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 Shorties In Love and Pollo Loco.
Spoilers: Shorties In Love, Pollo Loco.
Rating: PG - some graphical violence
Category: Drama, Romance
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His poem was missing. The moment Max had left his apartment, Logan had retrieved his journal from where he had thrown it on the sofa. Max had never worried about curfew before so he had wondered if there had been something in his poem that had scared her.
Logan knew where his poem was. He was sure Max had it. Part of him was flattered that she wanted to keep the poem. She had caught him writing it previously. He had been concentrating on wording the poem so perfectly that Max had walked into his apartment without him knowing it and she hadn't been able to do that since she had given him a blood transfusion.
The other part of him wished she had just asked if she wanted to keep the poem. But that wasn't in Max's nature, he knew that.
He wasn't sure if he should let on to Max that he knew she had taken the poem. Eventually he decided that he wouldn't mention it and just enjoy knowing that Max had liked the poem enough to steal it.
Picking up a pen, Logan let the words pour out of his heart onto the page of the journal. He had never been so inspired like this before he had met Max. She had become his muse the night she had broken into rob him. With her complicated personality and make up, Max was perfect to inspire his creative side.
Pondering on their conversation tonight, Logan wondered how it could be that Max didn't know how it felt to lose her first love. Had she never been in love at all or was she still seeing the person she was in love with? The second option didn't appeal to Logan much, though he realized Max didn't have much time to fall in love when most of her time was spent either at work or with him.
He had realized and finally admitted to himself though that he was completely in love with Max. Not that he could tell her without risking Max running a mile. It wasn't just that Max was incredibly beautiful, that made Logan love her. It was her feisty spirit and the softness that she tried to hide underneath. Most of all it was how she saw Logan for who he was and not for his disability.
No, Max certainly wasn't ready for any heartfelt declarations of love just yet. It was just as well. Logan wasn't sure he could say the words out loud yet. The fear of rejection always stopped him. He knew the day was coming when neither of them would be able to hide behind the just good friends façade any longer. Sometimes he wished he could see into the future to make sure that he and Max could get the happily ever after that he wanted for them.
Max sat on her bed with Logan's poem in front of her. She had never read anything so beautiful. She knew it had taken a lot of courage for Logan to let her see the poem in the first place. It was as though he had bared a small part of his soul to her.
Despite the items she had stolen over the years for cash flow, the sheet of paper in front of her was the most priceless thing she had ever obtained. The words that flowed on it made all the hardships of her life disappear into the background.
Not wishing to share the poem so that it would remain precious and not encourage yet another banging the gong speech from Original Cindy, Max hid the poem inside a well read book beside her bed.
She realized that the poem was almost a written version of what she saw on Logan's face when she caught him off guard. When his expression was unguarded and his true feelings shone through, she felt that there was someone else in the world that really saw her. Sometimes it frightened her as well. It could almost make her believe that she was loved.
There were times when Max just wanted to let go of her fears and admit to Logan how she really felt about him. The fear of Logan seeing her as the botched up science experiment she really was, stopped her every time.
It was hard to pinpoint the moment that Max had stopped thinking of Logan as a friend. There was rarely a night now, that she didn't go to Logan's apartment for dinner. Apart from stealing the poem tonight, it was rare that she stole anything these days when not on an 'Eyes Only' mission. You couldn't really call stealing money from a bad guy stealing, especially when someone else made off with the cash.
Hearing Original Cindy walking around the apartment, Max got off of her bed to see if her friend was alright. Even though Max hadn't exactly warmed to Diamond, she hated to see her friend upset.
Cindy turned away from the window as Max walked into the room. "Hey. How was dinner at Hot Boy's?"
"Oh you know." Max joked. "Great food, brown out, fine wine and lots of candles. Nothing special."
Original Cindy chuckled. "When are you two gonna stop dancing around each other?" She held her hand up as Max started to reply. "Don't give any of the 'we're not like that' rubbish. You go round to his place everyday and have dinner there almost every night."
"He's a good cook. Besides, he can get his hands on food that I have trouble pronouncing, never mind buying." Max protested.
"Ah huh." Cindy wasn't convinced. "So it was his cooking that had you practically skipping in the door tonight."
Busted. Max hadn't realized Cindy had seen her return from Logan's and the Space Needle tonight. "Turns out Logan's not a bad poet. Actually let me read one of his poems. He gets sort of funny about it, so don't mention I told you."
Now it made sense to Original Cindy. Logan had obviously written a poem about Max and that was why her friend had a glow about her. "Probably doesn't think writing poems are very manly. It's a common problem among the three legged species."
Max shrugged. "I guess." She knew her friend was trying to keep her mind off of losing Diamond. "Still, you'd think he'd be proud about something he does well."
"Men always need to be told how great they are at everything." Original Cindy replied. "Their egos constantly need stroking. So did you ooh and ahh over his poem?"
"I said it was alright." Max had been vague when Logan asked her if she hated the poem. He was a smart guy though. She knew he'd probably figured out that she had stolen the poem by now.
"And your boy's supposed to know that's high praise coming from you." It had occurred to Original Cindy some time ago that Logan knew Max better than anybody. Even herself.
"He knows I don't give a lot of over enthusiastic responses." Max said defensively. "If he wanted one of those, he'd talk to his family more often. They're good at being big fakes."
"Fair enough." Cindy headed for her room. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep. Night."
"Night." Max walked back into her own room and pulled out the poem to read again.
The next day Logan spent most of his time looking into a case Dr Shankar had brought to his attention. Bodies had been turning up in the woods displayed and with their teeth missing. None of this had drawn his attention until Beverly Shankar had mentioned the barcode on the most recent victims neck.
Logan had asked the Doctor to email some photos through to him. Then he had managed to trace previous murders down in other states. The question that came to mind as he dialed Max's apartment number, was who or what was strong enough to take out an X5 like that. He just hoped this barcode didn't belong to one of Max's siblings that she had been looking for.
A short time later, the distressed look on Max's face confirmed the barcode belonged to one of her brothers. He wanted so badly to spare her this pain. At Max's request, he phoned Beverly and arranged for Max to view the body.
The thing that scared him the most was, whatever had killed Max's brother could go after Max next and Logan had no idea how to stop it.
