Reaching for The Moon by ThePekingNoodle

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Chapter Seventy-Three:  Words Cannot Express…

In which our hero and heroine navigate the treacherous path of things spoken and unspoken…

The two sat in silence for a while, finishing off their drinks. Then Logan turned to Max and said to her, "Do you mind if we go home? This isn't exactly my idea of a great place to talk."

Max shrugged. "Whatever. Are we going to actually talk though? It seems like lately we always end up doing everything but talking."

"As in ending up in bed you mean?" Logan said bluntly. "Having hot passionate sex?"

"That does seem to happen a lot lately." Max met his blue gaze.

"And that's a bad thing?" he challenged.

"I didn't say that. It's just that we never seem to talk about things."

"Fine. We'll stay here then." Logan lapsed back into moody silence.

Max sighed. "Logan, it's not that I don't love going to bed with you…I mean…you know…" Max began to flounder as Logan shot her a look over his beer.

"No I don't know. What do you mean?" He wasn't helping her at all, and Max was getting frustrated.

"I mean I don't know what you want from me, besides a hot body in your bed." Max blurted out.

Logan stared at her. "You think that's all I want from you? Thanks a lot. It's nice to know you think so highly of me."

"What do you want from me if it isn't that?" Max demanded. This wasn't going exactly as she had wanted, and she felt hopelessly at sea.

Logan sat there. What do you want from her? And do you want to tell her what you want from her? What if she doesn't want the same thing? Nice situation you've gotten yourself into. He took a breath and took the coward's way out. "I don't know."

"Oh." Max was silent.  Great. You know what happens when you push a mouse into a corner. So why'd you do it? Now what.

They sat there at a loss, neither one knowing how to move forward.  They might have sat there all night if Original Cindy hadn't walked over to the table.

"Left my jacket here," she said by way of explanation as she pulled it off the back of the chair it was hanging on. She started to leave, but then she paused and gave them both a hard stare.  "You two fixin' to sit here all night not talkin' to each other?"

Max opened her mouth to protest but Cindy held up a hand. "It's your business, boo but all I gotta say is I'm glad lesbians don't put ourselves through this drama you heteros do."  She looked at Max, "You need to remember what I told you before."  Then she turned and looked at Logan, "And you need to stop sulkin' 'bout things that are what they are and take care of your girl. She might be kickass on the outside but inside she needs her man and it seems to this girl that you're forgettin' that."   She turned and left the two of them sitting there staring after her openmouthed.

Their eyes met and Max stifled a giggle as Logan tried not to smile.

"Your friend doesn't hesitate to speak her mind, does she?" He finally said with a slight smile.

Max smiled back, "No she doesn't." The atmosphere between the two was less tense.

"Max, can we go home now?"

"And what happens when we get there?"

"We can talk more."

"Really?"

"Really."

Max rose and so did Logan and they headed to the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Are you hungry?" Logan asked when they got back to the penthouse.

"I could use something to eat." Max said.

The next hour passed in preparing and eating dinner. By mutual but unspoken consent they avoided serious conversation. But eventually the dinner was eaten, the dishes were cleared and stacked in the dishwasher, and they couldn't put it off any longer.

Logan led the way to the couch and dropped down onto it. Max followed suit, being careful to sit at the far end from him, a fact he noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Max I…" Logan started, and then stopped.

"You?"

He took a breath. "I'm sorry about before. It wasn't your fault what happened."

"I'm sorry too."

"For what?" he looked at her in genuine puzzlement.

"Being what I am."

"I lo…I mean there's nothing wrong with what you are." Now that was almost a slip.

Did he just start to say…no. No way. You're imagining what you want to hear. Get real.

"I hate what I am."

"Max, you're beautiful and smart and strong and amazing." Logan looked at her in genuine confusion. "Why would you hate that?"

"You forgot the part about my seizures and that three times a year I'm a complete slut for anything in pants, not to mention that I have a secret government agency chasing me and putting the lives of anyone who gets near me in danger."  Her words were bitter.

"None of that matters to me." His voice was low.

Max stared at him. "It should. Being around me is hazardous to your health."

"And being around me isn't?"

The two stared at each other. Then Logan reached out and took her hand.  He pulled her to him.  Max looked up at him suspiciously.

"This isn't just about getting you into my bed, you know," he told her.

Max opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the beeping of one of Logan's computers.  He cursed softly under his breath and hurried to the computer room, Max close behind him.

His screen was steadily flashing an icon.

"What does that mean?" Max wanted to know.

"It means an urgent piece of mail. Hang on." He punched a series of keys and a document opened up on his screen. "Whoa."

"What?" Max pushed past him to read it. "What does that mean? Target has been located in Seattle."

"It means I've located another one."

"Another one of what?"

"Another X5. One of the ones who escaped with you. They're in Seattle."

Max stared at him.

"So what do you say? Want to go pay a family visit tomorrow?" He grinned at her.

Max smiled back. "Why not."

Logan closed the email and shut down the computers. He yawned. "I'm ready to hit the sack."

Max just looked at him.

He held out his hand to her. "Come with me."

"I can sleep in the other room. That way I won't bother you."

"But I can't sleep if you're in the other room." Getting a little bit brave Logan? Admitting you need her around?

"Oh."  Does that mean he wants me around for more than just the sex?

Logan had had enough. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him to his room. Max gave in and went with him, a small smile curving the corners of her mouth.

End of Chapter Seventy-Three…TBC…