish this. : ) I've gotten really thoughtful and sweet reviews for the last post. I am eternally grateful. The criticisms were most appreciated too : )
I don't know when the next chapter will be, but Christmas break is coming, I'll hopefully have time then. But I have two jobs right now (I'm a poor student) so I won't promise anything.
Since I can't just have author's notes....I decided to post some BLOOPERS! These are stuff that never made it to the final posts for one reason or another. Just some fun M/L banter. I don't know how good they are, I mean, there's a reason why I cut them out : p
and means dialogue.
// and // means thoughts
**************************************************************************************
After days of trying, Logan finally broke the ice of formality.
« I feel like having chinese food tonight. » he stretched his arms over his head and yawned.
Max didn't like where this was going, « I'm sure the people at Peiking Garden would love to hear that. »
« I haven't seen your new loft yet. » Logan tried again.
Uh oh. « Nothing there to see, just a big box with furniture and stuff. »
//Max don't make this so hard.// Logan silently whined.
« And my baby. »
//Thank you// « So I finally get to see your motorcycle. » And how he envied the damn thing !
Max stared at Logan and calculated him for a second. What did he want this time? It certainly wasn't her. Obviously he found her pretty, all men did and she didn't expect Logan to be immune. But what else ? Hmmm ? Nothing. She still couldn't read him. So, her last futile attempt, « I can't cook. »
« I can ! »
Max gave in, just as long as Logan didn't make a habit of inviting himself in. « Fine. I'll stop by Chinatown after work, be in the lobby by 7:30. »
Grinning like an idiot, «Great ! »
« Whatever Logan. »
**************************************************************************************
Except for water, milk, cucumber, oatmeal and eggs, Max's kitchen was spotless and empty. Give or take one second, Logan was convinced that Max could tell him the best and fastest food delivery service in the city.
He surveyed the contents of the grocery bags ; soy sauce, noodles, honey, chicken, bean sprouts, carrots, rice, spices, beef, canola oil, tofu and some fruits.
« Nice. » So Max had a sense on what to buy.
« What ? Did you say something. » Max reappeared wearing comfy jeans and a black tight tank top that showed her midriffs.
//Huh ? What ? Ohh.// Reality finally struck him after his hormones momentarily took control of all his senses. « I said what would you want for dinner ? »
« Whatever you can make with what I bought. Hope it's enough. » Max reminded herself to smile later when Logan wasn't looking. So it was nice to be admired. //You like that huh ?//
Going through recipes in his head, « Okay, how about some chicken, fried rice and beef chow mein ? »
« Sounds good, so how long is it gonna take ?» After Logan finally talked Max into having him over, she got a *little* excited about eating a home cooked meal. She hadn't had one of those in a while.
« About thirty minutes. » Logan turned on the stove and started looking for knives and pans.
Max slumped on a seat and pouted, « That long ? ».
Pouting her lips had been young Max's secret weapon, she did it and Logan feel on his knees to please her. He never liked seeing her sad or watching her cry, although he occasionally liked getting her mad so he could woo her back. He had been so sure that he would eventually get immune to the whole pouting act but seeing the adult Max do it again made it look ... seductive. Oh he was doomed.
« Would it make it faster if I helped chopping those vegies ? » Max leaned closer to Logan to get a closer look.
« Maybe. » He handed her some carrots, but not before her sweet scent tickled his nose.
***
Max watched as Logan added the soy sauce and honey to the tenderized chicken. She had herself convinced that the only reason she's keeping an eye on Logan was because she didn't want him snooping around her unit, as he did earlier in the living room.
« Smells good. » Max dipped her index finger inside the jar of honey and silently sucked on it.
Logan inhaled deeply, pretending to smell the food. Max was standing way too close and his testosterone was acting up again. If worse comes to worse and he started having heart palpitations and shivers, he could always feign nausea due to hunger.
Max reached for something on the table and sat on the counter beside the stove. Logan watched her as she dipped a strawberry inside the honey jar and popped the whole thing in her mouth.
« Mmmm. Sweet ! » She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as some juice squirted out when she spoke. She then took another strawberry, covered it again with honey and this timed popped it into Logan's mouth. She did it so casually and so innocently, Logan wondered if she even knew she did it.
Max was tempted to bite on half of a strawberry and offer the other half to Logan, as she had done with boyfriends from the past. She jumped out of the counter as soon as she thought the idea. She wouldn't want to make a fool of herself. She already had her guard down low enough to feed him, thankfully he didn't say anything.
//Why did you have to buy those strawberries in the first place ? !? !//
**************************************************************************************
"You're kidding me?!?" Logan mumbled in disbelief at Sebastian's statement over the phone. His fingers then went flying over the keyboard as Sebastian supplied him the password they had long been trying to crack.
"...0..4..5..6..8..8..7. Did you get all that?" Sebastian couldn't contain his excitement. This last project for EO had taken up a lot of his and Logan's time. They had been working on it around the clock, trying to uncover a government secret involving the US Military and Defense.
"Got it!" Logan stared at his computer as it showed the complete funding list for all government agencies in the West Coast.
"I can't believe it! We actually have the list." Logan grabbed a disk to download their precious information.
"LOGAN! What the heck are you still doing?!? I've been waiting for you for over half an hour!" Logan's childish grin was quickly replaced by a grimace as Max reprimanded him. She slammed shut the door and waltzed her way over to Logan's desk with both hands on her hips.
"Sorry Max." Logan's shoulders bolted up higher as an instinctive body defense. "Five more minutes, ok?" He pleaded, not bothering to cover the phone's mouth piece.
"Fine, five minutes. But that's all you're getting!." Men! Max thought as she slumped back on one of Logan's couches, waiting for him to finish his conversation. She then lazily picked up a magazine to occupy her time.
"That was Max." Logan informed Sebastian who was trying to suppress a chuckle. Max had such power over Logan, it was pathetic!
"Yeah, I can tell. Anyway, all we need to do is match up the missing money to the unaccounted sources in the list." Sebastian quickly forgot about Max and Logan's domestic squabbles.
"Right, we could probably start with firearms and missile departments. Split up the vicinities in 5 and have your guys work on three." Logan offered, strategic possibilities were flying around his head so fast, he was on fire.
Max initially pretended to be consumed with the magazine when she really was paying attention to Logan. It was rare that he gave her privy for his top secret EO projects. But she soon tuned out with all the talk about missiles and weapons. Nothing had changed since the beginning of time, men would still jeopardize their semi-justified existence for war and disorder. She couldn't understand Logan's fascination on stirring up things in Washington, the man just couldn't let things be. No, he had to dig and search for "wrong" and corrupt things with society. The privilege of bored, rich, liberal men. Max glanced at her wristwatch, seeing that fifteen minutes had already passed and Logan was still on the phone, conveniently forgetting that she was wasting her time waiting for him.
Max stood up and without warning, grabbed the phone resting between Logan's shoulder and cheek.
"Hi Sebastian? Logan has got to go now ok? Call him Monday morning. No not this week-end, we're going with the kids from the Arcade to a family estate up North. No, not the cabin. There's no phone there, ok bye."
Seeing Logan's lower jaw hang open in shock, Max put two fingers below his chin to help him close his mouth. "Let's go Logan.", Max simply said with a sweet saccharine smile, as if what she had done was a polite regular occurrence.
"Max, that was rude." Logan snapped as he recovered. She was doing it to him again, walking all over him as if he would just let her.
"No, Logan, what's rude is you making me wait for forty five minutes." Max glared at him.
"Oh, sorry." Damn, that was the second time he apologized to her in less than thirty minutes. No explanations to defend himself, no arguments, nothing! The man needed help.
Logan mutely followed Max to his car on their way to the Arcade Community Centre. It was a children's organization that Biotech generously funded. All its employees, due to Logan's insistence, had to volunteer one day of each month to spend time with homeless and poor children.
Logan did an article on homelessness when he was in university and from his research, he became aware of the problems that faced the youth of America. A lot of them were living below the poverty line, with little or no hope of getting out of the vicious cycle of welfare and unemployment. Most had single mothers who were barely adults themselves, having had gotten pregnant in their teens. The kids would grow up knowing that life revolved around alcohol, drugs and abuse, with no insight that something better was out there in the world. Logan wanted to change that, he needed to change that. He devoted a lot of his time at the Arcade, inspiring young children to see the strength within themselves and dare to have better lives. He continued to do so despite his current busy schedule. Max, being the other CEO of Biotech, had no choice but to comply and support Logan's public service. She had resigned to convince herself that she was playing nice with the little squealing brats because it was good for Biotech's public image.
But that wasn't true. Max had seen first hand the difference it made in the children's lives. A day each month wasn't a lot, it wasn't a perfect solution, it wouldn't all of a sudden make everything better. But it was something, and it was enough. Those children were offered another option. They were given hope. It was still up to them to take it, but the fact that something was there where nothing had been before was a step away from the downhill spiral of poverty.
"I hope Celine and Nicholas fit in the skates I got for them." Max commented, breaking the silence as she and Logan drove to the Arcade.
"Yeah, the lake should be frozen by now, it'll be good." Logan searched for a parking space and found one across the street from the rundown building that housed the Arcade.
"You need to do something about that building Logan, it's falling apart." Max took her seatbelt off and looked outside for oncoming cars.
"I have no say as to how they spend Biotech's donation, Max. I think Asha decided the money is better spent on the programs than the building. I see nothing wrong with that." Asha was a social worker who managed the Arcade.
Asha could do nothing wrong in Logan's eyes. Just the mere mention of the woman's name sent Max's blood boiling. "Of course.", Max tried not to sound too sarcastic, but Logan caught the edge in her voice. He ignored it, choosing wisely to stay away from whatever issue Max had with Asha.
"Ok, I'll go get the kids, wait for us here." Max crossed the street as soon as traffic permitted her. She opted to go inside herself and brave Asha instead of waiting in the car and imagining how Asha was trying to lure Logan.
Arrgh, Max hated her. She was like a leech, trying to get close to Logan all the time. It made Max sick thinking of Logan having a relationship with that woman. No that wasn't fair. It made her sick thinking about Logan with ANY woman. But that wasn't the point. Asha was just plain annoying, not to mention a hypocrite. She'd smile at Max in front of the kids but back stab her as soon as she turned around.
"Max!!!!! You're here!!!!" A little girl with blond curly hair and blue sparkling eyes run up to Max and threw her arm around Max's waist.
"Hey Celine! How's my favorite boo?" Max bent down to pick Celine up to deposit her on one hip.
Celine's smile vanished as she tried to make herself look sad. Pouting, she gave the boy who now stood next to Max, an evil look. He was only a couple of years older than Celine, but he stood a good one feet more than she did. "Nicholas pinched me." She declared, vying for Max's affection.
"Ah, poor baby." Max gently rocked Celine whose face was now buried on Max's neck. She then gently wiped away the girl's crocodile tears.
"I didn't pinch her, I swear Max. Even ask Asha, she was there." Nicholas run his fingers through his thick brown hair. Max wouldn't be surprised if he really did pinch Celine, he was a little troublemaker - but she adored him anyway. He had these mischievous brown eyes that Max was sure would be the cause of plenty of girls falling in love with him when he grew up.
Seeing Nicholas stand uncomfortably beside her, Max winked at him, letting him know that she was only playing Celine's game. The little boy visibly relaxed, he didn't want Max to think he would do such a horrible thing.
"Hi Max." Asha greeted Max kindly enough.
"Asha." Max nodded at the blond woman in front of her while making mental notes of the list of things that was wrong with her. Asha definitely needed a new wardrobe. She was wearing a crocheted white top and bright lime green pants, it was hurting Max's eyes. While Asha was getting herself a new wardrobe, she could pick up a new attitude too, a new less annoying facial expression wouldn't hurt either.
"Where's Logan?" God, she didn't even have enough class to be discreet.
"He's outside waiting in the car." Max pointed her head towards Logan's location and Nicholas excitedly run out to see him. Even Celine perked up at the mention of Logan's name because she detached herself from Max's arms to run behind Nicholas.
"I'll help you bring the kids' bags outside." Asha tried picking up a backpack but Max was quick. She got all three bags in her hands before Asha had an excuse to go out and see Logan.
Smiling triumphantly, Max said, "That's not necessary, I got it. Thanks for the thought though." And before Asha could protest, Max was out the door. "I'll tell Logan you said hello."
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A/N To tell you the truth, I don't really HATE Asha. I was just playing with her character : )
I don't know when the next chapter will be, but Christmas break is coming, I'll hopefully have time then. But I have two jobs right now (I'm a poor student) so I won't promise anything.
Since I can't just have author's notes....I decided to post some BLOOPERS! These are stuff that never made it to the final posts for one reason or another. Just some fun M/L banter. I don't know how good they are, I mean, there's a reason why I cut them out : p
and means dialogue.
// and // means thoughts
**************************************************************************************
After days of trying, Logan finally broke the ice of formality.
« I feel like having chinese food tonight. » he stretched his arms over his head and yawned.
Max didn't like where this was going, « I'm sure the people at Peiking Garden would love to hear that. »
« I haven't seen your new loft yet. » Logan tried again.
Uh oh. « Nothing there to see, just a big box with furniture and stuff. »
//Max don't make this so hard.// Logan silently whined.
« And my baby. »
//Thank you// « So I finally get to see your motorcycle. » And how he envied the damn thing !
Max stared at Logan and calculated him for a second. What did he want this time? It certainly wasn't her. Obviously he found her pretty, all men did and she didn't expect Logan to be immune. But what else ? Hmmm ? Nothing. She still couldn't read him. So, her last futile attempt, « I can't cook. »
« I can ! »
Max gave in, just as long as Logan didn't make a habit of inviting himself in. « Fine. I'll stop by Chinatown after work, be in the lobby by 7:30. »
Grinning like an idiot, «Great ! »
« Whatever Logan. »
**************************************************************************************
Except for water, milk, cucumber, oatmeal and eggs, Max's kitchen was spotless and empty. Give or take one second, Logan was convinced that Max could tell him the best and fastest food delivery service in the city.
He surveyed the contents of the grocery bags ; soy sauce, noodles, honey, chicken, bean sprouts, carrots, rice, spices, beef, canola oil, tofu and some fruits.
« Nice. » So Max had a sense on what to buy.
« What ? Did you say something. » Max reappeared wearing comfy jeans and a black tight tank top that showed her midriffs.
//Huh ? What ? Ohh.// Reality finally struck him after his hormones momentarily took control of all his senses. « I said what would you want for dinner ? »
« Whatever you can make with what I bought. Hope it's enough. » Max reminded herself to smile later when Logan wasn't looking. So it was nice to be admired. //You like that huh ?//
Going through recipes in his head, « Okay, how about some chicken, fried rice and beef chow mein ? »
« Sounds good, so how long is it gonna take ?» After Logan finally talked Max into having him over, she got a *little* excited about eating a home cooked meal. She hadn't had one of those in a while.
« About thirty minutes. » Logan turned on the stove and started looking for knives and pans.
Max slumped on a seat and pouted, « That long ? ».
Pouting her lips had been young Max's secret weapon, she did it and Logan feel on his knees to please her. He never liked seeing her sad or watching her cry, although he occasionally liked getting her mad so he could woo her back. He had been so sure that he would eventually get immune to the whole pouting act but seeing the adult Max do it again made it look ... seductive. Oh he was doomed.
« Would it make it faster if I helped chopping those vegies ? » Max leaned closer to Logan to get a closer look.
« Maybe. » He handed her some carrots, but not before her sweet scent tickled his nose.
***
Max watched as Logan added the soy sauce and honey to the tenderized chicken. She had herself convinced that the only reason she's keeping an eye on Logan was because she didn't want him snooping around her unit, as he did earlier in the living room.
« Smells good. » Max dipped her index finger inside the jar of honey and silently sucked on it.
Logan inhaled deeply, pretending to smell the food. Max was standing way too close and his testosterone was acting up again. If worse comes to worse and he started having heart palpitations and shivers, he could always feign nausea due to hunger.
Max reached for something on the table and sat on the counter beside the stove. Logan watched her as she dipped a strawberry inside the honey jar and popped the whole thing in her mouth.
« Mmmm. Sweet ! » She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as some juice squirted out when she spoke. She then took another strawberry, covered it again with honey and this timed popped it into Logan's mouth. She did it so casually and so innocently, Logan wondered if she even knew she did it.
Max was tempted to bite on half of a strawberry and offer the other half to Logan, as she had done with boyfriends from the past. She jumped out of the counter as soon as she thought the idea. She wouldn't want to make a fool of herself. She already had her guard down low enough to feed him, thankfully he didn't say anything.
//Why did you have to buy those strawberries in the first place ? !? !//
**************************************************************************************
"You're kidding me?!?" Logan mumbled in disbelief at Sebastian's statement over the phone. His fingers then went flying over the keyboard as Sebastian supplied him the password they had long been trying to crack.
"...0..4..5..6..8..8..7. Did you get all that?" Sebastian couldn't contain his excitement. This last project for EO had taken up a lot of his and Logan's time. They had been working on it around the clock, trying to uncover a government secret involving the US Military and Defense.
"Got it!" Logan stared at his computer as it showed the complete funding list for all government agencies in the West Coast.
"I can't believe it! We actually have the list." Logan grabbed a disk to download their precious information.
"LOGAN! What the heck are you still doing?!? I've been waiting for you for over half an hour!" Logan's childish grin was quickly replaced by a grimace as Max reprimanded him. She slammed shut the door and waltzed her way over to Logan's desk with both hands on her hips.
"Sorry Max." Logan's shoulders bolted up higher as an instinctive body defense. "Five more minutes, ok?" He pleaded, not bothering to cover the phone's mouth piece.
"Fine, five minutes. But that's all you're getting!." Men! Max thought as she slumped back on one of Logan's couches, waiting for him to finish his conversation. She then lazily picked up a magazine to occupy her time.
"That was Max." Logan informed Sebastian who was trying to suppress a chuckle. Max had such power over Logan, it was pathetic!
"Yeah, I can tell. Anyway, all we need to do is match up the missing money to the unaccounted sources in the list." Sebastian quickly forgot about Max and Logan's domestic squabbles.
"Right, we could probably start with firearms and missile departments. Split up the vicinities in 5 and have your guys work on three." Logan offered, strategic possibilities were flying around his head so fast, he was on fire.
Max initially pretended to be consumed with the magazine when she really was paying attention to Logan. It was rare that he gave her privy for his top secret EO projects. But she soon tuned out with all the talk about missiles and weapons. Nothing had changed since the beginning of time, men would still jeopardize their semi-justified existence for war and disorder. She couldn't understand Logan's fascination on stirring up things in Washington, the man just couldn't let things be. No, he had to dig and search for "wrong" and corrupt things with society. The privilege of bored, rich, liberal men. Max glanced at her wristwatch, seeing that fifteen minutes had already passed and Logan was still on the phone, conveniently forgetting that she was wasting her time waiting for him.
Max stood up and without warning, grabbed the phone resting between Logan's shoulder and cheek.
"Hi Sebastian? Logan has got to go now ok? Call him Monday morning. No not this week-end, we're going with the kids from the Arcade to a family estate up North. No, not the cabin. There's no phone there, ok bye."
Seeing Logan's lower jaw hang open in shock, Max put two fingers below his chin to help him close his mouth. "Let's go Logan.", Max simply said with a sweet saccharine smile, as if what she had done was a polite regular occurrence.
"Max, that was rude." Logan snapped as he recovered. She was doing it to him again, walking all over him as if he would just let her.
"No, Logan, what's rude is you making me wait for forty five minutes." Max glared at him.
"Oh, sorry." Damn, that was the second time he apologized to her in less than thirty minutes. No explanations to defend himself, no arguments, nothing! The man needed help.
Logan mutely followed Max to his car on their way to the Arcade Community Centre. It was a children's organization that Biotech generously funded. All its employees, due to Logan's insistence, had to volunteer one day of each month to spend time with homeless and poor children.
Logan did an article on homelessness when he was in university and from his research, he became aware of the problems that faced the youth of America. A lot of them were living below the poverty line, with little or no hope of getting out of the vicious cycle of welfare and unemployment. Most had single mothers who were barely adults themselves, having had gotten pregnant in their teens. The kids would grow up knowing that life revolved around alcohol, drugs and abuse, with no insight that something better was out there in the world. Logan wanted to change that, he needed to change that. He devoted a lot of his time at the Arcade, inspiring young children to see the strength within themselves and dare to have better lives. He continued to do so despite his current busy schedule. Max, being the other CEO of Biotech, had no choice but to comply and support Logan's public service. She had resigned to convince herself that she was playing nice with the little squealing brats because it was good for Biotech's public image.
But that wasn't true. Max had seen first hand the difference it made in the children's lives. A day each month wasn't a lot, it wasn't a perfect solution, it wouldn't all of a sudden make everything better. But it was something, and it was enough. Those children were offered another option. They were given hope. It was still up to them to take it, but the fact that something was there where nothing had been before was a step away from the downhill spiral of poverty.
"I hope Celine and Nicholas fit in the skates I got for them." Max commented, breaking the silence as she and Logan drove to the Arcade.
"Yeah, the lake should be frozen by now, it'll be good." Logan searched for a parking space and found one across the street from the rundown building that housed the Arcade.
"You need to do something about that building Logan, it's falling apart." Max took her seatbelt off and looked outside for oncoming cars.
"I have no say as to how they spend Biotech's donation, Max. I think Asha decided the money is better spent on the programs than the building. I see nothing wrong with that." Asha was a social worker who managed the Arcade.
Asha could do nothing wrong in Logan's eyes. Just the mere mention of the woman's name sent Max's blood boiling. "Of course.", Max tried not to sound too sarcastic, but Logan caught the edge in her voice. He ignored it, choosing wisely to stay away from whatever issue Max had with Asha.
"Ok, I'll go get the kids, wait for us here." Max crossed the street as soon as traffic permitted her. She opted to go inside herself and brave Asha instead of waiting in the car and imagining how Asha was trying to lure Logan.
Arrgh, Max hated her. She was like a leech, trying to get close to Logan all the time. It made Max sick thinking of Logan having a relationship with that woman. No that wasn't fair. It made her sick thinking about Logan with ANY woman. But that wasn't the point. Asha was just plain annoying, not to mention a hypocrite. She'd smile at Max in front of the kids but back stab her as soon as she turned around.
"Max!!!!! You're here!!!!" A little girl with blond curly hair and blue sparkling eyes run up to Max and threw her arm around Max's waist.
"Hey Celine! How's my favorite boo?" Max bent down to pick Celine up to deposit her on one hip.
Celine's smile vanished as she tried to make herself look sad. Pouting, she gave the boy who now stood next to Max, an evil look. He was only a couple of years older than Celine, but he stood a good one feet more than she did. "Nicholas pinched me." She declared, vying for Max's affection.
"Ah, poor baby." Max gently rocked Celine whose face was now buried on Max's neck. She then gently wiped away the girl's crocodile tears.
"I didn't pinch her, I swear Max. Even ask Asha, she was there." Nicholas run his fingers through his thick brown hair. Max wouldn't be surprised if he really did pinch Celine, he was a little troublemaker - but she adored him anyway. He had these mischievous brown eyes that Max was sure would be the cause of plenty of girls falling in love with him when he grew up.
Seeing Nicholas stand uncomfortably beside her, Max winked at him, letting him know that she was only playing Celine's game. The little boy visibly relaxed, he didn't want Max to think he would do such a horrible thing.
"Hi Max." Asha greeted Max kindly enough.
"Asha." Max nodded at the blond woman in front of her while making mental notes of the list of things that was wrong with her. Asha definitely needed a new wardrobe. She was wearing a crocheted white top and bright lime green pants, it was hurting Max's eyes. While Asha was getting herself a new wardrobe, she could pick up a new attitude too, a new less annoying facial expression wouldn't hurt either.
"Where's Logan?" God, she didn't even have enough class to be discreet.
"He's outside waiting in the car." Max pointed her head towards Logan's location and Nicholas excitedly run out to see him. Even Celine perked up at the mention of Logan's name because she detached herself from Max's arms to run behind Nicholas.
"I'll help you bring the kids' bags outside." Asha tried picking up a backpack but Max was quick. She got all three bags in her hands before Asha had an excuse to go out and see Logan.
Smiling triumphantly, Max said, "That's not necessary, I got it. Thanks for the thought though." And before Asha could protest, Max was out the door. "I'll tell Logan you said hello."
**************************************************************************************
A/N To tell you the truth, I don't really HATE Asha. I was just playing with her character : )