It was around midnight that Max showed up, knocking on Logans door, a thousand reasons to leave before he answered bouncing back and forth in her head. She heard his footsteps as a smile of approval slid across her face. She hadn't been so pleased by annoying Logan in a long time, completly forgetting how good it felt. The door swept open as Max strolled in, four hours late.

"Nice of you to show up." Logan commented standing beside the door in pajama pants and a navy blue wifebeater. Max would have normally taken pleasure in eyeing wantingly the handsome curves and muscles that fitted that wifebeater but wasn't interested tonight. Tonight she was going to just come off as rude, ignorant and use the worst kind of shameless sarcasm she hadn't used with him in a long time. Every instinct told Max this would be fun, despite the surmounting cons against her.

"Yeah, well, I was in the nieghborhood."

"I've been waiting four hours." he added, his brows deepening around his eyes in that 'I'm so confused you are being so rude' look. But that was just like Logan Cale, to use a girl and not even realize it. Maybe she had given some thought to this before and maybe she had just ignored it simply because she was in love with him. But the man she stood in front of now seemed so far from the man she fell in love with and she deserved something more than just a meal every once in awhile for being a 'good li'l X-5'.

"Seems to be alot of waiting going on these days." her eyebrow lifted in reaction to his, "You notice?" Max could only associate Logan's finally stop using her to this comment and even then it was out of place. Max wasn't mad about waiting, she was pretty patient when things weren't going her way. She figured if she was going to get a good fighting reaction from Logan to satisfy her need for argument she'd have to use non-chalant comments and loose logic.

"Are you mad at me about something?" It was so sad how pathetic he could sound without even knowing it. That was possibly his only weakness, since being super-anonymous crime-fighter wasn't exactly shabby and his being wealthy didn't make him less likable to most people. Only Max wasn't impressed anymore.

"No, Logan, just fed up." Max finally spoke up, losing her sarcasm for dry seriousness. The tension filled up the space between them so fast that Max felt her mind twinge. Unbreakable though, she waited for some kind of reaction.

"You mean the virus?" he asked, still frazzled, searching for what was on her mind. Funny I didn't figure this out earlier, Max thought as she stood brickwalling him from getting out of the conversation, but Logan never actually could understand me. It shocked Max how quickly another name filled his place in her mind, who fulfilled that spot. Max's eyes closed, blocking it out. Alec?

"No, not the virus. Us, Logan."

"What do you mean, Max? Whats this all about? Yesterday things were going great and now you show up four hours late to talk over some business, raving mad at me!"

"Now we're getting somewhere," Max said with an over-acted sigh, "Business."

"You mean, you don't want to help me anymore?"

"Thats right."

"Max, I need you." The opening was there, all ready for the taking. All she had to do was say it but nothing. 'But I don't-need-you,' was all the words she needed to walk out of there, shaking the dust off. But then she looked around, feeling overwhelmingly hurt that this was where things would end, that all this time they had spent together would all just fade into more sad memories like Manticore, and she couldn't do it. Things weren't like they should be but Max didn't have the guts to fix them. She had meditated far too much on Alec's theory, that Logan used her, without ever testing to see if it was right. Max was never obligated to Logan in the first place and he might not even care if she didn't help anymore. Maybe this would be the test, to prove whether the love Logan professed for her was true.

"But I don't need this," Max said with a deep resurfacing sigh as all the anger turned into just one failed attempt at feminine persuasion, "I hope you can understand that." The chill in air got colder as Logan threw his hands up in the air, gasping at her decision.

"I don't know why your doing this, Max, but it just makes no sense!" The chords in Max's mouth tightened, her tongue went dry and her eyes fell complacent upon the tiled floor of Logans' entryway. Frightened this was her answer, Max drew some air quietly down her throat and coughed lightly as Logan turned to face her.

"Goodbye Logan," speaking softly the words she wasn't sure she'd ever say again so surely, "and sorry." Leaving the door open for him to shut, Max took one final look at the elevator button for the first floor and pressed it. It felt like the last time she'd ever press it again.