Disclaimer: Belong to Fox, Charles and Cameron. Not I. Piano Man by Billy Joel (I do hope some picked that from the end of the last chapter), and Something Stupid by someone I don't know, but I'll disclaim myself from it anyway.

Author Note: Okay, so here is another chapter that should have concluded the story, but really hasn't. Well, I could say it was finished here, but I'm sure many would be unhappy, and I am yet to officaly remove Season 2. Quite a bit more plain than the previous chapter, but I could pretend that I was trying to be clever and represent the many stages of a drunken night, this being the winding down stage. Really, however, I just fizzeled out. Although for those of you who want to believe it, just say that I'm representing the stages of drunkenness.

Let me know what you think.

Misodoctakleidist

Logan smiled at Max's innocent request and began to play. His fingers flew fantastically, creating glorious oscillations throughout her body. When he began to whistle, Asha squealed with delight.

'Oh my God, I don't believe it.' It appeared she had just discovered what song Logan was to perform.

Max smiled with glee; her Logan was so talented. She didn't understand what was going on however, which would have been all right except for the fact that Asha knew what Logan was playing. So in an attempt to understand more of this melodious production and observe the speed and skill of his wonderful fingers, Max leant forward on her elbows, as if being closer to him would suddenly fill her with the information Asha carried.

Twelve wrong notes and a loud cacophony of mashed keys later, Logan stopped and looked at Max.

'Max, as much as I love you there, and trust me, I do. I can't concentrate properly.' Max's big brown eyes shined nothing but pure innocence back at him, as she nervously sucked her bottom lip in.

'Oh God,' Logan groaned pleadingly, 'please don't do that.'

'Damn,' Asha suddenly voiced quietly and in astonishment. Max, becoming increasingly confused with the situation, looked at her questioningly.

'I mean, damn. Now I see what Logan is going on about. You could turn me Max. Seriously,' Asha admitted, staring straight at her in awed amazement.

'What?' both Logan and Max responded disbelievingly. Max's tone was something close to abhorrence; whereas Logan's was closer to that of a child who discovered Christmas was going to be run all year around from now on. Images flashed through his over-lubricated mind, and the fact that two attractive women were sitting in his house in their underwear, didn't help matters.

'Hey, back to the music,' Max said finally. Logan looked up at her and noticed she had slipped back to her previous position, making conscious thought less of an impossibility than when she had been leaning forward, and things had become… emphasized by squeezing.

'Okay.' He began again, playing the same tune as last time, and whistling along as well.

"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday-"

'It's Thursday,' Max interjected.

"-regular crowd shuffles in. There's an old man sitting next to me-"

'Oh, thanks a lot,' Asha spouted.

"-making love to his tonic and gin. He says, 'son can you play me a memory. I'm not really sure how it goes. But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger mans clothes.'"

Logan rocked back and forth with his enthusiastic performance, getting right into the swing of things and holding nothing back. Asha and Max just stared at him; some drool fell as they realised the full merits this man of many talents contained.

"Sing us a song, you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. We're all in the mood for a melody. And you've got us feeling alright."

'Damn straight I'm in the mood,' Max laughed, she finally understood the choice of song. Again, there was a loud crash of poorly mixed keys as Logan came to a shuddering halt.

'In the mood? Come on, Max. I'm never going to finish this song if you keep all that up.'

'What, I am in the mood,' she replied innocently.

'Are you intent on torturing me?' Logan pleaded pathetically, as his hands shook over the keys.

'I'm in the mood for a melody. What the hell is wrong with that?' Max retorted playfully.

'Look, when the worlds most attractive woman is perched atop my piano, clad in nothing but her underwear, and she says, "I'm in the mood", what do you expect me to think?' Logan replied desperately.

'Why, what ever do you mean, Logan,' Max responded, producing her most spectacular pout, whilst leaning forward once more. He would have stormed from that room in protest in an instant, had he been able to stand.

'You'll be the death of me, Max,' Logan muttered, staring intently at the keys and trying to regain some form of focus.

'That's not funny, Logan,' Max replied, suddenly downcast. He looked at her and noticed the cheerfulness had gone, and it was back to the sad and frustrated Max of before.

'I didn't mean it like that. I-I meant you're going to give me a heart attack,' he responded desperately, he didn't want Max to be upset.

She burst into tears, causing quite a shock for both Logan and Asha.

'It-it's not fair. I hate this damn virus and Manticore. I just want to be able to touch you. I love you so much,' Max sobbed uncontrollably, and then clamped her hand over her mouth as if she had said a terribly dirty word.

Logan blinked several times in bewilderment. Max's eyes reflected nothing but sheer panic and fear at her recent revelation.

'Max, don't cry. We'll beat this virus, don't worry,' Logan cooed reassuringly. Max calmed a little, but still couldn't believe what she had admitted, and in front of a witness. She nodded minutely and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

'Looks like someone is an emotional drunk,' Logan said with a warm smile. Max smiled back meekly.

'Come on, more music,' Asha insisted.

'Fine,' Logan conceded, as he once again took to the piano, this time faring a different tune. To his and Max's great surprise, Asha began to sing along with him. Even more of a surprise was that she fell into perfect key.

Max was enjoying the show, until she started to listen to the words between the two.

"…and then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid like-" Max was just about to reach over and smack Asha into a coma, when Logan's eyes bore into hers. The gaze was so intense that it pinned her solid and she could swear she felt something within her stirring.

"-I love you." Logan sung, but with such vehemence and intense passion that Max shuddered. And just like that, it was over, and he and Asha were back to the next verse of the song, with Max still quivering like the pile of jelly she had been reduced to.

She awaited eagerly the next chorus, which by her reckoning was due any second now. Sure enough it had started, and Max was prepared to have her soul so delightfully skewered as it was last time. He was three words off, and she began to tingle and shake with anticipation. One word off, and there was a sudden pleasant chirping in the air.

Logan stopped dead in his track; Asha didn't and managed to proclaim her love to him for at least the third time that night. He jumped up, ran to a small cabinet, flung the doors open and grabbed some sheets of music.

'Here, there is something I must do,' Logan said very excitedly, handing Max the sheaf of papers.

'What? Logan, I don't know how to play a piano,' Max pleaded, she really just didn't want him to leave.

'Okay, quick crash course. This key here, is middle-C,' he hit a key on the piano. 'Now, this is middle-C Treble-Clef written down,' he pointed to a musical note on a score, 'and this is middle-C Bass-Clef.' He pointed to another note.

'The rest, I'm sure you can figure out,' he said hurriedly, but clearly brimming with excitement before dashing from the room.

'Well, how do you like that?' Max asked, swinging around and sliding off the piano to sit next to Asha.

As soon as Logan had left the room, Asha saw her opportunity, and began to play "Chopsticks" again.

'No chopsticks!' came his yell from somewhere in the apartment. Max laughed, and Asha stopped. Max began leafing through the musical pages she had been handed, and glanced occasionally at the piano. Finally she sat them down on the stand and put finger to ivory. After a few practices, she was playing quite happily.

'I didn't know you could play the piano,' Asha admitted.

'I can't, this is my first time,' Max replied, face scrunched as she concentrated on the music and keys in front of her.

'Ah, Logan's better. I'm no good at this,' Max said after a while.

'Logan, come back and play. I'm no good,' Max yelled at the doorway, figuring wherever he was in the apartment he would hear her.

'You've only just started, Max. Practice makes perfect.'

'I hate practice, I just want you to play,' she yelled back.

'I'm busy; there is some pre-made music in there. Just listen to that then,' Logan replied, laughing slightly. Asha was up and started toward what looked like a music making machine of sorts. Several seconds later and introduced with a soft click, music began to fill the air. It was strangely familiar to Max, as she sat and stared at the speakers and listened to the gentle tinkling of piano keys.

'I know this,' Max suddenly voiced in excitement.

'What?' Asha queried.

'This is the music Logan always has on when we have dinner together.'

'Oh,' Asha replied downcast. The closest thing she had to music when Logan and her engaged in a meal together was something obnoxious and noisy in a dimly lit nondescript bar.

'I bet you had candles and everything,' asked Asha unintentionally.

'Yeah,' Max responded moonily.

Asha walked over to a couch that would be quite out of place in any other room of Logan's place, owning to it's spattering of oversized cushions and vibrant, undemanding feel. Max thought it looked pretty damn comfy herself, so she wandered over and plopped down on an end, throwing some pillows out of the way in the process.

Logan sat in front of his computer like the proverbial child in a candy store. A few masterful keystrokes later and he had what he wanted, and was sharply making his way to the kitchen.

Opening the fridge he spotted Max's partially full drink and so collected it and headed toward the music room once more. On his way, he threw what he held in his hand into the mix, and began the whistle like the jolly fool he felt.

As he approached the door, he distinctly heard the girlish squeals of delight, and became weak of knee in anticipation. Asha was giggling profusely, but her breath was quite ragged. Max's giggling was a little more contained, but only because it appeared to be muffled.

'You haven't seen anything yet,' Max said quite wickedly. Asha's reply was another shrill of laughter, some thumping, and some additional heavy breathing. The jug Logan held began to shake, so he put it down on the closest horizontal surface before taking another step toward the room.

He stepped into the doorway, and observed what it was that Asha and Max were getting up to. Before they noticed; he was heading back down the hall at serious trot, tears of joy streaming down his face.

'Sketchy would give his hat and ass to see this,' Max said, laughing at the thought.

CLICK

'What was that?' Asha asked.

'Bah, I don't know,' Max shrugged.

CLICK

'No, there is definitely a clicking noise,' Asha repeated.

'So what? This is pretty fun, I should have done this a while ago with Cindy or something,' Max replied, getting back to the task at hand.

CLICK

'It's Logan. He has a camera,' Asha said casually. Max stopped suddenly and looked up at Logan.

'Hey, what are you doing?'

'Taking photos, thought that was obvious,' Logan replied cheekily, followed by another click. Max threw her weapon of choice – a large red fluffy pillow – back on the couch, and then walked over to Logan.

'Play the piano again,' she said sweetly. He smiled a big smile, then headed back to the piano, shortly followed by Asha who took a seat next to him while Max climbed back on top again.

'Oh, before I start, I have a surprise for you,' Logan addressed Max mysteriously.

'What?'

'Out in the hall, on the first bench,' Logan said, pointing at the door with his thumb.

'Okay, cool, I love surprises. But don't start until I get back,' Max replied bouncily, slipping off the piano once more before gracefully exiting the room. In her absence Logan went and placed the camera in one of the many various cabinets around the room.

Max returned shortly after Logan had found his place at the piano once more, jug of cocktail in hand.

'Thanks Logan, I really like this stuff,' Max said, with somewhat of a neutral coloured cocktail moustache.

'Good,' he laughed, as he began to play some more none sequential light jazz.

Five minutes later, Max had downed the remainder of her drink, and was slowly moving into the droopy phase of her intoxication. The stage where all body parts seem to be too heavy and so flop around an awful lot. Along with the heavy body parts comes the disillusioned state of detachedness, and more walls of emotion are broken through.

'Logan, you took photos of me and Asha having a pillow fight in our sexy lingerie,' Max said, slurring occasionally.

'Yeah, I suppose I did. Definite keeper or two in that batch, I'm sure.'

'You should send some to Sketchy, he would die to see that.' Now Max was sure there was some reason this wasn't a good idea, but for the life of her she couldn't get past pink socks. Strange.

'Okay, I'll do that just now.' Logan rose from the piano, collected the camera and headed out of the room. Several minutes later he returned, and so did the lazy, calming melody.

Asha had started to nod, and eventually Logan found her slumped against his shoulder, quite asleep. He smiled, Asha was a nice girl and a pretty good friend, and it was pleasing to see her unwind from S1W duties once and a while.

Max burst into tears again. It appeared the emotion was still around.

'You want her, don't you?' Max cried, pointing at Asha.

'No I don't.'

'But look at you. You're smiling because she is asleep on your shoulder.' More tears fell.

'No… well, yes. But only because I was just thinking about Asha as a friend, not because I want to be with her.'

'It's not fair,' Max sobbed again, wiping furiously at her face.

'I know, Max. But maybe tomorrow, we'll find something to cure this virus. Then you can fall asleep on my shoulder.'

'I'd like that,' Max sniffed, seeming to have recovered from her state of duress.

'I'm going to take her to bed,' Logan said, standing up and scooping Asha into his arms. Max completely lost it and wailed like the world was about to end, and the by way it sounded, it may have just been doing that.

'What?' Logan asked slightly panicked.

'You're taking her to bed. I knew it. You want her.'

'Oh Jesus, get a grip Max. I want you, I don't want Asha. I am going to place her in the guest bed, and then come right back here,' Logan said, becoming a little tired with all this emotion. He'd learnt his lesson, however. Only so much alcohol for Max.

'Okay,' Max said sullenly, trying to wipe away the tears and excess mucus without much success.

Logan walked from the room with Asha instinctively curling closer to the mass of warmth that supported her. Several minutes later, he returned with a washcloth and some tissues.

'Here you go, Max.' He gave her the tissues, waited for her to blow her nose, and then gave her the cloth.

'Oh thanks, you warmed it up and everything,' Max said, as she held the warm washer to the side of her face. Logan had by now returned to his place behind the keys, and began to play once more.

After several stumbles of the keys, he realised that he really needed some sleep.

'Are you tired, Max,' Logan asked with a yawn.

'I don't get tired much.'

'Oh, okay. 'Cause you could have used my bed, but if you aren't going to sleep, I think I'll use it instead.' Max looked suddenly disappointed, but not so much to the state of tears.

'I wish I could sleep with you,' she said sullenly.

'Yeah, that'd be nice,' Logan replied warmly, suddenly lost in another world of the pleasantries that would come from sharing body heat with Max.

'Are you going to be alright? I mean, is there something you want to do?' Logan asked, standing from his seat and stretching a little.

'I think I'll go and play golf again,' Max responded, slipping off the piano again. Logan laughed a little, not expecting that answer.

'Well, goodnight Max,' Logan said, as he on instinct leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.

'Night, Logan,' Max replied with a small sigh.

They each walked their separate ways, Logan to his bedroom, and Max back to the study, completely oblivious.