Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all it's affiliated stuff (yes stuff, that is a technical term and is used often in legal documents) does not belong to me. So I don't claim profit or… stuff.

Authors note: Told you I would get this chapter up quickly, and guess what? The next chapter is already written as well. So again depending on my mood, and other factors, the next chapter could be up very soon, but likely not, since I get distracted easily these days.

Story note: This chapter is 100 percent Logan and Max, I don't think I've done anything like that before. I mean 100 percent (well I'm pretty sure) since it doesn't hold any reference to anything else, at all. Therefore I can't believe that it is so long, but it is, and quite a deal of fun too. I think anyway. I hope you do as well. Enjoy.

Special thanks: Magical Milla the marvellous beta reader.

Chapter 5 – And Then There Were Two

Logan and Max had made their way into the kitchen, and resumed their glasses of red cordial. Max was sitting on the centre island and Logan was leaning against the bench, looking at her intently with a somewhat glazed but warm look on his face. As Max put her empty glass down on the table she noticed a slight residue on it from her hand. Realisation dawned on her that getting up to the penthouse in this building in under a minute would cause even an X-5 to sweat. Logan yawned quite audibly, covering his mouth in the process. He couldn't believe he was tired after sleeping all day, but here it was, almost Sunday, and he felt like crawling back into bed again. Max looked up when she heard Logan yawning, and studied him intently. He still hadn't said anything about her abrupt departure before, and it was starting to worry her.

"I'm really sorry about leaving you and not saying anything Logan. I didn't mean to, I just panicked." Max looked at him pleadingly.

"Max, I don't really mind. I mean, at first I was a little upset and a bit dejected, but after some time to think things over, I knew you'd come back. So I didn't really worry any more," Logan said reassuringly, as he straightened from his slouch against the bench, and placed his empty glass on it.

"But, I just ran out on you," Max said again, getting confused with the ease Logan was taking this. She knew if he tried to pull a stunt like that on her, she wouldn't speak to him for about a week.

"Really Max, it's alright. I just figured you'd want some space, but now I feel even better since that wasn't even the reason you left." He looked at her for a moment with a small smirk of confidence, considering the idea of bringing up what she had said about that part, but decided against it.

"But don't do it again… or I'll kick your ass. And if that fails, just poison a meal," Logan said lightly after a slight pause, doing his best to imitate Max. Max smiled and laughed a little at his impersonation.

"I would like to see you try and kick my ass Logan. Could be fun." Max quipped, which caused Logan to chuckle slightly.

"Anyway, you just figured I'd come back? What makes you so sure?" Max asked playfully.

"Well, most probably for my sparkling conversation, or all the food I give you, and just recently I've noticed you have obtained quite an addiction for my red cordial." Logan smiled, as he counted off the reasons with his fingers. Max knew he had her there, so didn't bother responding. She also knew she was becoming quite addicted to the red stuff, but since it wasn't doing any harm, and tasted so good, she figured it was a welcome change in her life. It also served as a pleasant reminder of how all of this happened, and why she was sitting here at Logan's, in the middle of the night, without the slightest intention of 'having to blaze'. Logan yawned again, and stretched a little, and it was then Max noticed he was still in his robe.

"So this is what you really do, huh? Sleep all day, then walk around in your pyjamas for the rest of the time?" Max teased him. Logan looked at her and smiled when he realised that he wasn't actually wearing any pj's, as he had thrown the robe on straight after his shower, and that was how he had stayed since then.

"Anyway, I need to get to bed. We don't all survive with four hours of sleep a week," Logan said, as he started walking out of the kitchen, and around the corner. Max sat nervously on the counter top, not sure if she was supposed to be going with him, or if he wanted to be alone. Just as she was considering the prospect of going home, since it would be best that way, Logan's head popped around the corner.

"You coming? You are more than welcome," Logan said in a tired but warm voice, which made Max practically pop. She gracefully slid off the bench and walked calmly over to Logan, trying desperately not to show her eagerness.

"I need a shower Logan," Max stated as they walked down the hall toward Logan's room.

"That's fine. You can just… ugh." They had just turned into Logan's room, and it was still a complete mess. Logan let out a big sigh.

"Oh, well you have a shower, I'll clean this up. If you want your clothes cleaned just chuck them out here," Logan said, as he made his way to the bed and started stripping it, which was a fairly menial task since most of it had already been done. The bed was unclothed and Logan sat on the stained mattress waiting for Max to throw her clothes out. 'Looks like I have an excuse to get a new mattress now,' Logan thought tiredly, standing up from his bed, which squeaked noisily.

"Her you go," Max said loudly from behind the door, as a naked arm extended through a crack in the door, holding a screwed up bunch of clothes. Logan grabbed the bedclothes, then walked over and grabbed Max's stuff and put it on top. As he was making his way over to the laundry chute he noticed that Max's clothes were right in front of his face and an idea came to mind. Making a slight detour to his study, Logan inspected Max's clothes for a bit, jotted down some quick figures, and then continued on his way to dump the clothes, smiling with his wonderfully sneaky plan.

Max was enjoying the warmth of the shower, grinning like an idiot because of her previous experience in that same spot earlier in the day, and washing herself quicker than she ever had before. When she emerged from the shower a few minutes later, she saw Logan's bed completely bare, except for a candle sitting on a piece of paper. She had the same robe wrapped around her as she did that morning, and walked over to the bed to discover Logan had left her a note. 'Bed is ruined. Guest room' was all it said, so Max headed in that direction. When she got to the guest room, she noticed the door was closed, and there was another note stuck to it. Max picked it up and laughed quietly.

Rules of this house

Rule 1 – all rules must be obeyed

Rule 2 – no clothes allowed in bed

Max turned the note over, and laughed a little more when she noticed that was all there was on it. 'Good thing,' Max thought, smiling somewhat triumphantly. She eased into the inky darkness of the room, and saw the lump that was Logan in the bed. She noticed that his breathing was easy and controlled, but sounded a little too controlled to be asleep just yet. Logan observed Max with half-open eyes as she made her way over to the chair he had his robe thrown over. Max had her back to Logan and loosened the soft cloth belt that held the robe together, and then she noticed that Logan's breathing pattern had changed. 'He's watching. This could be interesting,' Max thought mischievously, as she stopped halfway through the knot, which now hung loose around her waist. Max made her way over to the windows, and with each step the top of the robe slipped further and further apart, the bottom still held together slackly by the belt. When she got to the window, she yanked on a dangling chord and the blinds flew open, drowning the room in a beautiful silver glow from the stars. As she turned back to the chair, Max heard an intake of breath. Logan couldn't believe the sight before him. Max was moving gracefully in the soft white light from the window, and her skin shined startlingly. He noticed the robe only now sitting insecurely around Max's form. The front had spilt apart greatly, exposing her collarbone all the way to her navel, creating a deep 'v' of perfectly unblemished skin. Logan was forced to roll onto his side. Max moved back to the chair, and was once again facing away from Logan. She grabbed the belt and untied it completely, throwing the sashes out to her side, causing the robe to billow dramatically. She heard another intake of breath, and then nothing. It appeared Logan was holding himself in anticipation, and had forgotten how to use his lungs. Max grinned wildly, and she threw her head back, causing her brown curls to cascade over the robe. Shrugging slightly, she let the robe start to fall from her shoulders, and slide down her back. Logan made a small whimpering sound, which resulted in Max's smile doubling. In a final muffled rustle and a dull thud, the robe hit the floor in a pool around Max's feet. She stood for a moment, with her back still to Logan and peered out the window; the light defining all the wondrous curves and muscles on her body. Logan decided he liked starlight. Max turned away from Logan's eyes and walked around to the free side of the bed, which Logan had his back to, since it was opposite the window. He knew he couldn't turn over now just to see Max get in, so he waited patiently for the magical sensation that came with sharing a bed with someone. Max breezily slipped in between the covers, and felt a refreshing shiver as the cool, crisp sheets cocooned her warm skin. Max glanced over and noticed Logan's uncovered shoulder shining in the light and couldn't help but extend her hand and brush her fingers lightly over it.

"Glad you decided to join me," Logan mumbled, and Max nearly laughed. He was very obviously trying to sound like he had just been asleep. Max was tempted to slide over and wrap her arms around Logan, but before she did, she had to ask him something.

"So what's with these rules?" she asked suspiciously, a small laugh belying the seriousness of the question.

"I don't make them, I just stick by them," Logan replied, putting on a slight 'little missy', tone. Max stared at his shoulder for a few seconds in amused silence.

"Logan. This is your place. You make the rules," Max said confidently.

"Oh yeah, but still… rules are rules. There's not much we can do about it, especially not now it's been officially written down," Logan said, very obviously resigning himself to the fact that they just had to stick by the rules.

"Fine by me," Max stated, as she finally closed the distance that had been gnawing at her ever since she got in the bed. Logan felt a small arm slipping under his neck and wrap itself around his chest, and then another arm resting at the bottom half of his rib cage. He felt and heard Max moving closer to him, as her hand gently travelled across his stomach, only for her fingers to wiggle themselves between his waist and the bed, effectively jamming them in place. Then in one last movement, Max brought her entire body in contact with as much of his as she could manage. A long resounding 'Mmmmm' filled the room from both of them.

"That's nice," Logan said dreamily, as he placed his arms over the top of Max's, just so he could, at least, hold her a little bit.

"Yeah," Max said almost breathlessly. The amazing sensation of skin on skin was completely spellbinding, and totally unbelievable. 'Wow, this cuddling thing is way better than I thought,' Max told herself, as a huge smile started to break across her face. There was a comfortable silence for a while, each of them kindly regarding the situation they were in, and how they had come to be there.

"Max. Can I ask you something? Logan inquired kindly.

"Shoot," Max replied full of spunk.

"It's kind of personal," Logan probed a little more.

"Well we're lying in bed together, naked. I'm not sure you can get more personal than that," Max replied, rubbing her hand across his chest a little to make her point, but mainly because she wanted an excuse to. Logan smiled as he felt her hand gliding back and forth across his chest, and figured it would probably be all right to talk with Max about what was on his mind.

"You know how you were in heat?" he asked slowly and carefully. Even though Max didn't move a muscle, he could feel her withdrawing, which made him cringe a little.

"Yeah." Her voice had fallen quite a bit, but as she spoke she seemed to grab him tighter, as if hanging on.

"How long were you… ah… under the influence?" Max couldn't help but smile with his question, since it wasn't at all what she expected, and it was also the funniest way she had ever heard it referred to.

"Why? Damaging your male ego or something?" She played, but nonetheless pulled him tighter; just to show she was joking. Without knowing it she had hit the nail right on the head with that question, and Logan felt his cheeks beginning to burn slightly.

"No. I was just… curious, you know," Logan said clumsily, his voice sounding quite desperate.

"Only about the first hour, if that," Max said, since it was the truth, and Logan needed the reassurance. He immediately sparked up and pulled Max's arms around him closer, and then realised if this went on any further he wouldn't be able to breathe.

"So how come it lasted for well over a day?" Logan asked playfully. Max bent in and kissed his shoulder before replying.

"Just enjoying myself," Max replied simply.

"That's good," Logan said, sounding very pleased with himself.

After five minutes of being in that position, Logan suddenly realised something.

"Max, this isn't right," he said quickly. Max almost crushed his lung in her surprise and she was upset with what he said.

"Why not?" she implored sadly.

"Well, look at us. It's the wrong way around, the girl is supposed to be the on the inside." Max quickly realised what was going on, and relaxed greatly.

"I don't know Logan. I do the ass kicking, and you do the cooking. Maybe this is right?" Max teased, and then Logan bit her arm playfully. After another few moments of silence, Logan spoke again.

"Nope, sorry. I can't do this." And in under a second, managed to turn himself and Max over, so he was behind her, and she was wrapped in his strong arms.

"That's better," he said triumphantly, squeezing Max warmly.

"Yeah," Max said, once again in a complete daze. She couldn't believe how much better this felt than before. Logan had his eyes open, drinking in the sight in front of him, and then he noticed something and a wicked idea sprang to mind. He lent in, and gently started to nibble on Max's ear, in the process breathing heavily into it. Almost instantly he felt her opposite leg cover in tiny bumps, as she giggled uncontrollably and tried – but not too hard – to squirm away from him.

"Hey stop that. It tickles!" Max squeaked, harmlessly hitting Logan and starting to move away from him. When he noticed this, he stopped very quickly.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Friends." Max turned to look at his beautiful face framed by the starlight and couldn't help but go a little gooey.

"Yeah," she said, allowing him to draw her back to his chest.

"Always," she whispered in the softest of voices, which Logan didn't really hear, but that was alright because he wasn't supposed to. Logan was looking down at the back of the head of this angel in his arms, smiling like an idiot, but unable to help himself. He gently started to caress her hair, to which Max murmured appreciatively, and then brought his other arm up to her neck, which he also began to caress. Max was in heaven as Logan's strong fingers continued to massage her neck and run lovingly through her hair. Suddenly, Logan stopped what he was doing, and with a massive grin on his face, used his hands to pin Max's head in place on the pillow.

"What the…? Max had almost gotten out, until Logan's tongue plunged straight into her ear. Max screamed uncontrollably, which would have worried Logan if she weren't so busy trying not to lose her lungs from the hysterical fits of laughter that wracked her body. Max tried to threaten him, but all she could do was scream and laugh. So she rolled over and away from him, but noticed that he followed right along, still driving her insane with his tongue in her ear. Max was on her back by now, with Logan lying halfway across her, still grasping her head and tickling her uncontrollably with his tongue. She tried pushing him off but that wasn't really working, so she grabbed two handfuls of hair and tried pulling his tongue out of ear that way, but to no avail. Losing the fighting battle for oxygen, Max finally just shoved Logan off her, sending him flying off the bed and onto the floor. Max sat up, breathing heavily, and looked over the side of the bed. There on the floor in a tangle of his own limbs was Logan, laughing himself into near hysteria. As Max looked at him, the stern expression on her face started to slide quickly, and she began to laugh along with him. After all, it was really quite funny what had just happened. Logan eventually crawled back into bed, slipping over Max, and back to his side where he regathered her in his arms. Max turned her head and eyed him suspiciously.

"Once was funny. Do it again and you go out the window," Max threatened him, but had a very hard time of sounding firm because of the goofy and innocent look on Logan's face.

"Fine," Logan said, kissing her neck dangerously close to her ear. Max shivered a little, but didn't mind, since it felt so nice.

"Anyway, I thought you were tired?" Max asked casually. Logan thought for a moment; he had been tired, but as he headed toward the bedroom, excitement quickly replaced all his desires to sleep.

"Nope. Just said I needed to get to bed," Logan replied mischievously.

"Oh really?" Max asked, as she rolled onto her back, still in Logan's arms, but now able to look directly into his eyes.

"Really." He smiled down at her warmly, whilst drawing circles with his index finger around her bellybutton.

"What are you doing Logan?" Max asked in a sultry voice.

"Oh nothing," Logan replied, with pursed lips, as he glanced around the room a few times; pretending that he was in fact not doing anything. Max glimpsed up at him and smiled, then ran her hand from his elbow along his arm until it reached his neck.

"Good," she said quietly, just before dragging Logan on top of her, and into a hungry kiss.