EPISODE SEVEN – CHAPTER EIGHT

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Dark Angel. No copyright infringement intended.

Spoilers: Season 2, Medium Is The Message.

Rating: PG.

A/N: It's me, and I'm alive. Merry Christmas to those of you who Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all. Again I apologize for the long wait. I didn't want to rush this, but I ended up doing so anyway so I could get it done before Christmas actually occurred! I started this chapter in July, never thinking I'd be writing it in the proper season. But such is life. Please read and review – I'd like to know what you thought of the gifts after so much anticipation. I may add to or revise this chapter slightly once the holidays are over, but I wanted to go ahead and post it as is for now.

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Before Logan and Original Cindy got halfway through the exercise room, a whirling dervish in the form of a blond five-year-old came barreling towards them, launching herself against Logan's legs. "Woah, there!" he laughed, putting out his hands to break the impact. She was so excited he was afraid she'd hurt herself on the chair's metal parts.

"Logan! It's Christmas Day!" Maggie squealed as he lifted her with strong arms onto his lap. "Has Santa already been here?" she asked excitedly. "He came to our house, even though I didn't think he'd know where to find us! I got two dolls and new clothes and some crayons," she said, smiling broadly.

"Sounds like you made out like a bandit," Logan said, returning her smile. He glanced up and back at Original Cindy, then over at Maggie's parents, who were coming in behind Max and putting up their coats. "Everyone, this is Max's best friend, Original Cindy. Original Cindy, this is Maggie," he said, his eyes flicking towards the little girl on his lap, "and Colin and Yvonne."

"And I'm, uh, Tricia," a voice behind Logan piped up hesitantly. He twisted around to see her approach from the kitchen, and everyone felt the onset of the inevitable awkwardness that resulted from everyone knowing exactly what had transpired in Horseshoe Bay.

Except Maggie, of course, who broke the tension by saying to Logan, "Santa had a lot of presents to bring here, didn't he?"

"He sure did, kiddo," Max said, coming over to her and holding out her hand. "Wanna take a look at our tree?"

Maggie nodded excitedly and took Max's hand, jumping off Logan's lap and waving at the adults as she let Max lead her down the hall. They heard her squeal of delight when she saw the tree and its presents, and they all smiled. Then Colin made eye contact with Tricia, and wheeled forward, Yvonne staying a step behind. "I – I'm not sure what to say now that I have the chance," Colin ventured tentatively, holding Tricia's gaze but shooting a look at Logan for support. "I guess the first thing would be, thanks for saving my life."

Tricia smiled cautiously. "I'm glad I could help," she said. "And listen – don't worry about the other thing. It happened. I'm okay with it." She took a step towards Logan and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her questioningly. "And I'm ready for Christmas dinner," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Logan put his hands to his wheels and backed up, turning to the kitchen. "Well, then, you can help get it on the table," he told her. "Make yourselves at home," he called back to Colin and Yvonne.

Original Cindy followed Tricia and Logan back into the kitchen. "I just gotta say, you the woman," she said to Tricia, coming up to put a hand on the older woman's arm. "Some guy hold a gun to my head, Original Cindy ain't forgetting that, wheels or no wheels."

Tricia laughed. "I'm not forgetting; just moving on," she said lightly. "Anyway, it was Logan's head he held the gun to, not mine," she added with a smile. Logan heard his name and looked up distractedly at her from where he sat at the stove, checking on the various pots there. The two women giggled as he flashed them a quizzical smile, then dipped a stirring spoon into the green beans.

In the living room, Maggie was busy inspecting the gifts around the Christmas tree as Max, Yvonne, and Colin looked on. "Honey, put that back. Those aren't yours, and you might break something," Yvonne admonished her daughter.

"Well, one or two might be yours, but they're gonna have to wait till after chow time," Max told her, perching on the end of the couch and smiling down at the little girl. Maggie was wearing jeans and a white sweater with Rudolph plastered across it, his nose a round piece of red felt and his antlers rising up her chest and down her arms.

Maggie frowned. "You're supposed 'ta open the presents before Christmas dinner," she pronounced, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, well, we're doing it backwards this year. Everyone needs a little variety in their lives, right?" Max asked her. "You do the same thing every year, you might get bored."

"We already opened presents at our house, Maggie," Colin pointed out. "This way you get to open presents all day long, right?"

The little girl thought about that for a second, and her lips curved into an impish grin. "Yeah!" she cried happily. "You're pretty smart, Daddy."

Max watched the family as they smiled and laughed. It was the first time she'd seen them all truly happy since...well, ever since she'd known them. Yvonne's blond hair was artfully held back with several small clips, a style that set off her high cheekbones and exposed her luminous brown eyes. She was really pretty, Max thought. Her outfit was simple, for once – a lavender sweater set and khaki pants. Max's eyes veered towards Colin next. Maggie had scrambled into his lap and they were playing patty-cake. His blue eyes, that matched his daughter's perfectly, reflected just how much he adored her. He was sitting in Logan's spare chair, a sporty little number, electric blue and gleaming from having been used only rarely in the past. Max giggled as she realized he looked like he'd coordinated his clothes with the chair – black slacks and loafers, and a blue button-down shirt. All of them had ruddy cheeks – due, Max knew from her brief trip to Joshua's, to the cold wind outside.

As she sat there quietly, just thinking, Max suddenly became aware that her chest was aching with a fervent hope that she was seeing her own future in this family. Could that ever be Logan and her? Married, happy, with a...a baby. The ache turned into a tightness as she blinked back tears. Embarrassed, she got up and walked into the kitchen. "Hey, anything I can do to light a fire under you slowpokes?" she asked, forcing a brightness into her voice that she didn't feel. "A girl could starve, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Logan said dismissively. "You could probably last for a month without eating."

Max stuck her tongue out at him, and he swatted her butt as he wheeled by with a pot on his lap. He set it on the table and returned for another one. In just a few minutes, the table was completely full, and everyone was gathered. For Maggie's sake, they all bowed their heads and smiled as she thanked God for the meal and for Santa Claus and the presents they were about to receive.

"Tricia, will you do the honors?" Logan asked, holding the carving knife and fork out to her. When she took them from him, he adjusted his glasses and smiled. "I'm not used to doing it sitting down."

"Uh, I guess so – but I'm warning you, it won't be pretty," she told him.

Though it turned out that Tricia was right – her carving job was more like a hatchet job and they all ended up eating chunks of turkey instead of slices – it didn't change the perfection to which Logan had cooked the bird. After everyone had been served and the first bite tasted, Yvonne exclaimed, "Logan, forget showing Colin how to lift weights. From now on, you're giving cooking lessons!"

Everyone laughed in appreciation, and Logan's cheeks flushed pink, which made Max's smile even wider. Some things can't be learned," Logan quipped, and this time Colin's cheeks reddened. Logan couldn't keep a straight face, and his smile and silent laugh gave him away after a few seconds.

"You got that right, sugah," Original Cindy chimed in. "You got the gift of chow, that's for sure."

Dinner passed in the glow of interesting conversation and light hearts, and soon they were all rubbing their stomachs and complaining. "I'm blamin' you, boo," Original Cindy said, catching Logan's eye.

"What'd I do?"

"Now you knew good 'n well there was no way on this earth that we could eat that much food. The entire population of China couldn't eat that much food."

Logan flashed her a little half-smile. "Haven't you ever heard of leftovers?"

Original Cindy thought for a second, then grinned at the thought of gourmet lunches for the rest of the week. "You aiight, boo," she declared.

With that, Logan pushed back from the table, putting the plates within his reach in a stack on his lap. "Okay, people, the quicker we clear the table, the quicker we can open presents."

He took his own stack to the sink, but on his way back to the table, his cell phone rang, and he detoured to the computer room to pick it up. Max shot a worried look in his direction. She'd forgotten about the call he'd gotten yesterday – and she'd never told him about it. That informant had sounded pretty desperate, and she had to tell Logan. But she was going to wait until that night...unless he was already calling back. Max shifted from one foot to the other, then sprinted after him. "Hey, you're not forgetting our deal, are you?" she asked, coming up behind him as he wheeled into the room, nearing the phone on the far side of the desk.

He looked back at her, surprised at her rapid approach. "No...actually, I was just going to answer my phone, if that's okay with you."

Max started moving again at the same time he did, but she was faster and slipped in front of his chair so he had to come to a short stop to avoid banging into her ankles. "Uh, yeah, actually I do mind. You can call whoever it is back tonight, when the guests are gone and the presents are opened and the holiday is officially over."

"Since when is it so important to you to preserve precious holiday time?" Logan asked with a curious look, somewhere between amusement and irritation.

Max shrugged. "Please, Logan. Just leave the phone for a few more hours. If it's anybody important, they can call the regular phone, right?"

Logan stared up at her as she leaned back against the edge of the desk, arms crossed stubbornly across her chest. Finally he sighed. "Okay, Max. Whatever you say. But as soon as this holiday is over, things go back to the way they were and I get to do my job. Agreed?"

Max smiled winningly. "You're the boss."

"Sometimes I wonder," Logan murmured as he backed away from her. The phone finally stopped ringing as it directed whoever was calling to his voicemail.

They returned to the kitchen, where Yvonne and Tricia were efficiently cleaning up, having shooed Original Cindy, Colin, and Maggie into the living room. A glance that way made Max laugh – O.C. was giving Maggie a piggyback ride, and had stopped by the Christmas tree so Maggie could reach up and touch the star planted at the top. Colin was doing pressure-relief push-ups on the wheels of Logan's chair, watching his daughter with a smile.

"Logan and I can do the rest tonight," she told Tricia and Yvonne. They both looked up and started to protest, but Max interrupted. "Give me a break, aiight? I'm new at this present-opening thing, and I'd like to get a move on." She smiled impishly at them and cocked her head towards the living room.

Tricia returned her smile. "You don't know how happy it makes me to see you happy, Max," she said softly.

Max blushed a little, shrugging off her mother's tender look. Original Cindy, overhearing, marched over to her. "Okay, boo, let's get this show on the road." She linked arms with Max and they strode into the living room. Original Cindy sat down in one of the wing chairs, and Max edged past Colin and plopped onto the far end of the couch, curling her legs underneath her as she watched Logan wheel over to the Christmas tree and put a bunch of presents on his lap. He brought them over to the coffee table and went back for more.

Tricia came over and sat in the other wing chair, and Yvonne followed behind, sitting in the corner of the couch next to Colin. Once Logan was done bringing most of the presents over, he pulled up between Tricia and Max and set his brakes, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. Max also shifted forward a little and reached her hand out to clasp his, and they shared a smile.

Maggie had been prancing around from one person to another as Logan loaded the presents, but finally she scrambled up into her dad's lap, ready to begin. Because she was so impatient, the grownups let her open the few presents Max and Logan had gotten for her first. She was thrilled with the set of marbles Logan had gotten her, and with the book of fairy tales that Max gave her. "The book comes with one condition," Max warned Maggie as she eagerly turned the pages, looking at the colorful pictures and sounding out the few words she recognized.

Maggie looked up, surprised. "What's a condition?" she asked.

Max laughed. "A condition's something you have to agree to before you get the present. And the condition is, I'm gonna stop by your house every once in a while and read you a bedtime story from our book. If that's okay with you."

Maggie grinned. "Okay," she agreed. "Whose turn is it now to open a present?"

Logan cleared his throat. "I think there's one for your dad, but it's pretty big. Maybe

Tricia would go get it for us," he said glancing at her. "It's over against the wall," he added, motioning with his thumb in that direction.

"Oh, sure," Tricia said, jumping up from the chair that was closest to the Christmas tree. She found the wrapped box and half-carried, half-dragged it over to Colin, squeezing it past Original Cindy's feet.

"Logan, don't you think you've done enough for us already?" Colin asked, embarrassed to be receiving a Christmas gift from a man he'd almost killed not long before. "And uh, I think I might fall more into the 'naughty' category this year."

"Well, yeah, but this was on the way anyway," Logan said with a half-smile. "The gift part is that I managed to light a fire under the manufacturer to get it here ahead of schedule."

Colin thought about that for a second as he started unwrapped the large box. As he realized what Logan meant, he tilted his head back and smiled broadly. "Thanks, man. That's great." He stripped the rest of the wrapping paper, throwing it carelessly onto the floor, and then Original Cindy and he managed to wrestle open the taped cardboard. Colin reached in and pulled out a wheel, showing it off to everyone.

"My new chair – that was supposed to take a month," he said, but Logan could tell how excited he was to have it. "What's it been -–not even two weeks, right?"

Logan shrugged modestly. "I have a way with delivery people." Max punched him lightly on the shoulder, and he rubbed it with one hand, glaring at her jokingly.

They took a break from present-opening because Colin couldn't wait to set up the new chair. It was similar to the one Logan had been lending him, except it was a sleek black, with the wheels tilted in a little more for stability and maneuverability, and an almost non-existent backrest. It had been sized to his measurements, so there was little to do but put it together and make some minor adjustments before he was taking Maggie on a breakneck ride around the apartment. Logan marveled at – and envied – the speed and ease with which his friend had mastered wheeling.

Eventually they managed to corral father and daughter back into the living room, and began opening presents again. Max and Logan gave Yvonne and Colin a gift basket filled with some small, practical things they had been needing around the safehouse but hadn't been able to find in the nearby grocery store or drugstore – batteries, packages of Kool-Aid for Maggie, an ice pack and a heating pad for various aches and pains, and a few more luxurious things like candles and wine. Original Cindy had gotten Max a manicure set and some coupons offering Max her services for free, and Max had gotten O.C. some impossible-to-find hair care products that she'd come across through her occasional fence.

Tricia gave Max and Logan some smoked salmon and other foodstuffs from Vancouver that they couldn't get in Seattle, all wrapped up in a beautiful gift basket, and Max gave her mother copies of the few pictures of herself that had been taken post-escape, with various foster families. Tricia blinked back tears, and had to put the pictures away before recovering enough to thank Max. Then Logan gave Tricia a quilt that he'd asked a friend to make for her, matching the colors she'd decorated her living room in.

Eventually they came down to two packages left on the coffee table. "Get ready everybody," Original Cindy drawled, "time for some serious goo-goo eyes 'tween the two luuuvbirds."

Max rolled her eyes at her friend, as the rest of them laughed. Max's gaze shifted to Logan, and they looked at each for a few minutes, until finally Max shifted her eyes to the coffee table. "Here," she said, handing him a gift wrapped in newspaper. "I don't go in for that fancy, shiny stuff," she said, thrusting the package at him. "Where'd you find all that paper, anyway?"

"I still have a lot left over from Christmases past, actually," Logan replied. "Found it stuck away in the back of a closet." He reached out and took the plainly wrapped gift from her. Slowly he peeled the newsprint away, prologing the suspense.

He looked up at Max and back down at the package several times, teasing her, till she snapped, "Just get it over with already!"

Logan laughed, and tore the rest off, staring at it as his breath caught in his throat. Their audience oooohed and ahhhed as he sat in silence. In his hands was a beautiful new journal, bound in leather and tied with a graceful leather strap. Logan slowly unfastened the strap and opened the book, flipping tenderly through the blank pages. Stopping on the first one, he read the inscription she'd written. Hope you know by now – introspection makes you strong, not weak. Gotta know yourself before you can go out and save the world. Thanks for helping me get to that place, Logan. Love, Max. Christmas 2020.

Logan looked up at Max, and she thought she saw the glimmer of tears in his eyes. "Thank you. It's beautiful," he said simply. He wished he could move closer to her, but it seemed silly to reach out his arms to ask for a hug, so he just sat there, aching to touch her, to show her how much her gift meant to him.

"You're welcome," she replied softly, as she stretched her legs out and stood just long enough to transfer her behind from the sofa to his lap, then reached out her arms and embraced him. He gave her a fierce hug, ignoring the eye-roll from Original Cindy across the room, then whispered in her ear, "You read my mind."

Pulling away then, he kissed her gently but quickly on the lips, very aware of the people watching them, including the five-year-old. "Your turn," he said lightly, and she reached over and picked up the remaining box. It was square, about the size of a cigar box, and wrapped in shiny foil decorated with Christmas trees and tied with a green ribbon. In her enthusiasm, Max snapped the wide, thick ribbon with such ease that Logan glanced up at Colin and Yvonne to see if they were surprised, but they didn't seem to have noticed.

Max ripped the paper from the box as uncaringly as Logan had been careful, and lifted the top off to reveal…a cell phone, nestled in white tissue paper. She looked up at Logan, dumbfounded. "Wow, Logan, you shouldn't have," she said dryly. Visions of rings or poetry or…or a new bike, shriveled up and disappeared as she stared down at the electronic device. As she did so, she completely missed the knowing look that passed between Logan and Tricia.

"Hey, you've been needing one for a long time – and they're not exactly easy to buy these days," Logan protested, sensing that she wasn't thrilled. "And I'm getting the bill for it."

Max managed a smile, trying to remember that it really was a generous gift. She glanced at Original Cindy, who looked like she'd just seen a decaying animal on the side of the road, and had to stifle a laugh. Tricia caught her eye and smiled reassuringly, and Colin and Yvonne murmured about how thoughtful it was. "Thanks," she finally told him. "It's really uh…it'll come in handy, that's for sure."

With that, she hopped off his lap and started cleaning up the wrapping paper. The others got up to help, and Logan headed to the kitchen, announcing that there was pumpkin pie for anyone who was ready for dessert. Maggie jumped off of Colin and ran after Logan, and the happy chatter slowly began again.

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"I don't know about you two, but I'm ready for bed." Tricia stretched her arms above her head and yawned. They were in the living room, just enjoying each other's company. The guests had left hours before, and the three of them were sharing a last bottle of wine. Logan had transferred to the couch so Max could lie down and put her head in his lap, and Tricia's feet were propped up lazily on the coffee table. "Did I thank you for having me and helping me get here?"

"Yes, and you're still welcome," Logan said, taking off his glasses to wipe something away with the hem of his shirt. "I'm tired, too – which is strange, considering I've just been sitting around all day."

"You need to work on your jokes," Max said, her voice muffled against his jeans. She sat up slowly, swinging her legs over the side of the sofa as though it took great effort. "You going back tomorrow?" she asked Tricia, who nodded.

"Yeah, I better. Sector police will be especially vigilant around the New Year. Besides, I need to get back and keep looking for a job. There might be some teachers quitting mid-year."

After a couple more minutes of conversation, the three of them started yawning more frequently, and decided to turn in. Logan pulled the chair up and transferred, putting his new journal in his lap and taking it to the computer room to put away. Everything else seemed to be in order, so he turned off lights as he went and called a good-night to Tricia as he continued down the hall to the bedroom.

"Did you have a good Christmas, Max?" Tricia asked as they walked to the guest bedroom.

Max shrugged. "Beats the hell out of working, which is what I usually do," she replied. Even though Jam Pony closed for the day, Max found it was a great day to put in some hours in her other occupation, since many people were out of town and houses were empty.

"Well, I hope this is the first Christmas of many that we can spend together," Tricia said lightly. "I feel so…so lucky, to have finally found you. And I wanted to thank you for…for welcoming me into your life. Maybe not as your mother, but just as a friend. That's been so important to me. The best Christmas gift I could have received."

Max shrugged again, clearly uncomfortable with the raw emotion she saw in Tricia's eyes. "Well, it's not like I don't owe you, too, you know, for givin' birth to me," she said with a mischievous half-grin. "And for the whole virus thing. And…I don't know, just seems right, you know?"

Tricia nodded, and they stood for a second, and then hugged impulsively. Tricia kissed Max on the cheek and whispered, "Good night," then turned into the bedroom.

Max headed down the hall to the bedroom. She wasn't particularly looking forward to being alone with Logan, not after…the cell phone. She'd put the irritation aside to enjoy the rest of the day, but now she had no idea what she was going to say to him. A telephone, of all things! The first Christmas they were together. His gift last year had been more romantic, for heaven's sake.

The lights in his bedroom were dim, and she realized he must've been in the bathroom, so she continued to mutter to herself about the wonderfully practical cell phone as she stripped off her shirt and threw it over towards the laundry hamper. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder, and was about to step out of her pants, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, and stopped. She turned toward the bed and looked again.

Set against the stark white of the pillowcase was a small, white box, wrapped only with a slim red ribbon. Max's breath caught in her throat as she crossed the few feet to the bed and sank down onto the comforter. She reached out to the box and a small crackle made her realize it was resting on a plain sheet of white paper, which she unfolded. Written in black ink was Logan's unmistakable scrawl:

Protector,

Avenger,

Destroyer,

Giver of life

who lives forever.

You are my Bast, Max.

There was nothing else written on the sheet of paper, so Max picked up the small box and slowly removed the ribbon. Opening the box, she saw a small, black, velvet box cushioned in red tissue paper. She lifted it out carefully and opened it. Lying on the tiny black velvet pillow inside was a gold charm and delicate chain. The charm was little more than an inch high – an exquisitely detailed, painstakingly recreated figure of Bast, exactly like the one Max had come to Logan's apartment for that first night. It was solid gold except for eyes two tiny rubies, and the entire thing sparkled as the dim, amber bedroom lights reflected off its grooves and surfaces.

"I thought maybe you wouldn't fully appreciate the cell phone, so I kept that as a backup." Max's head whipped around. She'd been so engrossed in the gift she hadn't even heard Logan approach. He had pulled up next to the bed, wearing boxers and a tee shirt, as well as a slightly amused expression.

Max smiled, then laughed softly. "Everybody thinks you're a dope. You know that," she told him.

Logan shrugged. "Doesn't matter what anybody thinks – except you. I wanted this one to be just between us. Sorry if I embarrassed you."

Max snorted. "Hey, takes more than that to embarrass me," she murmured. Her eyes went back down to the charm, and she fingered it lovingly. "This is…how did you…?"

Logan set the brakes on the chair, lifted his bare feet to the ground, and transferred to the bed beside Max. He took the box from her and carefully removed the necklace, then motioned for her to turn away as he lifted it over her head and fastened the clasp. She looked down in wonder as it lay on her chest, where tank top met skin, glittering. "Every time you look at this, you'll know how much I love you."

She turned around and kissed him, gently at first, but then he took her in his arms and drew her backwards, until they fell back onto the bed with a soft thump. They continued kissing with more urgency, until he broke away just enough to breathe, "Merry Christmas, Max."

"Merry Christmas, Logan."

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