Disclaimer and Spoilers: See Chapter 1

A/N: I'm really sorry for not posting sooner. I've been on vacation the last two weeks and had wanted to post this before I left, but ffn didn't let me. Sorry.Hope you like this one anyway. If you do - or if you don't - please leave a review. Thanks!

And - as usual - thanks to Kasman for her beta.

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3. SORRY SEEMS TO BE...

The cabin was dark, except for the flickering light of the fire. Max slipped through the door, closing it carefully behind her, before putting her jacket in the wardrobe in the small hallway and taking off her shoes. "Logan?" she asked quietly, peaking around the corner to the living room, so as not to wake him if he was already asleep.

"Max!" she heard his voice coming from the living room and saw him a second later, wheeling closer to her. When he stopped in front of her in the hallway , he looked up to meet her eyes, both of them trying to find out what the other one was thinking.

"I'm sorry," they said in unison, which made them both giggle nervously.

"You first," Max said, waiting expectantly what he had to tell her.

"I'm so sorry, Max," Logan said. "I was a complete idiot. Please, I...I don't know what happened. I don't know why I said those things. Please believe me that I do know you better than that. I do know what you've been through and what you're still going through." His knuckles were white from tightly gripping his wheel-rims. He looked down, his eyes not meeting hers.

"I've been so stupid, Max." She's going to kill me. She's going to kick my ass from here back to Seattle and then I'll never see her again. God, please! Please let her understand what even I myself can't.

But instead of the kick in his ass he'd expected, he felt two strong female arms wrapped around his shoulders. Looking up he saw Max kneeling next to him like she'd done when he'd come back from Mrs. Moreno's apartment just a few short days before. She looked him straight in the eyes and said, "Yes, you are an idiot, Logan. But I know you too and I know what you've been through. You're my best friend and I don't want to lose you just because you can't walk. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

He sighed, relieved, and gave in to the good feeling of being so close to her. He pulled her closer, one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, and hid his face in her curls. "I don't want to lose you either," he murmured, inhaling her scent.

"I was so scared," he continued whispering. "I thought you wouldn't come back."

Max gave him a final squeeze and let go. She stood up slowly and smiled at him. "You know, you don't get rid of me that easily."

"Yeah, thank God," he replied and turned the wheelchair, rolling back in the living room. He stopped next to the armchair, turning himself to face the fire.

Max, who'd followed him, sat down in the armchair, watching Logan's profile. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Logan shrugged slowly. "Kind of."

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked carefully.

He shook his head.

"You sure?"

Logan exhaled deeply. "Yeah, I'm sure. I still haven't figured it out for myself, so please... I don't wanna talk about it. Not now."

Max smiled carefully at him. "Okay. I'll be right here, so if you change your mind..."

"Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it." He hesitated. "But right now I can't talk about it. It still hurts too much."

"I understand," she nodded slowly. "I just wanna be sure that you're still there when I leave you alone for a while and come back. Don't make me come to your apartment one day and find you dead on the floor. It's hard enough to know that it was my blood that put you through all of this, but knowing that it killed you in the end...I couldn't stand that. If I had known..."

"There wasn't a chance any of us could have known. Don't worry, Max, it's not your fault."

"So why do I feel responsible?" she asked.

"Don't. It's okay. Whatever it takes, I'm going to survive this too. Please understand that it's not easy for me right now. I promise I'll find my way, just be patient, okay?" he pleaded.

Max smiled at him. "I'll always be there. Take all the time you need."

"Thanks. But I'm still trying to figure it out. Trying to understand, you know?"

"Yeah, sometimes stuff is hard to understand. But promise that you're not going to brood for the rest of our lives. There are so many great things I want to do with you."

Our lives? Logan forced a smile. "So how long am I allowed to brood?"

Max stood up and headed toward her bedroom. Before she disappeared through the door, she turned around. "Tonight. 'Cause tomorrow we're going skiing."

With that she closed the door behind her, hearing Logan's soft, "Good night".

I don't think he understood that I was being serious. But he'll find out tomorrow. I promise. It's going to be fun, Max thought, as she changed for the night.

Logan stayed in the living room a little longer, the feeling of relief still overwhelming. She came back. Maybe life isn't that bad after all. I have this incredible woman coming back to me. And we're friends. That's more than I could hope for after all I said. Going skiing? Yeah, let her go skiing. I'll be waiting for her. Always.

As Max lay in her bed, she did what she did almost every night: lay there thinking. There was a little TV in the bedroom, but she was sure it wouldn't offer as many stations as Logan's did and so she didn't switch it on. Even with Logan's huge variety of channels it was hard to find something to watch these days.

So she lay down and stared at the ceiling. A while later she became restless and stood up again. She sat down on the windowsill and looked out. Not exactly the Space Needle, she thought to herself, but better than nothing. It was pitch-black outside, but thanks to her night vision she could still see the snow and the mountains. The snow seemed to swallow up any noise, so it was incredibly quiet. The only thing she could hear was Logan sleeping in the room next to her. His breathing was calm and steady and she smiled at the faint sound of it.

I wish I could take some of his pain away. I wish I had never done this to him, not the first time, when I didn't help him with Lauren and Sophy, and not the second time, when I transfused him my blood. But what should I have done? He was dying. He would have died, if I hadn't come back. There's no use thinking about the what-ifs. It's just the way it happened. I better try to sleep a little. Hopefully Logan's mood will be better tomorrow and he's not going to kill me for the idea of going skiing. Maybe I'll be lucky and it'll be fun. Maybe...