Maxine opened her eyes and groaned. Her first thoughts were of how rude Max had been, but then she sat up and saw the muffins everywhere... and she screamed. Screamed bloody murder.

Quickly, Max and Logan rushed into the room, quite noisily at that.

"What's wrong?" Logan exclaimed.

Maxine pointed a shaky finger at the muffins that lay everywhere. She turned to them with a horrified expression, "The muffins! Ruined! On the floor! My God! Perfectly good food, wasted! There are starving people in China!"

Max rolled her eyes and shook her head lightly. Logan took a calming breath, then bent down and picked up a muffin. He inspected it closely then, finding not a speck of dirt on it, he moved to take a bite of it...

"No!" Maxine exclaimed and zoomed over to Logan, knocking the muffin from his hand. "It's been on the floor! You'll catch a disease!"

"...Okay."

"So," Maxine said, suddenly back to her chipper self. "Does my story check out?"

"It did." Logan nodded. "Now that we know you told us the truth, Max can help you."

"Can't I just write a few little notes?" Max said, but Logan gave her a look and she sighed. "Fine. Tomorrow I'll... take you to work."

Maxine smiled widely and brought Max in for an oxygen draining hug. "I'm so happy! Thank you!"

Max gently pushed her double away and managed a smile. She then suddenly frowned. "Where are you going to stay?"

Maxine's smile never faded. "I can stay with Logan. I can make him cookies."

"No! No!" Max said suddenly. "I mean, no. Stay with me. I can... teach ya about... roommates and... uh, other stuff. Staying with Logan wouldn't exactly prepare you for the real world."

"She's got a point." Logan agreed. "Not everyone lives in a penthouse."

"Oh?"

* * time lapse... * *

Max pushed open the door to the apartment and made way for Maxine. "Home sweet home."

Maxine entered the apartment and her eye began to twitch. She looked around the disarray and tried to force a smile, but it wouldn't come. "Is, uh, every place so... unorganized?"

"Pretty much." Max shrugged. "After the Pulse people didn't really have the cash for a maid or butler."

"I see." Maxine said in an oddly high-toned voice. "Would you... mind if I... cleaned up a bit?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Max said. "You really don't have to..."

"No, no, no." Maxine said and began looking around for something to clean with. "It'd be my pleasure."

Maxine quickly pushed Max aside and grabbed a rag and searched under the sink. She gave a victorious cry when she found some Lemon Pledge. She showed her prize to Max, then ran off into the bathroom, laughing madly.

Max raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. It seemed that everything to come out of Manticore had its... quirks, and Maxine proved to be no different.