"Inbetween Red and Art Attack"
by Kirsten Tapp

Disclaimer: Dark Angel doesn't belong to the author, but to James Cameron, etc. No copyright infringement intended.
Summary: What went on between Red and Art Attack.
Spoilers: Red and Art Attack
Rating: PG
Category: Drama/Romance

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Logan gently cleansed the wounds on Max's back and arms. He was a little surprised that she was allowing him to tend to her wounds. He saw her shiver slightly. "You ok?"

Max stayed facing away from him. "Yeah. That stuff just stings a little." She ignored the voice in her head calling her a liar. It wasn't the sting from the antiseptic that made her shiver. It was the touch of Logan's strong hands which were so gentle on her skin.

"I can change your Doctor's note if you want to get out of work for the rest of the day." What Logan really wanted to do was keep Max safe in his apartment and never let her out of his sight ever again.

Max shook her head as Logan brushed her hair aside so that he could get to the injuries on the back of her neck. "Nah, that's ok. In a couple of days there won't even be a scratch visible on my skin."

"Be careful. Those guys are still out there looking for you." Logan tried to keep the concern out of his voice, but failed. The fact that the Red soldiers had Max scared made him worry all the more. He'd never seen Max scared before.

Max winced as she glanced over her shoulder at Logan. "I know. I'll be careful. Thanks for driving to the rescue by the way." She had never been so grateful to see Logan's car come screeching into the courthouse car park.

"No problem." Logan had been terrified when he had seen Bruno leave the court house without Max. He hadn't even thought of his disability. He had just got himself into his car and headed for the underground car park, praying that he wasn't too late.

Bling's face was a picture when Logan had driven up beside him with Max sprawled across the back seat. If Logan hadn't been so worried about Max, he would have laughed. Bling had decided that the best idea would be to remain silent and not ask any questions. Although it wasn't hard to guess what had happened.

"Ow." Max felt a pain in her lower back just above the waistband of her jeans. "I think they got me about herw." She waved her hand above where she felt the pain.

Logan's mouth went dry as he carefully lifted the tank top that Max was wearing. He was grateful that Bling had made himself scarce when they had returned to the apartment. Otherwise his physical therapist would be hassling him big time by now. "This looks pretty bad." He felt guilty when Max hissed in pain. "Sorry. Are you sure that you don't want to take the rest of the day off work. The best thing you can do is take a nice hot bath, cause souped up DNA or not you are going to be one big beautiful bruise tomorrow."

Max snorted. "Sounds wonderful, but I'm not boiling twenty pots of water even if it stops me from being a giant bruise." She was too sore to be bothered standing over the stove watching water boil."

"Well, use my bathroom." The words just leapt out of Logan's mouth before he could stop them. "You won't even have to boil the water." He was sure that Max would say no.

"That would be great, if you're sure you don't mind." Max ached from head to foot. A hot bath sounded wonderful.

Logan backed his wheelchair up. "I'll go and run the water for you." Great, now all he would be able to think about when he was in his bathroom would be Max naked in his bath.

While the water was running, Logan pulled out a couple of clean fluffy towels and a bathrobe for Max to wear. If he could convince her to take the rest of the day off work, then he would have time to wash her clothes and cook her dinner.

A short time later Max was soaking in the bath. She couldn't believe that Logan had called Normal and told him that she had been attacked on her way to work from the doctor. He had even got Matt Sung to back up the story.

She relaxed in the water. Logan had thought of everything. He had even got hold of Original Cindy and told her that the errand that Max was doing was taking longer than expected. Once he had reassured her friend that Max was safe and sound and would be joining her at Crash after he had given Max dinner. Logan had even made it sound as though dinner was payment for the make believe errand she had done for him.

Original Cindy had threatened various parts of Logan's anatomy if Max wasn't in tip top condition when she saw her at Crash. Behind her harsh words, Max knew that her friend trusted Logan to keep Max safe.

Max sunk beneath the surface of the water. She needed to think and she always did her best thinking under water. Today life got a hundred times harder. Now she was running from Lydecker and the Reds. The thing was, she didn't know why the Reds were so eager to get their hands on a Manticore prototype.

"Max? Are you ok in there?" Logan was started to become alarmed at the silence in the bathroom.

Max rose from the water and wrapped herself up in one of the towels. "I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute." After wrapping her wet hair in the other towel, she pulled on the red bathrobe. She had no idea what Logan had cooked up for dinner, but it smelt delicious.

Logan had dinner dished out and waiting for Max when she emerged from the bathroom. "Your clothes are in the dryer, but I could probably find you something else to wear in the meantime."

Max sat down at the table. "That's ok. I can make do with this bathrobe for the moment." She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she sat down at the table.

Logan watched Max eat as though she hadn't eaten for a week. "Didn't you get time for a meal while you were baby sitting Bruno?"

Max paused between mouthfuls. "Well, I tried twice to get round to dinner, but what with the strippers that Bruno called, moving to a hotel which he then ran from to set me up with the Reds, I sort of ran out of time."

"I'm sorry." Logan hadn't known originally who the witness had been. When he had found out that the person he was trying to keep alive, was the same person who had put him in a wheelchair, he had tried to prove that he was big enough not to hold a grudge. His pride had put Max in danger. "I should have found another way to protect Bruno when we found out he was the witness."

Max stopped eating, her fork paused in mid air. "There's no way you could have known that Bruno was going to be such a pain in the ass. You also didn't know that he was going to use me to boost his cash flow. That is unless you have a crystal ball that you use to see the future, hiding around here somewhere." She continued eating her dinner.

Logan smiled at her joke. "No crystal ball hiding here. You would have swiped it by now if I had." He teased back. My God, was there anything Max didn't look good in?

Max carefully shook her head to avoid getting a painful reaction from one of her injuries. "Nah. Crystal balls aren't worth much these days. What am I eating by the way. It's delicious."

"Chicken Basquaise." Logan had figured that Max would demand dinner after putting up with Bruno over night. He had asked Bling to stock up on groceries that morning not realizing the outcome of the baby sitting assignment.

Max soaked up the juices from the meal with the crusty bread Logan had put on the table. "You are going to have to show me how to make this."

"Anytime." Logan moved away from the table to check on Max's drying clothes. He didn't want her to leave, but if she didn't show at Crash her friends would become more alarmed by her absence than they already were.

As he was pulling the dry clothes out of the dryer he sensed more than knew Max was standing behind him. That had never happened before. She usually crept up behind him and he didn't know about it until he turned around.

"Thanks for doing my laundry." Max took the clothes off of Logan. She could have sworn he knew that she was there before he had turned around. That sort of took the fun out of sneaking up on him. "I'd better get changed and get to Crash before Original Cindy makes good on her threat." She paused in the doorway. "Why don't you come with me to Crash?"

"Thanks, but I've got a lot of work to do." Logan had almost said yes but then he remembered that he was going to ask Sebastian to help him track down the Reds. He wanted to get to them before they got to Max.

Max hadn't been surprised by his answer. "Well, you know where I'll be if you change your mind." She was changed and out the door before she decided to stay with Logan, which would only cause her friends to hassle her more.

An hour later Logan finished talking to Sebastian and caught sight of the invitation to his cousin's wedding. He had been going to ask Max to go with him, but then Max had gotten hurt and he got side tracked.

There was still time to ask her to be his date to the wedding. He had a basketball game in the morning. Logan didn't want to ask her in his apartment, incase Bling overheard him. It was a better idea to get Max to meet him at the basketball courts and he could ask her then. Now that decision had been made, all he had to do was figure out what to say.

The End