Here's a little bit longer chapter for your pleasure. We hope you enjoy it. Please read and review.
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She reached and reached, until finally her hand grasped Logan's. Tightening her grip on his, they flew through the air. She pulled up until he was clinging to her, and his arms, strengthened by the months of rehab, were tight around her waist. She raised her leg in front of them and they crashed through the window and onto the bed.
"You all right?" she asked.
"You okay?" Logan replied, their words tumbling over one another.
She stared down at his face, his body trapped beneath hers on the bed. "What are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same question. I went to a lot of trouble to get you released," Logan replied. "You should be thanking me."
"Thanking you? You'd be thrown off the roof if it wasn't for me!"
Max started to get up, but Logan pulled the rope around her waist, yanking her back down on top of him.
"Hey!" she exclaimed.
"Come here," he replied, taking his free hand and moving it around the back of her head, pulling her close to him until their lips touched.
As they continued to kiss, Logan moved his hand from the rope and slid it around her back, pulling her even closer.
Max broke away from the kiss. "I should go save the kid."
Logan shook his head. "Nah, I think you should save me some more." He rolled Max to his side and moved to position himself so they were facing one another. "I see this as one of those moments. One of those times when the universe is right on course."
Quieting her feeble protests, he began to kiss her again. This time she eagerly responded, allowing him to explore further.
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The sound of the smoke detector woke Max up. Man, they needed to get that thing fixed, but in the condemned building she lived in, the super was never comin' back to fix anything.
She'd had the dream again. Which made her wonder, but it was better than the other dream. Better than the dream that had her waking up screaming. The dream where she reached out for Logan and he wasn't there…he was falling through the air faster than she could possibly reach him and then…he was gone.
This was a much better dream. She sighed and rolled over. It was humid, too hot for a Seattle summer. Sleep would not come easily tonight.
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The next day dawned bright and early. Even though she didn't need as much sleep as your run of the mill human being, Max felt lethargic from her restless night of sleep. Work had been long and incredibly dull with the sound of Normal's voice pounding like a jackhammer in her head.
She considered heading home, but instead found herself turning her bike toward Fogle Towers…toward Logan.
She stashed her bicycle outside and headed up to his apartment. The instant she walked into the building, the coolness surrounded her and seemed to almost instantly relax her. The ride up the elevator went quickly. She let herself into Logan's apartment, already feeling a thousand times better than she had that morning.
"Hey," she called out as she walked into Logan's office. He was seated in the desk chair in front of the computer.
Logan turned to look at her, pushing the chair slightly away from the desk. "Hey, yourself. Ordering myself another wheelchair. Looking for one with the jet thrusters," he teased.
Max laughed. "Thanks for bailing the gals out of there yesterday...myself included."
She smiled as he thanked her for saving him. Sassy response she thought to herself. Can't let him know about the dreams. Either one.
The discussion turned serious as Logan asked her about Lydecker. Maybe that was what had her so out of sorts all day long…maybe it wasn't the dive of the hotel after all. It was so hard to keep track of the drama…
And why had she let him go? Well, it was true; she did need to find out what Lydecker knew about her and the rest of the kids at Manticore. 'Cause they weren't kids anymore and if something was going to go wrong with them, she wanted to know what it might be and Lydecker might be the only person who could tell her.
"Fact is, you saved a man's life," Logan said, trying to reassure her about her decision.
"A bad man."
"It's still a good thing," replied Logan.
"I'm not so sure. But you know what really bums my ass out? I had a chance to swipe some towels from the hotel, and I totally spaced it," Max retorted.
"Next time," Logan said.
"Yeah. Next time," she answered.
"Or I have another idea," Logan responded as he pushed himself back from the computer desk. She watched as he reached down and pulled his feet so they were back underneath him again.
"What's that?" Max asked.
"Stay here, have a shower, use my nice, better than hotel towels. I'll order something in, we can have a nice bottle of wine…"
"Order in? I don't get a Cale masterpiece?" Max teased.
Logan smiled, then indicated the desk chair. "It's a little hard to get around in this thing. Actually, Bling stayed with me all day to help me, you know…get around. Said he'd stay the night if he had to. Hopefully we can get the replacement chair pretty soon. I just sent him over to check out the warehouse in Sector 5. It sounded like they had a few acceptable models in stock."
"But what happened to…" Max's voice trailed off as she stuck her head out of the office and looked down the hall toward the therapy room.
"Happened to what?" Logan asked.
"This wasn't the chair you had before. You had the one with the little wheels on the back? Where is it? Why aren't you using that one?"
Logan nodded. "Yeah, this was my third one, actually. But I gave the other ones away. Bling knows a lot of guys who need a decent chair, so it seemed selfish to keep a stash of them in storage. Besides, I don't need the little wheels in back anymore…or at least I didn't think I did…"
Max paused at the door. She had been ready to head for the shower and those "nicer than hotel" towels, but she stopped. "What do you mean? What are they for?"
Logan laughed. "Well, I was going to keep this my little secret, but after last night's flight…well…I might as well share. The little wheels, they're called "anti-tippers." They're like training wheels on your chair, when you first get it…stops you from falling over backward, if your weight shifts wrong. Anyway, I was rushing around the other day, trying to finish things up for an Eyes Only broadcast and I forgot one of the foundations of physics."
"Which was?"
"Entropy," Logan answered.
"An object in motion tends to remain in motion," Max answered.
"So I was going one way, then another and well…suddenly I was flat on my back."
Max tried to stifle her concern. "And this was okay?"
"Well, yeah, I mean it was something I learned pretty quickly off the bat in rehab…you have to know how to get back in your chair, but this was a bit more…um…well, stressful…embarrassing…well, potentially…"
Max started laughing as Logan kept stumbling over his words. "So, you're saying you got caught."
"Almost."
Max stood for a moment, thinking. "Oh man…I thought something was up that day. You were…well, you were pissy, like you said."
"Yes, I accept it. Fact is, I hate showing weakness to a revved up girl. I'm working with several world-renowned internet therapists to try to recover from the condition, but until then…well, I'll just have to pretend that I'm perfect."
"Whatever, I'm taking that shower now."
"I'll be here," Logan replied. "Unless I'm lying on the floor."
Max chuckled and waved goodbye as she headed for Logan's bathroom and his unending supply of hot water.
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"Hi," Max said as she walked in the room.
Logan looked up at her, his face slightly flushed, his clothing askew and his feet sticking awkwardly out on the floor. He quickly grabbed his right leg and draped it over his left.
"Hi," he responded.
"Hard of hearing or somethin'?" she asked, taking another step closer. She stopped and stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Actually, one of my faculties that's still intact. I was just thinking," he replied.
"Oh." She didn't buy it for a minute.
"You have that 'Logan, I need a favor' look on your face," he said.
Max didn't answer, but nodded instead. She walked up closer still until she was standing right in front of him.
"Don't I always? I mean, isn't that the only reason why I come around?" she asked, as she leaned over and slipped his feet back onto the foot rest. "Question is, what favor do you need?"
Slipping her hands up on his shoulders, she began to swing her right leg over his as his eyes remained locked on hers…
WHUMPMax and Logan lie there silent for a moment, Logan trapped under Max, the chair underneath him.
"You all right?"
"You okay?"
They both started laughing.
"You try that move on all the girls?" Max asked, as she looked down at Logan.
"Me…what did I do? You're the one who flipped me over," Logan responded in protest.
Max hopped up, and offered her hand to Logan, but he shook his head.
"No, I can do it," he replied.
She stepped back a step and watched as he flipped the chair back over, arranged the cushion in the seat and then with some ease, lifted himself back into the wheelchair.
"You're good at that," she said, smiling at him.
"All the kids know at least one good parlor trick," he replied. "Yours is flying between buildings on a rip cord. Mine is picking myself up off the floor."
"But I like it," Max replied, arching her right eyebrow at him. "Show me again how you do that trick."
Before Logan could react, she stepped up and flipped him back down again. "But this time, you're going to have to pay me in kisses before I let you up…"
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As Max walked out of Logan's bedroom she could hear him on the phone.
"Everything okay?" she asked as she entered his office.
Logan's eyes moved up and down, taking in the towel wrapped around her head and the second one wrapped around her body.
"How are the towels?" he asked.
"You better check my luggage when I leave," Max replied. "I couldn't bear to take them off right away."
"Not a problem and I won't hold it against your share of the take if you do swipe a couple when you go…even clean ones."
"So, who was on the phone?" Max asked as she crossed the room and leaned against the desk next to where Logan sat.
"Concierge. The Thai noodles I ordered were delivered. He's going to bring them up."
Max nodded. "And Bling? What's the word from him?"
"Good news and bad. They had the chair we're looking for, but it was a busted caster, so he's driving to Bellingham to get a replacement."
"So he's not going to be back tonight," Max replied.
"Oh, I'm sure he will," Logan answered.
"Not with the way sector police have been lately," she replied. "He's lucky to be back here by maybe three or four tomorrow morning."
"It's not a big deal," Logan answered. "I've got plenty of work to do here." He moved his hands over the width of the desk to indicate the amount of work he had left.
"I'll stay," Max replied.
"Not necessary."
"Don't mind."
"Whatever."
"I'm getting dressed."
"Fine."
When Max returned, dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of Logan's work-out pants, the waist cinched tight and the pant legs rolled up, the food was sitting in brown bags on Logan's desk.
"You want to eat in here?" she asked.
Logan looked up from the computer screen. "Cute outfit."
"Thanks. I hate putting dirty clothes on a clean body," she replied.
"I suppose we'll have to stay here," Logan sighed.
A small frown crossed Max's face. "No, we don't have to, I can help you. Living room or dining room?" she asked.
"Living room," Logan finally answered. "Okay, grab the back of the chair and then pull me backwards. And slowly."
Max did as instructed and slowly eased the chair from the office into the living room. She stopped next to the couch. "You really should get out of that chair if you've been sitting in it all day."
Max came around in front of the chair, putting her foot behind one of the wheels so the chair wouldn't move. "Here," she said, standing in front of him.
Logan placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled himself into a standing position, then they swung as a unit so that he was over the couch. Max carefully leaned forward, slowly lowering him to the cushion.
"Thanks," Logan answered.
Max was already headed back to the office. She stopped and turned. "You want wine with these noodles?"
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"So Sketchy tells the new kid that he can pop the wheelie and bounce the bike back out of the garage," Max said as she finished the last of her wine.
"And?" Logan asked as he stacked her plate on top of his.
"Well, Normal had stepped back into his private office, as he likes to say, and so Sketchy goes for it...bets the kid two runs to Sector 2 if he does it...so he gets on the bike..."
"I thought you weren't supposed to ride in there," Logan interjected.
"Major pet peeve of Normal's," Max said, and then continued, "so he gets on the bike, pops up into the wheelie, starts his first hop and Normal returns from his 'break.'"
"Oh man..."
"Yep, Sketchy flips over, the new kid on top of him, his bag flies off, packages everywhere..." Max suddenly stopped.
Logan started laughing.
"Oh, man, Logan, I'm sorry...it's probably...you had to be..."
"No, seriously funny, Max. Good to know I'm not the only one," Logan finished. "So, what happened?"
"I think Sketchy was there until midnight sorting the packages again, getting them delivered. Normal showed *no* mercy."
Logan kept chuckling. "I'd have loved to see it."
"It was a sight," Max added. "So, you okay here? You want to get to bed?"
Logan shook his head. "No, this is great. You want to put on some music? There's a bunch of CDs over by the stereo."
Max got up and went over to peruse Logan's collection. After a few minutes a slow jazz instrumental came on.
"Very nice," Logan said as Max came to sit down next to him. He slid his arm up along the top of the couch and she scooted in next to him.
"So, were you scared?" Max asked after a moment.
Logan looked over at her. "At the hotel? On the roof?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
They were silent again for a few moments.
"I was too," Max finally said. She turned slightly on the couch so she was facing him. "What if I hadn't caught you? What if you had fallen loose?"
Logan locked his eyes on her. "We can spend our whole life wondering about 'what ifs' but I don't think it'll change anything in the end."
He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "What if you had stayed that first time you came back to the penthouse? What if we had become lovers? What ifs could fill all of our thoughts, rather than what I'm thinking right now."
"Which is?"
"That I like you in my t-shirt and pants," Logan answered. "And that sometime, I might like to see you out of them."
Max continued to hold his gaze. "Yeah, what if I had come in the front door instead of through the roof? What if I had helped you the first time you asked..."
Logan cut her off. "Don't go there, Max. There's no sense." He pushed back the piece of hair that had fallen forward on her face. "What if I kissed you again?"
"What if."
Logan leaned forward, this time taking her more passionately, more deeply. She quickly received him, his movements tender but still urgent, betraying the intensity of the conversation. His right hand moved to her shoulder, then down her arm where her soft skin emerged from his shirt. He continued to explore her with his right hand, while bracing himself with his left.
Max moved closer, then slid her left leg over his so she was facing him. She pressed him back into the couch, now making her own exploration of his body. Her kisses moved from his lips to his neck. After a few moments she stopped.
"What?" Logan asked.
Max pinched her arm, hard, leaving a mark on the skin. "Just wanted to make sure it was real."
To be continued...