Disclaimer: Own Dark Angel, I do not. After money, nope.

Authors note: After a fair length of time, here comes the second chapter. This was by far the hardest chapter to write ever, and I'm really not too happy with it. Well I wasn't, then Milla fixed it up a plenty, so I'm a little more impressed but still don't really like the chapter. I haven't started a third, as I have well and truly hit a large wall. I'm straining for ideas but nothing is coming, so it may be a while until I get the third chapter out. Sorry for those of you who actually care.

Story note: This chapter sees our two finally getting some clothes on, but it isn't really that good, I'm sorry. I hope to produce something better for the next chapter. Really.

Special thanks: Milla the Marvellous. Man, this chapter was really crap before she had a go at it. Thanks a bundle Milla.

Chapter 2 – Wearing Robes

They had been in the shower for over 40 minutes. Cleaning each other, getting a little distracted, then requiring to clean each other again. Logan had entirely forgotten that he was expecting someone, and had he remembered, he probably would have been annoyed with it. Just as they had finished rinsing the sudds of each other – for about the fifth time – the doorbell rang. Both of them straightened instantly with the noise, and Logan started to get out of the shower.

"Let me get that. You can stay in here if you want," Logan stated hurriedly as he jumped out of the shower, towelled himself quickly and put a robe on.

"Nah, I think I'll get out now. Don't want to turn into a giant prune," Max said, as she stepped out of the shower. Again Logan forgot what was going on, and the reason he had left the shower in such a hurry. There was Max, standing in front of him dripping wet, with steam coming off her body from the hot water. Her wet hair was hanging down longer than it usually did, sticking to her shoulders and face a little. Max caught him looking at her, and was happy that she didn't feel uncomfortable with it at all.

"Hey, haven't you seen enough of me naked lately?" she asked playfully. In response Logan's head shook slowly as he stuttered a few mumbled words; something along the lines of 'No'. Logan was violently ripped from his observation as the doorbell rang once more. His cheeks went a little red as he handed Max a towel, and made his way out of the bathroom and toward the front door. When Logan opened the door, there was a man standing there with a package, apologising profusely for being so late.

"My deepest apologies for the delay, Mr. Cale. Of course, it is entirely complementary due to the wait," he said, handing Logan the package. Logan wasn't paying attention; in fact he was hardly looking at the man. He was too busy craning his neck around in the direction of the bathroom, and he was still in a complete daze with the events of the last few days.

"Yes, yes… good, good," Logan said absently, handing the man a couple of large bills then closing the door and heading toward the kitchen. The man stood there stunned, grasping the bills that had been shoved into his hand. He walked away muttering.

"More money than sense."

Logan was in the kitchen preparing the food when Max walked in, wrapped in a large robe. He immediately felt better. When he had left Max in the bathroom he instantly felt the overwhelming sense of her absence, and wanted nothing more than to run back in there, just so he could see her.

"Logan Cale. You bought food?" Max asked incredulously as she strolled over to the counter, leaning her elbows on it and resting her face in the palms of her hands. She was beaming at him the whole time, and even though she had asked about the food, her eyes had not left him for one moment. Now it was Logan's turn to go all warm and tingly. He smiled down at her; loving the fact that she was wearing one of his robes, which looked far too large and ridiculous on her, but still amazing.

"Yeah, I figured you would want food as soon as you got out of the shower, and I knew I wouldn't have time to make anything for you. So I ordered something," Logan explained, as he began to empty the contents of the bag into various dishes.

"So you only came into the shower to stall me?" Max asked, pretending to be hurt. Logan could see straight through her.

"Yep," was his response, as he went to the fridge and grabbed some juice.

"Not that it didn't have some other perks," he continued, and when he saw Max smiling, he smiled back, but still kept talking.

"You know. Like saving water and soap, and all that." He was still smiling at her like an idiot.

"Oh fine," Max said, as she grabbed a napkin and threw it at him. Logan gathered up the napkin and folded it neatly, placed it on the tray he had been arranging, and then picked it up and headed over to the table. Max stood there resolute for a moment, until the heavenly scent of the food wafted over to her, and again her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten for a long time. By the time Max had arrived at the table, Logan was already seated, and had started to divi out the plates of food. When Max noticed that Logan had nearly as much, or maybe even a little more than her, she decided to complain.

"Hey, since when did you eat that much food?" she pouted, standing akimbo, looking down at Logan. He glanced up at her with a mischievous look on his face.

"Well, I can't have a fat girlfriend, can I?" Logan asked, completely facetiously and smiled at Max as he spooned some of the contents off his plate back to hers.

"Yeah," Max replied absently, in a dazed and somewhat giggly voice. All she had heard from Logan's statement was 'girlfriend' and the fact that he was talking about her. Logan could see Max's eyes were slightly glazed over and she was in a completely different place.

"Max. I was only joking," he said seriously, as he thought what he had said had been taken to heart by Max.

"What?" Max snapped, looking at Logan with a twisted face.

"I am your girlfriend. You said so," Max continued, her voice sounding a little desperate. Logan didn't say anything for a while, since what Max had just said was starting to sink in. 'I am your girlfriend….'. His eyes widened in realisation and his lips parted slightly.

"Yeah. You are," Logan finally spoke, warmly, more to himself than Max. It felt really good to say that. The emotion and happiness in Logan's voice was enough for Max, so she took the seat across from him and started at the food. She had been eating for a while, when she noticed that Logan was still sitting across from her, not having touched his food, and was smiling at her contently.

"What?" she asked, puzzled, and felt a little embarrassed with his intense gaze.

"Nothing," Logan responded, smiling more and shaking his head ever so slightly. He didn't stop looking at her, and the light in his eyes continued to grow. After another few mouthfuls Max stopped again.

"What is it Logan? Are you going to eat or just sit there staring at me?" Max asked, flustered with the power of Logan's fixed regard. In response, Logan picked up his fork, and made a stab at the food on his plate, which made Max feel a little easier, until she noticed that Logan was still looking at her. The food on his fork kept falling off before it made it to his mouth, but he far from cared. Finally he broke his silence.

"You know Max? You are really, really pretty." Max couldn't help but blush with the complement, and what was worse was that she didn't know how to respond. Eventually she looked up at him – since she had been focusing on her food – and smiled weakly.

"Um… thanks," she said in a small and embarrassed voice. Logan seemed happy with this response so finally turned his sight to his food and began to eat.

'He's nice,' Max thought as she regarded Logan for a moment. After a small while of observing him, she turned back to her food. The rest of the meal was spent in relative silence, since each of them was starved from not eating for the past few days. When Logan had cleaned his plate, he stood up sharply and walked out of the room, speaking to Max over his shoulder in a tired voice.

"Leave all the dishes till later." And with that he was gone from the room. Max was a little confused as to why Logan had gotten up and left, so she shovelled the rest of the food into her mouth and followed him. He had been heading in the direction of his bedroom, which was where Max headed first.

'Maybe he's getting dressed or something. I'm sure he needs some help,' she thought happily as she walked to his room. When she got there, however, the room was completely bare – of Logan anyway – and all that she could see was the ruined bed, with the sheets stained and hanging all over the place. The room also smelt heavily of them and the red cordial, but there was no sign of Logan. Max concentrated a little and heard Logan's easy constant breathing down the hall, coming from the guest room. She decided to investigate, but quietly. Max stealthily moved into the hall on her tiptoes, immediately putting her back to the wall, and gently running her fingers along it as she moved. This was done by mere habit, as it always told her pretty much where everyone was in the building, or if anyone was moving. Max could tell the distance and speed of a body by the minute vibrations that her sensitive fingertips could interpret. As she stood in the doorway of the room she noticed his feet sticking off the side of the bed. Max stood there with a slight cock in her hips as she looked down at Logan, spread across the bed face down, and very asleep.

When Logan had stood up from the table at breakfast, he very quickly realised that sleep was lacking from his body. He had intended to go to his bedroom to put some clothes on, then perhaps spend the day lazing around on the couch or something. When he got to his room, however, he noticed the bed in the absolute state of dismantlement, and forgot about getting dressed. Instead he slowly stumbled down the hall until he came to the spare room, and from the doorway in which he stood the made, clean bed looked very inviting. He managed to make it to the edge and then he collapsed across it, feeling warm and happy as sleep quickly overtook him. Too tired to dream, Logan lay there asleep, until something started wriggling around on the bed. He ever so slightly opened his eyes – which took a considerable amount of effort – and found Max turning him on his side a little so she could get into the warm embrace his arms offered. Logan found it quite amusing as Max shifted him around, then grabbed his arms and wrapped them around herself as she wriggled her back closer to his chest. Logan tightened his grip around Max, who smiled and kissed his forearm. The combined effect of Logan's comforting embrace and his warm breath across her barcode, had Max quickly falling asleep.

Max awoke later to find the penthouse in an inky blackness. She turned her head and noticed that Logan was still asleep with a big grin on his face, and his arms still wrapped around her. Max revelled in the fact that she had slept all day - something she had never done before - with Logan and they were still only wearing their robes. She wriggled around a bit so she was lying on her back, but still in Logan's arms. From this position she was able to look up at his face, and she raised her hand and gently outlined his jaw line, coming to a stop at his chin. Overjoyed with the situation, Max let out a small contented sigh. Suddenly the door burst open in an explosion of splinters and large chunks of wood. When the dust had cleared a little, Logan - who had been awoken by the noise and was now incredibly confused - looked to the doorway. Max saw and knew immediately who it was, but Logan, who couldn't see in the dark, was still straining to make out a figure. Max saw the gun being raised and pointing at Logan.

"Zack!" she yelled as she made a lunge for him. It was too late. Zack had already fired off three rounds into Logan's upper body. Max was upon him instantly. She kicked the gun out of his hand and followed through with the other foot, which landed across his face. Zack was down for the moment so Max ran over to Logan. When she got there her lip started to quiver and tears poured openly down her face. Logan had been hit three times around the heart, and he was still alive, but would only remain that way for a few seconds.

"M-Max," Logan spluttered, trying to sit up in the blood stained bed a little.

"D... Don't move Logan. It's gonna be okay." She knew she was lying, and that made it even worse. There was no way this was going to be okay. Max's hands were shaking as she stroked his face again and again, trying to ease his pain or just make him better. She didn't notice that Zack had come up from behind and was approaching her with a needle. Max snapped around, and ready to fight when she felt the sting of the needle entering her neck.

"What? You!" she yelled, voice full of venom. Zack quickly picked Max up around the waist and started to carry her out of the room. Her flailing legs and arms seemed to have no effect on Zack, who continued to walk out with his sister held tightly in his arms. Just as they were leaving the room, she heard Logan call out.

"Max..." And then she couldn't hear his breathing anymore.

"It's not safe for you Maxie. He was weak," Zack said curtly and business like.

"I don't care!" Max yelled at him, and once again started to throw her arms and legs around wildly in an attempt to get him to drop her. No matter how hard she tried, his grip around her waist didn't falter. Max could now start to feel the effect of whatever Zack had injected her with, and was trying weakly to pull his arms off her waist until she blacked out.

Logan was in the middle of a very fun dream. He was with Max, and was tickling her. When she started to giggle profusely and tried to get away from him, he had picked her up. He now had her around the waist and continued to use his fingers to tickle her stomach and sides. Max was still laughing and occasionally threatening him, but she seemed to be enjoying herself.

Max's eyes snapped to find the penthouse in an inky blackness. She looked nervously to the door, and could have sworn she heard a noise. She noticed that Logan still had his arms wrapped around her, and when she looked at him a pained expression came across her face.

'I can't do this. He's not safe,' she thought, panicked. She tried pulling Logan's arms from around her, but noticed that he had quite a substantial grip at the moment. Max thought she heard a floorboard outside creak. She was becoming more frantic as the seconds ticked by in the early evening. The thought of Zack coming in and shooting Logan seemed too plausible and real to ignore.

'I've got to get out of here,' Max thought worriedly, as she started to pull Logan's arms off with more force.

Logan knew he wasn't in a dream anymore when Max's attempts to pull his arms from her started hurting a lot. He awoke and blinked a few times, to find Max anxiously trying to pull his arms off from around her.

"Max. What's going on?" Logan asked concerned. Max seemed very desperate to get away from him.

"I… I can't do this Logan. It's not… I just can't," Max explained, although she didn't want to tell him why she had the leave. Her voice was weak and sounded broken, which worried Logan. Max had finally struggled free and was standing at the edge of the bed with her back to Logan.

"Max. What's going on?" Logan asked as he moved over to the side of the bed Max was standing, and placed a hand on her hip. When Max felt the hand on her hip, a burning fire ran through her body from the point of contact. She felt nervous being this close to Logan now, because of her dream. The pressure was building in her intensely.

"I'm sorry Logan. I have to go," Max said quietly. As she turned to leave Logan caught her hand, forcing her to look at him. Straight away he noticed the excess moisture in her eyes.

"Max. Please, tell me what's going on," Logan pleaded. Max raised a hand to place on his cheek, but pulled away hesitantly.

"I just can't do this now. I'm sorry." And with that she was gone. Logan knew it was pointless to follow her now. He just listened to the sound of her turning over his room collecting her clothes, then eventually the door closing, and then the final heart-tearing sound of her motorbike disappearing into the night. And still he sat there, on the bed in his robe.