He sighed and looked down at the police and protesters below, both groups still obviously tired. They knew who they were. They had their whole lives to decide who they were and how they would think. He had only a few quiet moments of non questioned peace each day, certainly not enough to decide why he liked certain things and not others.
He sensed Max behind him, but didn't turn around. She had over ten years to become her own person and fight the military dullness that she had experienced for the first nine years of her life. She wouldn't understand. He decided that nobody could.
"Hey."
"Hello." He said. "Good news?"
She stood next to him and stared out at the people below. "The scientist called. He finished it. It's done."
"I'm very happy for you." Aaron said, though he didn't seem it. But he never seemed to be much of anything; his emotions rarely showed.
"Thank you."
"I told you, I've already gotten my hug."
"Yeah, but... thank you." She said. She lingered for a minute more, then walked away.
Aaron was happy for her. She was getting what she finally wanted after so long and it was because of him. He solved the mathematic and scientific problems, he mapped out the robberies, he sold the items and got the money... he did it all. And he was happy about it. He wondered if this was what it was like to feel satisfied after having done a job well. He'd never felt that way when he'd answered questions.
He sighed once more, then turned and left the roof.
* * *
Max tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ears and smiled. She slammed her foot down on the floor, making sure her ankle was completely fine; she didn't want any distractions at breakfast.
As she walked to Logan's door, she mentally went through what she had done already. When she reached the door, she smiled and knocked. She was happy to see Logan open the door, and wanted to jump at him right then, but decided that might give him a heart attack.
"Ready?"
Logan nodded and they walked to their usual breakfast spot, the roof. He had been up there not long ago, setting everything up. "I've got a surprise for you."
"More fruit?" Max asked playfully as she opened the door to the roof.
"No, unfortunately it isn't fruit." He told her as they settled themselves on the picnic blanket. "But it is pretty good."
"What is it?"
"Close your eyes." He smirked.
"Okay." She said, a suspicious tone in her voice. She heard him digging around in a bag, then she could hear a small noise.
"Okay, open 'em."
She opened her eyes, not knowing what to expect. She saw Logan grinning at her with a box in his hand. She read the label and smiled. "Pop Tarts."
"I managed to get a hold of an unopened box." He said, then pointed to the front. He grinned at her. "S'more flavored too."
"S'mores." She said quietly and took the box from him. "Okay, this is a lovely gesture and all, but Logan, I'm not too keen on the idea of eating food that's over ten years old."
He shook his head. "It's perfectly fine. I managed to track this down, on eBay believe it or not. The guy bought a factory from the Kellogg corporation and opened a hermetically sealed room and he found boxes and boxes of the things. Being a fine citizen of today, he knew he could make a buck or two off 'em and put them online. Plus, they were shipped overnight, so they're perfectly good to eat."
Amazed at the lengths he went to, she ripped open the box and opened one of the foil packages. She handed him one and kept the other for herself. She looked at it curiously for a minute, then shrugged and took a bite. She swallowed and turned to him. "Kinda gross... but kinda good."
He smiled and took another bite of his own. She watched him, then decided now would be a time as good as any to tell him. She smiled gently, then reached out and touched his hand.
"Thank you." She said quietly.
He stared at her hand for a moment, then turned to look at her. The Pop Tart fell from his hand and landed soundlessly on the blanket under him. He swallowed hard and continued to look at her. "Max?"
"I've got a surprise for you too." She said. "It's not Pop Tarts or anything, but it is pretty good."
He looked incapable of speech, so she continued. "Well, when Aaron first showed up, he fixed all the calculations I had made so far, and he fixed everything. He told me it was the cure, positively. So I went to a scientist and he gave me a pretty steep price. So, I told Aaron and he helped me get the money... and here we are. Cured."
"How - how did you get the money?"
"Not legally." She told him honestly. "But I don't even want to think about that. All I want to think about is -"
"Breakfast?" He interjected with a grin, then slid the lid off the basket, revealing toast and a thermos labeled coffee. "I couldn't fit any hot baths in."
She shook her head in amazement and turned to stare at him. "Pop Tarts, toast, and coffee all in one day. You spoil me, Logan Cale."
He shrugged. "My pleasure."
A silence fell upon them, neither knowing how to carry the conversation in a carefree way any longer. They just looked at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Slowly they moved toward each other, neither wanting to wait any longer. Their eyes closed and their lips met softly for the first time in too long a time, or so it seemed to both of them.
* * *
Mole sighed and grabbed Alec's wrist, bringing up the transgenic's arm and looking at the time on his watch. He dropped the arm and shook his head. "She was supposed to be here an hour ago. Where the hell is she?"
"Wasn't she supposed to be having breakfast with Logan today?" Alec asked.
"Breakfast doesn't take two and a half hours." Mole said angrily.
"Maybe she forgot." Joshua offered.
"Helluva thing to forget." Mole muttered.
"Look, if worst comes to worst, I'll just go out and get the food." Alec said.
"The reason you don't get the food supplies, is because you can't be trusted with large amounts of cash, prettyboy." Mole told him and bit harshly on the end of his cigar.
Alec sneered and leaned back in his chair. They were in Max's office, waiting for her, and were spread around. Joshua was at the window, Mole was sitting on the farthest edge of the desk, and Alec was sitting behind the desk, making a go at rifling through all of the drawers.
"I'm fine with cash." Alec mumbled. Then added in a whisper, "With supervision."
He opened the bottom drawer and discovered Max's scrapbook. Curious, he pulled it out and began flipping through the pages.
"What's that?" Mole asked.
Alec shrugged. "A scrapbook I guess. From her friends at work apparently. Why didn't they make me one?"
"Maybe they don't like you."
They all looked and saw Max in the doorway, looking a little rosy in the cheeks. She walked over to Alec and roughly took the book from him, then put it back in the drawer and closed it. He quickly moved out of her chair before she could push him to the floor, and she sat down.
"Why're you all... pink?" Alec asked.
"I was outside." Max told him without looking in his eyes.
"It's not cold outside." Mole said.
"It was just now." Max said, then coughed uncomfortably. "So, food delivery. I better get on that."
She got up and rushed out of the room, then came back in. She grabbed the keys to the truck and the supply sheet off her desk and smiled sheepishly. "Almost forgot."
* * *
Max backed the truck up next to the warehouse where Original Cindy had set up a food drop. She patted the hood of the eighteen wheeler that Dix had resurrected from the dead affectionately, then walked up to the warehouse door and slid it open. The workers inside didn't pay any attention to her, which she liked. When she first started picking up food supplies, they treated her like she was going to snatch their first borns and eat them right there in front of them, but as she kept making regular appearances and slowly showed them that she had no interest in eating their young, they grew to treat her like a regular client. A few even dared say hello.
"Max!"
Max smiled at the manager, a transgenic named Gary who was passing as a regular guy. "Gary."
"How's things?"
"Same old, same old." She told him as she watched the workers begin loading crates of food onto the truck. "How's the girlfriend?"
"Fiancé." Gary beamed.
"Get out."
"No, I'm totally serious." He told her. "A few weeks after your last visit I asked her. She, obviously, said yes. I am so the cat who ate the canary."
"Don't forget to invite me and the kids to the wedding." Max said and gave him a little nudge.
"I don't know about all the kids," Gary said, knowing that she meant the transgenics at Terminal City. "But maybe some of the sixies, ya know, the ones I was close to in my club."
Max smiled, knowing he meant the X6s that were in his unit. "Got ya, Gar, got ya. So, life's good for one of us, huh?"
"Seems like it." He said soberly.
"That's good to hear." She said and watched as the last crate be loaded onto the truck, then the truck's back be closed. "Well, I gotta blaze."
"See ya, Max."
"You know it." She grinned.
* * *
She arrived back at Terminal City to the usual crowd of transgenics who would be taking the show over from there. She hopped out of the truck and handed the keys to Mole. "Have fun."
"Right." He grumbled and climbed into the cab.
She smiled, truly happy for the first time in a long time. But her face fell as soon as she saw Joshua rushing toward her, knowing that life would never let her catch a break.