I don't own Batman Beyond.... Poor me.


Chapter 4



"Maxine! You look fab!" Amy said to Max as she walked into the ballroom.

"Thanks! You look pretty yourself." Max was wearing a long blue dress that had a split up each side. It showed that the back was cut just above her lower regions. The straps were near spaghetti and was low cut. It had a design of roses down one side of her dress in a shade lighter. She was beautiful. As she continued to walk into the room eyes were constantly on her. She blushed on the inside seeing a lot of her friends looking at her in a different way. She walked over to Col. Payne and announced her presence. He smiled down at her and complimented her on her dress. He also asked her when she was planning on doing her introductory speech.

"In about 10 minutes. Let everyone take pictures and things like that."

"Sounds like a plan. Come and find me before you begin."

"I will." Max said as she walked toward the Instructors' table and began to greet the other Instructors and their wives. When she finished introducing herself to them, she walked over to her friends and began to chat. 10 minutes seemed to fly by as everyone was told that the Ball was about to begin. Everyone took their seats and waited as Max walked up to the podium, ready to say her speech.

"Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention. Welcome to GT072nd 21st annual Military Ball." The crowd burst out in cheers and applause. "I'm glad you all could make it tonight to help celebrate our members that have contributed to this Group to make it the best that it has ever been." Max continued on with her light speech and made a joke here or there to lighten up the atmosphere a little. Only 4 minutes had passed when she finished up her speech. "And the last thing I have to say is: I'm going to be the first one on that dance floor, so watch out." Once again the crowd roared with laughter and applause. She walked down from the podium and sat in her seat. She watched as Col. Payne walked up to the podium to speak.

"Tonight I have a special surprise for all of you. He is a youngster at our school who's great grandfather fought in WWIII. Please welcome Grayson Price." Col. Payne led the applause as the young man stepped up to the stand. Max's heart stopped as she watched Grayson ascend the steps to the podium. Once there, he waved to the crowd and smiled. He scanned the area and found Max. He winked to her as the applause died down. Max felt a faint warmth creep up on her cheeks. Thankful that when she blushed, no one could see.

"Thanks for the hearty welcome! It feels great to be here tonight and I feel honored to have a place to speak after the gorgeous Maxine Gibson." The audience applauded and Max blushed again. His speech took about 10 minutes, going over how his grandfather had been enlisted against his will and how he learned to love the Air Force and everything it had to offer. At the end of the speech, he told how his grandfather had passed away, leaving him with a tattered American flag. He said that it was a symbol of hope and freedom to the boys on the battle field and that it had seen just as many days in the war as the solider 's did. It was obvious that his speech moved the group. Some of the people felt a surge of hope and pride, others eyes began to brim with water. And as Grayson said his last sentence the audience was quite. Grayson thinking that there was something wrong also remained quite. Then the thunderous applause came unexpectedly. People stood up and cheered and others dabbed away tear of sadness and joy. "Thank you." Grayson said and stepped off the podium. The applause continued to follow him up until he took his seat next to Maxine.

"Fancy meeting you here." Max said to him.

"Likewise. But I'm glad that we're both here. And to think I was going to turn Col. Payne down. I'm glad now that I didn't." He took Max's hand and placed it in his.

"Out of all my years having this Military Ball, I don't think that any speech compares to the one made tonight by you Mr. Price. That was an outstanding speech." The rest of the speeches went on in a blur. Awards were passed out and pictures were taken. And finally the moment had arrived. "And now ladies and gentlemen, the event you have been waiting all night for. The dance. I release you to have a good time, but not too good of one mind you." He coughed out 'Maxine' and the crowd laughed. Max was known for her dancing. Col. Payne released the students to the dance floor and they were off. Max was the first once there, just like she had said. Once the music started nothing could stop her. Grayson got up as well and slowly walked over to Max. He placed his hands on her thighs and began to follow the beat with her. Max was a bit startled at first but she instantly meshed with him and soon she was having too much fun with Gary to notice anything else.


"Terry where are you heading now?" Bruce asked as Terry took off his suit and back into his normal clothes.

"I'm heading over to Max's. I'm gonna' get her to patch me up." Terry said as he made a futile attempt to put on his shirt. "Guess I'll just leave it off then." He grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

"You go over there every time you get a scratch you know."

"Yeah, I know. It's only cause she can really fix the cuts up quick" Bruce eyed Terry with a questionable look. "That's all Bruce." He said and left out of the room.

"I bet that's all Terry." Bruce said with a light laugh.

Terry walked out of the Bruce compound and hopped into his car. He took his time getting to Max's since he knew she wouldn't be there and driving was causing a lot of pain to his now bleeding side. 'I wonder if she's having fun.' He thought to himself as he stopped for a red light. 'I wonder…'


The crowd was now surrounding Max and Gary. The pair were currently working their way to the floor. They had been getting a lot of attention since 'Back That Ass Up' had begun playing. Gray was thrusting to the music and Max was at the rhythm's mercy. Then the two suddenly got on the floor and the group of teenagers whistled and clapped in approval. Max was the floor chest first and she was on her knees. Grayson was behind her in a familiar position, but they were still moving to the music.

"Max! Up now Col.!" Someone yelled to Max and she quickly regained her scenes and pulled Gray up with her. She tried to shrug off her previous dancing as the Col. Walked up.

"Ms. Gibson? What was that ruckus about?" The Col. had asked her.

"Some guy was doing the splits is all." She said and tried her best to sound convincing. It seemed to work because the Col. simply shrugged it off and walked back to the tables to talk with the guests. "That was real close." She said into Gray's shoulder.

"The dancing or the Col. almost catching us?" Gray whispered in Max's ear. She took her head off of his shoulder and laughed.

"Col. Even though we were rather close." She looked down and blushed for the third time that night. Gary lifted his hand from her side and put it under her chin. He lifted up her face so that she was staring into his eyes.

"Not close enough." He breathed against her cheek before he laid his lips on hers and sealed it for a soft kiss. A few of the girls who were around the pair had stopped dancing and were now string at Max and Gray.

"Are they going out?"

"He looks like a good kisser."

"I hope Col. doesn't see!" People were saying. But Max was oblivious to their chatter as the kiss continued. Gary slowly pulled away and stared into Max's eyes.

"That was nice don't you think?" He asked her.

"Yeah." She said. She laid her head back on his shoulder and sighed a happily. 'Finally things are going my way.'


Everyone waved goodbye to each other as the students began to leave. The night had been a blast and people were leaving with a smile on their faces and gossip for the next school day. Max and Gary exited together. It seemed that everyone thought they were an item and that tonight had just been a chance for them to show their true selves.

"Do you need a ride home?" Gray asked her as they both walked to his car.

"Sure, why not?" she said and waited for Gray to open the door for her before she sat down in his car. She saw Gray run around the back of the car and open his door to slide into the drivers' seat. He buckled up and made sure that Max was too before he started up the ignition and backed his car out of the parking lot.

"Where to?"

"Summerset Apartments. On Curtis Rd."

"Isn't that a few miles from that old Corps building?"

"Yeah, its about 3 miles past there."

"Cool." The car slowly pulled out of the parking lot, being careful not to hit any other passing cars. Then Gray made a left turn and they were off to Max's.

The car ride wasn't that eventful. Max kept looking at Gray as he drove. He looked so handsome the way the streetlights played off his skin. He looked so mysterious. Gray's eyes diverted over to Max and he smiled. Max quickly turned away. He knew she had been watching him. She tried to act like she was absorbed at looking at his car. Now that she was looking at the car, she noticed that a lot of the things equipped with it, were very high tech. He had a roadside navigator that showed all the streets nearby and how to get there on a digital screen. His music system was very new and had pictures playing along with the music. She was still looking over his car when she heard him speak up.

"Fascinated by my car?" Max continued to look around for a few more seconds before she responded.

"Well, yeah! I mean, your car has everything! I'm surprised you don't have a button on here that folds out the backseat into a bed!" She saw Gray reach over to the left side of his steering wheel as if searching for something. "You don't really have one do you?!" Gray laughed as he pulled his hand back onto the steering wheel.

"No. I was just joking with you." He turned his gaze from the road and smiled at her.

"Your about to pull up near the apartments now. Make a right at the next stop light." Max pointed to the big apartment complex to their right. Gray made the turn and let Max lean over him so that she could enter the password at the main gate. Once the gate had beeped, accepting her code, the huge gates opened up and Gray drove up to the apartments. Max gave him final directions before they pulled up into her division of Summerset.

"Let me help you." Gray said and before Max could say anything, he was out of his side of the car and opening the passenger side door.

"Thanks." Max put her hand in his and let him guide her out of the car. He closed the door behind her and began to follow her. "You gonna' walk me upstairs?"

"Isn't that what a gentlemen's supposed to do?" He opened up another door for Max.

"Yes, that's what a gentlemen's supposed to do." They walked down a hall until they reached an elevator. Max pressed the number 29 and waited. Soon the elevator came down and they boarded it. Gray slipped behind Max and held her as the elevator ascended up. The ding sounded as the 29th floor was reached and she stepped out into the brightly-lit hallway. "I live only 4 spaces over." They slowly walked up to Apartment number 221 and stood there for a minute in silence. Max pulled her key out of he purse and put it into the lock.


Terry sat up from lying on Max's couch when he heard the sound of keys opening the door. He got up and walked over to the door and reached out his hand to open it when he heard voices from behind the door.

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"This has been an amazing night. I had a great time with you Max." Gary grabbed Max's hands from the doorknob, leaving the key in the lock. "I've never had so much fun or felt so much for someone ever before." Max looked deep in Gary's eyes and saw nothing but love and devotion there. And a bit of something else, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "I want you to be my girlfriend." Max's eyes got huge. "Will you?" Max turned her head to the side.

"Um... uh... I don't know about that Gray. We just met this afternoon. Isn't it a bit early?" She let go of his hands and leaned against her door.

"Didn't that kiss mean anything to you? Didn't you feel what I felt?" Max was quite. "Max?"

"Gray, can you let me think about this? At least give me the chance to sleep on it?" She saw Gray's face twist in defeat. He looked at her and couldn't help but smile.

"Alright. I'll let you sleep on it. For the entire weekend even. But will you have an answer for me by Monday afternoon?"

"Yes. I'll have my answer by then." Gary leaned down and kissed Max one more time before he turned around back to the elevator. Once she saw him disappear into the elevator she turned the key and opened her door.


Terry had been listening to the entire conversation. His heart skipped a beat when he heard the guy ask Max to be his girlfriend. And then when the same guy asked Max about their kiss Terry had the urge to tear down the door and choke the guy. He turned back to the couch after he heard Max say she'd have her answer by Monday. He sat down and folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to step inside.


Max opened the door and stepped inside. She closed it behind her and checked the lock. As she turned around she saw a dark figure sitting on her couch. Not knowing whom it was, she let out a scream.



Sorry of anything seemed weired in the fic.