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Emily Cale's mansion was decorated with brightly colored balloons, every color of the rainbow except red. It was the one thing Jondy had insisted on when Peter asked if he could assist holding a birthday party for her Swedish daughter, Ashley. When he had queried her distaste for red balloons that said Happy Birthday, she had just said they brought back bad memories. "You do good work." Max walked into the foyer holding Logan's hand. "You finally managed to get my sister to let you do something, Peter." She beamed at the butler. "Where is my ever enchanting sister?" "Upstairs watching the birthday girl open her presents last time I looked." Peter chuckled as Max let go of Logan's hand and bounced up the stairs. "I don't know where that family gets all of their energy." His expression turned to one of concern as he faced Logan. "I'm worried about Miss Jessica. She only seems to sleep for a couple of hours at night. Does she have some sort of medical condition?" Logan struggled not to laugh. "No Peter. Neither Jessica or Max need very much sleep. It stems back to their childhood. Max is quite often awake for most of the night." Jondy walked up behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "I think that has a lot to do with you keeping her awake. You two certainly kept me awake when I was staying with you." She moved around him so that she was facing both men. "You did a wonderful job with the decorations, Peter." At that moment Ashley came to the top of the stairs and squealed in delight at the bright decorations. She hurried down the stairs followed by her sisters who also let out delighted squeals. Jondy pointed to Peter and stood aside as the girls hugged him and Ashley thanked him for the decorations. Logan looked up at the top of the stairs for Max. "Max went upstairs to find you Jess. Did you catch up with each other?" Jondy nodded. "Yeah. Charlie and Case arrived last night to spend the week. She's catching up with them. Tinga's heading back with them. The school holidays end at the end of this week so I'll be taking the girls back to San Francisco then." Jace had headed back to Mexico a couple of days before to her husband and child. "Thanks for sticking around so long." Logan knew that staying in Seattle was more dangerous for Jondy than anyone else. "What did your boss say when you asked for four weeks off?" "Nothing." Jondy started herding her daughters towards the dinning room. "I asked Nigel ages ago if I could have the school holidays off to be with the girls. He doesn't know we came here for a funeral." She looked up the stairs. "Case! If you want some birthday cake, you'd better hurry up. The girls are ready to dive into it." There was the sound of running little feet and then Tinga's son appeared. "Save some for me." He cautiously made his way down the steps. When he reached the bottom he took his Aunt's outstretched hand and walked with her into the dinning room. "Have there been anymore break-ins?" The will was being read tomorrow. Logan seriously doubted that would stop his money-grabbing relatives from trying to get their hands on as much as possible prior to the will reading. Peter nodded. "Your cousin, Wesley, spent the night in jail last night. Miss Jessica called a Detective Sung to come and pick him up, after Wesley threatened the children." "With any luck, that will stop once the will has been read." Logan seriously doubted it though. Max appeared with Tinga and Charlie. "So I hear Wesley's in jail and there's a restraining order on him." Max had been highly amused when she had been told. Tinga chuckled. "The restraining order was my idea. I get the impression that Wesley's doing Margot's dirty work for her. He's obviously looking for something in particular." "Margot has a thing for the family jewelry." Max remembered the locket she had lifted off of Margot at Bennett and Maryanne's wedding. "Look at it this way, Logan, if Margot takes anything that's not hers, you know the right people to get it back for you." Max's face was the picture of innocence. Logan pulled Max into his arms. "That I do." A look of pure mischief crossed his face. "Want to come to the reading of the will with me tomorrow? I have the perfect piece of jewelry for you to wear." Max knew Margot would be fuming when she saw Logan's mother's locket hanging around Max's neck. "Alright. Got the perfect outfit to wear with that piece of jewelry or am I going to have to borrow some of my sister's clothes?" "I think you might have to borrow something from Jessica this time around." Logan would have loved to just buy Max an outfit, but at the moment, money was tight. Jondy dressed most of the time as though she was made of money. Casual elegance seemed to be her style. Today she was the perfect picture of the lady of the manor. Dressed in a fitted red top and a beige pair of trousers with matching high-heeled boots, it was hard to see her as a genetically engineered killing machine. Logan paced back and forth outside the lawyers office the next morning. Max had told him that she would meet him there, once she had changed into some clothes borrowed from Jondy. He wondered what was taking her so long and then he saw her. Max was dressed in a long straight black skirt that had a split up the side to her knee. The deep purple V neck blouse she was wearing, clung to her body in all the right places and showed the locket dangling from her neck, off to perfection. Her hair flowed around her shoulders in soft curls and she wore enough make up to highlight her eyes and lips. The outfit was completed with black high heels. Max waited for Logan to take in the outfit she was wearing before tucking her hand through his arm. "Ready to annoy your Aunt Margot?" "Hell yes." Logan gave her a toothy grin. "You look incredible. But then you always do." As predicted, Margot spotted the locket, the moment Max walked in the door. Her face went red with rage, but seeing as she had stolen the locket in the first place, Margot was unable to pass comment on it. The whole family had gathered around the large boardroom table, barely able to contain their eagerness to find out what they had been left. The whole scene made Logan sick to his stomach. Bradley Chambers had been Emily Cale's lawyer for the past twenty years. It never ceased to amaze him how different Logan was to the rest of the Cale family. He had been one out of two family members that hadn't hassled Bradley to move the reading of the will forward. The other being Elizabeth Cale. For Bradley, it was difficult to keep a straight face. After all, he knew the contents of the will, so he could predict what reaction he would get from the family. It all started out simple enough. Each of the Great Grandchildren had been left a trust fund that they would be able to claim the contents of, on their twenty-fifth birthdays. Peter had been left a large sum of money for his loyal service, as had the maids. Several charities also benefited from the will. Bradley braced himself for the reaction he knew would come to the next part of the will. "The mansion and its contents including art work, jewelry and furnishings has been left to Logan Cale to do with as he pleases. A large sum of money has also been left to Logan for the upkeep of the mansion and grounds." Bradley raised his hand to stop the protests he knew were coming. "Before any of you start talking about contesting the will, I feel I should inform you that most of you have been caught on camera trespassing and or breaking into the mansion. I even have a copy of a police report that states Wesley was arrested recently for exactly that and threatening the occupants of the mansion. I also understand a restraining order has been issued against you, Wesley." Wesley Cale sat in silence glaring at his cousin. He was up to his eyeballs in debt and had been sure he would be left something. It was bad enough his brother had chosen Logan to be his best man at his wedding instead of him. Bradley looked down at the last paragraph of the will. "Lastly, the ruby and diamond ring that Emily was gifted with for her ninetieth birthday is left to Elizabeth Cale." He folded the will and put it back in his briefcase. "Peter, could you arrange to get the ring to Elizabeth? I understand most of Emily's possessions were locked away for safe keeping." Peter nodded. "Of course." He had been amazed to be left such a large sum of money. Bennett and Mary Anne weren't bothered that they hadn't been left anything, as their son now had a substantial trust fund. So when Margot started to protest, Bennett quietly told his mother to shut up. He also reminded her that she hadn't got on with Emily anyway, so he didn't see way she was so surprised at being left out of the will. Logan was stunned that his Grandmother had left him so much. He had no idea what he was going to do with the mansion. Finally he decided to talk it over with Max later, see if she had any ideas. He gave Max's hand a gentle tug. "Are you ready to go?" Max nodded. "Yeah. Mind if we drop by the mansion first? I really should give my sister her clothes back." She could have sworn Logan had looked a little disappointed at the thought. It wasn't often she wore a skirt. Usually she was dressed in jeans. "No problem." Logan made sure that he walked past Margot, so that she could get another look at the locket Max was wearing. He knew Max had caught onto what he was doing when she started to giggle once they had left the lawyer's office. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. That locket looks so much better on you than it ever did on Margot." "I don't mind." Max walked hand in hand with Logan. She had never expected to feel comfortable with anyone, the way she did with Logan. "It was worth it to see the steam coming out her ears." She burst into another fit of giggles. When they finally made it back to the mansion, it was quite late. They found Jondy reading a story to her daughters, who were all curled up with her on the king sized bed. Tinga's son, Case, was perched on Jondy's knee. Jondy looked up from the book she was reading when she heard Max and Logan walk in the room. "How did it go?" Logan sat down in a chair that was close to the bed and pulled Max onto his lap. "Grams left me the house and just about all of its contents, plus enough money to maintain it." Max looked at him. "So what are you going to do with this place? It's rather big to live in unless you expect my family to all move in with you." She wasn't sure she could feel comfortable living there with him. For some reason she preferred Logan's apartment to Emily Cale's mansion. "No, I was hoping you might have some ideas." Logan glanced around the bedroom they were all sitting in. Until Jondy had chosen this room to stay in, Logan was pretty sure that he'd never been in this room. "I'd like to keep some of the art work that Peter locked away. I like some of Joshua's work as well." "You could donate some of the paintings to an art gallery in your Grandmother's name." Jondy offered. "Let other people appreciate your Grandmother's great taste in art." Max considered the possibilities in her head. "You know with few alterations, this place would make a great recreation center. With a bit of government funding which you would be entitled to, it could be a place parents can leave their kids after school until they finish work." Logan knew that he could count on Max and Jondy for some good ideas. "Perhaps Peter and the maids wouldn't mind working as councilors. I'm sure if they wanted the jobs they could get sufficient training while the alterations were being done." He felt much better now he had some ideas to work with. "Mom, you haven't finished the story," Emma whined. "It's just getting to the good part." Jondy rolled her eyes. "Alright. Tomorrow night Aunty Tinga can tell you a bedtime story. She makes up her own, doesn't she, Case." Her nephew nodded as he cuddled closer to Jondy. Original Cindy looked at the painting before her. "That's good work, Boo." She glanced up at Joshua who was towering above her. "Who is it?" "Max and Logan." Joshua was quite proud of the painting. "You think they'll like it?" He had worked on it all day. Original Cindy smiled. "I'm sure they will." She nudged Joshua when she saw Max and Logan walk in the door to Joshua's house. "Why don't you ask them yourself?" "Little fella." Joshua hugged Max taking care not to get paint on her. Then he hugged Logan as well. "Got something for both of you." He pointed to the painting. "Wow. This is really good Joshua." Logan could see Original Cindy gesturing to he and Max behind Joshua. "Is it Max and me?" Joshua looked so excited that Logan could apparently see who the painting was of. "Yes." He slapped Logan on the back almost knocking him across the room. "You got somewhere you can put it?" Logan nodded. "Yeah I think I know the perfect spot." He was touched by the transgenic's gift. Max's face lit up. "It's a beautiful gift, Joshua. Thank you." She made a mental note to get some more art supplies for Joshua. Painting seemed to make up a little for him not being about to leave the house very often. Original Cindy remembered where Max and Logan had been for most of the day. "How did the reading of the will go? I bet your Grandmother came up with a few surprises, Boo." The whole experience had left Logan feeling pretty worn out. "Well my family's reaction to my Grandmother's last wishes was pretty predictable. I didn't expect Grams to leave me with so much though." Original Cindy shot Max an impish smile. "So rich boys, rich again. You two gonna move into that big old mansion?" Max chuckled. "No, we're going to stick with the apartment. We came up with a few ideas on what to do with the mansion, but I think Logan needs to sleep on it before he makes any decisions." She squeezed Logan's hand. "What are you going to do with all of your Grandmother's jewelry?" "I'll let you know when I've figured it out myself." Logan hadn't even begun to consider the jewelry. "We'd better get going. Thanks for the painting, Joshua." Max hugged her tall friend. "We'll come and see you tomorrow." She hated to leave so soon but Logan looked beat and she figured she could make it up to Joshua tomorrow. "You need a lift O.C?" Original Cindy shook her head. "Nah. I think I'll hang here a bit longer." She figured Joshua must get real lonely spending all of his time stuck in the house by himself. Max smiled gratefully at her friend. "Ok. See you tomorrow." She had work tomorrow, so she would stop by and visit Joshua after work. Max noticed how quiet Logan was during the drive home. It wasn't until they got inside the apartment that she brought it up. "You alright? It's like you're somewhere else at the moment." Logan gave her a tired smile, as he slumped down on the sofa. "Just thinking. Do you mind not moving into the mansion?" He knew the recreation center was Max's idea, but she had been denied so much in her life that he wondered if the mansion actually appealed to her as a home. Max curled up beside Logan. "I like it here better. Less chance of me getting lost," she joked with him. "Besides, I don't think I was ever cut out to be the lady of the manor. Why?" Logan dismissed the whole idea with a shake of his head. "I was just wondering that's all. Jondy seems to play the part well though." Max giggled. "Don't let appearances fool you. She hated the idea of being waited on so much that Peter and the maids were ordered to join the family at meal times at the table. I think Peter nearly had a heart attack when he found the girls doing the dishes. I guess that's why Jondy's such a great distraction. She can look like anything you want her to be, but it doesn't mean that's what she really is." Logan understood. "I think that idea of yours is probably the best thing to do with the mansion. I'll check out tomorrow what it will involve changing it into a recreation center. I think Grams would have like the idea too." He stifled a yawn. "I never realized how exhausting a will reading could be." He ran his fingers through Max's hair. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?" Max blushed. "What can I say, my sister does good work. I turned up on the door step this morning and asked Jondy to make me look good enough to make steam come out of Margot's ears." Logan leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. "I didn't just mean today." Max had looked very much the part today, but Logan had always been able to see past the tough exterior she always hid behind. Max touched her forehead to Logan's. "I think my sister was right. You're definitely a keeper." She took hold of his hand and led him to their bedroom. It suddenly struck her that she finally felt as though she belonged somewhere. It was a strange, but good feeling. Alec sat opposite Jondy balancing Baby Tinga on his lap. "So like I said, Asha's still out of town and Sketchy and Normal didn't want to grace the local night spots with me. So here I am, playing uncle." Jondy watched him with an amused smile touching her face as she bounced Baby Ben on her knee. "You miss Asha and you didn't feel like going to the strip joints with Sketchy and Normal. It probably took you a good ten minutes to come up with an unnecessary excuse to come here and visit." Alec grinned sheepishly. "You're gonna have to teach me how to read minds like that." He remembered that Logan's Grandmother's will had been read that day. "So is Logan rich again?" Jondy nodded. "Pretty much. I'm actually waiting for his aunt and cousins to try and rob the place again. By the sounds of it, Emily Cale left them nothing. I bet that went down well." She chuckled to herself. "I can just picture Margot's face when she found out she hadn't been left anything in the will." Alec chuckled as well. "Hey, do you mind if I stay here tonight?" He didn't feel like going home to an empty apartment. "I could help keep the intruders out." "Sure. I'll ask Peter which room is still made up." Jondy handed Ben to Alec and went looking for Peter. The next morning at Jam Pony, Sketchy switched the television off. "I don't care what that reporter says, Eyes Only says the mutants aren't dangerous." He pulled himself up to his full height. "Eyes Only know his stuff, so what he says must be true." "You're an idiot." Normal mumbled as he threw Sketchy a package. "Start delivering." "He's not an idiot." Original Cindy snatched another parcel out of Normal's hand. "He's a believer." "Yeah, whatever." Normal pointed to the door. "Get moving bip, bip, bip." He glared at Original Cindy when she rolled her eyes at him. "I don't pay you lot to stand around yacking all day." Alec nudged Max. "Sounds like your boyfriend has a fan in Sketchy." He liked Sketchy. The guy was easy going and could be talked into anything. Max nodded as she climbed on her bike. "It'll be interesting to see if Sketchy still feels the same way when trouble comes a knocking. White's not going to give up until he's destroyed all of the transgenics." "Except Jondy." Alec rode along side of Max. "I'd hate to think what plans he has for her." White even made his skin crawl. "Don't kid yourself, Alec." Max stopped her bike. "When White doesn't get what he wants out of Jondy, he'll kill her too. He's already tried to kill his own wife, remember and he claimed to love her. The guy's a psycho." Alec had never considered that point of view. He didn't want Jondy to end up in White's hands anymore than the others did, but he had always thought that she would be kept alive. He rode the rest of the way silently beside Max. Logan walked thoughtfully around the mansion. It would take a lot of time and work to change the mansion into a place that people from all walks of life could go. He wanted it to be a place that his Grandmother would have been proud to have associated with her name. Logan ran his gaze around the textured walls and up the marble staircase, stopping when he saw Jondy watching him. He laughed self-consciously. "You keeping an eye on me for Max, Jondy?" "Do I need to?" Jondy's blue eyes twinkled with mischief. "So I can see you have big plans for this place. I get the feeling that you're torn between helping the community and not wanting to lose any memories you have of your Grandmother." "How did Manticore manage to get you to read minds?" Logan waited for Jondy to descend down the stairs. "Or is that something you picked up all by yourself?" "I don't read minds, I read faces." Jondy beamed at Logan. "Everything you feel is written all over your face. Word of warning. Don't ever play poker with Alec. You don't have a very good poker face." "I'll remember that." Logan noticed that unlike Max, who only wore a watch normally in the way of jewelry, Jondy wore several simple yet elegant pieces of jewelry. "Maybe you can help me with something." He could see he had peaked Jondy's curiosity. "Apart from one ring, my grandmother left her jewelry to me as well. I guess she thought I could sell it to fund 'Eyes Only.' I thought that you might be able to help me find a couple of pieces for Max. She doesn't usually wear jewelry so I'm not really sure what to look for." "I'd be happy to help." Jondy was curious to see what sort of jewelry Emily Cale had. Judging from the locket Max had been wearing yesterday, the Cale family jewelry would be worth having. Logan asked Peter to get the jewelry out of the safe and lay it out on the table in the study. He hadn't realized there were so many pieces. Peter had already given Bitzy the ring she had been left in the will. He could tell with one look that Jondy had valued every item on the table. "What do you think?" "If you want to give Max a gift of jewelry, it really should be something you pick out yourself." Jondy spotted a couple of pieces she felt Max would like. It would mean more if Logan picked the pieces out himself. Logan chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip for a moment. "You're right." He noticed that his Grandmother had quite a few pieces that his mother had left her, including her wedding and engagement rings. His mother must have realized that Emily would keep them safe until Logan found someone to give them to. Valerie hadn't been the right one for Logan, Emily had known that from the moment she had met her. Jondy watched quietly. "Your mother's wedding ring and engagement ring?" It was obvious the sentiment attached to those rings. "Yeah. My Grandmother held onto them until I found that perfect someone." Logan suddenly realized, he had never asked for the rings when he had married Valerie. He pointed to a few other pieces. "These were my mother's as well." He picked up a gold chain with a solitary diamond on it. There were matching diamond studs to go with it. He put the set aside and looked for something else. An hour later Logan had picked out three sets for Max and put the rest of the jewelry back in the safe. "Alright I'm guessing since you haven't drop kicked me across the room, that you agree with my choices." Jondy nodded. "You have good taste." She stopped and listened for a moment. "The twins are awake. Did you need any more help?" Logan shook his head. "No. Thanks for your help. Max was going to head here after visiting Joshua. I think I'll give her the jewelry then, cause if she would prefer something else she can choose for herself." Jondy struggled not to laugh. "I thought you were supposed to be the eternal optimist." She squeezed his hand. "Relax. You're not proposing marriage." She shot him a dazzling smile. "Not tonight anyway." Logan was laughing as Jondy walked out of the room. She was right. Besides, Max had told him once that she was open to the idea of jewelry. "Logan!" A few minutes later Max's head appeared around the door. "Hey. Jondy said you were in here. She told Peter we were staying for dinner. You didn't have anything else planned, did you?" She kissed Logan hello. "No." Logan pulled Max into his lap. "You know how you were asking me last night what I was going to do with the jewelry I inherited?" Max nodded. "Well for starters, I thought I'd give these sets to you." Max's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the three delicate sets of jewelry. "Logan, they're beautiful. Are you sure you don't want to give them to Bitzy?" She could see how expensive they were. Logan shook his head. "No, I'll pick something else out later for Bitzy. Maybe I'll give her something to keep for Brittany when she gets older." He undid one of the necklaces and did it up behind Max's neck." These sets I want you to have." "Thank you." Max had no idea where she could wear such expensive jewelry, but she loved Logan for taking the time to pick them out for her. "Have you been here all day?" "No, just a couple of hours." Logan nuzzled his face into her neck. "Changing this place into a recreation center is going to take a lot of time and work." It would especially take up the time he spent with Max. "I don't want to neglect you by getting too involved in this project." Max had already considered that possibility. "Which is why I thought that I could help out for a couple of hours after work. I figured you could then spend some time on your 'Eyes Only' stuff before I get to convince you there are more fun things to do like eat or sleep or me." She nibbled on his ear. Before they could get too carried away Max heard Jondy calling them to dinner. Later that night, Logan watched from the balcony as Max walked around the grounds. He thanked his lucky stars for finding her trying to rob him nearly three years ago. Even his fear of heights wasn't as bad as it had been, mainly because he had, had to push a lot of his fears aside since meeting Max. "Thought you didn't like heights." Alec walked out onto the balcony with Jondy, each of them carrying one of her twins. "You're looking awfully comfortable with heights at the moment. Is saying you have a fear of heights, a way to pick up chicks?" He teased Logan. "He's admiring the view, Alec." Jondy was looking around her. She could sense they had another unwelcome visitor. "Guys, we've got company." As Alec and Logan spun around to see what she was talking about, someone swung down from the roof knocking Logan over the balcony. Moving quickly, Jondy grabbed Logan's wrist stopping him from falling, slamming her hip against the balcony railing as she did so. Alec whipped into a spin kick before the intruder could try to throw Jondy off of the balcony as well. "If my sister has even one tiny bruise on her body, I'll feel the need to break your neck." He hissed as the intruder went flying across the room into the wall. Checking the intruder was unconscious, Alec walked over to the edge of the balcony. "How's your fear of heights now, Logan?" He held out his free hand to Logan and helped Jondy pull him back up. "It's been better." Logan glanced at the unconscious body in the room located off of the balcony. "I see Wesley hasn't given up." "That's not Wesley." Jondy rubbed her sore hip. "Wesley's down there getting his butt kicked by Max and Tinga." She pointed down at the grounds. Logan stormed over to the body laying on the floor and lifted up the ski mask. "It's my cousin, Jason. He was also left out of the will. Margot must be really desperate to get something from here if she sent two of her sons." Alec shrugged his shoulders. "Margot doesn't strike me as that picky. I think Mommy just sent her baby boys to grab anything worth a whole lot of cash and bring it home." Jondy was watching the show in the grounds. "I can't believe you complain about our family all being thieves, Logan. At least we only steal from bad guys." Logan had heard this argument from Max before. "Well as far as I know, only a select few members of my family are criminals. It's like a hobby with your family and you guys are definitely better at it." Alec joined Jondy on the balcony. "Hey, Maxie, Wesley's brother threw your boyfriend off of the balcony. You gonna let them get away with that?" Logan gave his cousin a kick in the stomach before joining the other two. "You could have added that Jondy caught me." He winced when he saw Max throw Wesley face first into a pillar. "Where's the fun in that?" Alec quipped. "Wow your cousin Wesley can really fly. I can't believe he's stupid enough to try and stand up." Jondy shook her head. "I'm guessing you got all of the brains in the family Logan." She grinned mischievously. "I have an idea." Margot couldn't understand what was taking her sons so long. She made her way to the front door. Somebody was ringing the doorbell over and over again. "Damn kids." She wrenched open the door and found two of her sons bound, gagged, stripped and spray-painted on the door step. Both of them were covered in bruises. "Did you get anything?" Both men merely glared at their mother. Max massaged Logan's shoulders. "Are you sure you're alright? I know how much you hate heights." Apart from a sore shoulder from when Jondy had caught him, Logan felt fine. "Max, I'm alright. Jondy's probably worse off than me. She gave her hip a pretty bad bang. I'm amazed she caught me seeing as she was holding her son as well. Alec was sort of helpful in his own way." Max nodded. "Yeah, he did a brilliant job with the spray paint. Maybe he's learning something off of Joshua. I'm so proud to call him my brother." She giggled. "I would have loved to see Margot's face when she opened the door." "Your wish is our command." Alec walked into the room with Jondy. "Sorry we took so long, but Margot had trouble untying her sons." Jondy plugged the video camera she was carrying into the back of the television. "We spent forty five minutes braced up in the roof for this." She pushed play. "Oh my God." Max moved from her position behind Logan massaging his shoulders, to sitting in Logan's lap. "Would you look at the expression on Margot's face." Soon everyone was laughing. "This is way better than the tape where everyone was covered in dye." Somehow they all seriously doubted they would have any more trouble from Logan's family.
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