Disclaimer: The usual. Own nothing, no money from this, Fox et al.
Author note: This is the last of the backlog of chapters; so getting the next one up may take a while.
Story note: This chapter borrows heavily from Red Cordial, so if you are confused about some aspects, read it first.
Special thanks: Master Milla, lord of the betas. Those of you that took the time to review, it warms my soul.
Chapter 6 – A Visit To The Track
No matter how Logan was acting and playing around before, there was no way he was going to be moving now. Lying flat on his stomach with a tangle of sheets around his body and face squashed awkwardly into his pillow, he was well and truly asleep. It became clear to Max that Logan had become used to sleeping in his bed alone, because since he had fallen asleep he had migrated across to the middle of the bed. She didn't mind, as it just meant he would be closer to her, and as long as his strong arm curled around her waist, she was happy to leave the sleeping situation like this for future endeavours. As it were, Logan had been asleep for almost an hour, and Max had been more than happy to lay there with him and listen to his steady breathing and the occasional pleased mumble. Now, however, a mix of quiet excitement and Manticore genetics had her beginning to fidget. Deciding not to wake Logan - even though it would probably take the building falling down - she got out of bed to walk around the apartment for a bit, since she wanted to be there when Logan woke up. Max gently slid Logan's arm from around her to a sleepily muffled protest, slipped out of bed and headed for the robes still hanging limp over the chair. Standing there in a quandary for a while, Max finally chose to wear the robe Logan had been wearing yesterday. She was immediately rewarded as she hung the over-sized cloth around her shoulders. As Logan's scent surrounded her, Max quietly made her way out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen.
"First things first," she whispered to herself as she pulled the red cordial from the fridge, continually surprised that no matter how much she seemed to drink, the container was always full. Happy that it was obviously Logan's fault she was addicted to it, she began to casually stroll around the apartment, finally coming to a stop at her window. It was early morning and the stars were beginning to fade as the gentle orange burn crept further into the black-blue sky. Max peered down into the streets below and noticed that they and their inhabitants were still swathed in a blanket of darkness, and probably would be for quite a while; funny how being up high changed your perspective. Max stood there for another fifteen minutes or so, waiting until the beams of light struck her face, and then she returned her glass to the kitchen and paused, momentarily considering attempting to make some form of food. After a while, and not being able to locate any peanut butter or bread, Max gave up on the idea, since any plans of actually cooking would most likely result in some melting or burning, and it probably wouldn't be the food. She headed to Logan's computer room and noticed her bag still sitting on the floor from when they had returned from hospital, so she picked it up and started to rifle through it; assuring herself that there would be some form of food substance at hand. Coming across a jumper that was balled up, she paused her hunt and unravelled it.
"Oh." Her eyes grew wide and a sudden shot of mischievous glee hit her, as she held the camera in hand. Wasting no further time with the scavenging, she quickly dumped the bag on the floor and headed to Logan's computer. 'Poor baby, I've been keeping your master from you for a while, haven't I?' Max thought as she wiggled the mouse a bit and waited for the screens to come to life. After getting through the password - what luck, it was her name - she was bombarded with little flashing alerts. Apparently while Eyes Only was preoccupied, the rest of the world wasn't. Not really interested for the moment and assuming they could wait just a little bit longer, she ignored them and plugged the camera in. A few seconds later she was staring with a giant grin on her face at all the images of her and Logan. Picking the pictures she liked - all of them that were not guns - she printed off a few copies, and slipped them in a folder, which she then quickly hid. Max was unplugging the camera when she realised that Logan was still asleep, and she had a camera with her. Running excitedly on tiptoes toward the guest room, Max was going over all the angles and specific lighting she was going to use to snap up some nice photos. When she got to the room she was very pleased to see that Logan was now laying on his back, with his arm extended into the space Max had been, with his fingers outstretched. It looked like he was feeling for her when his unconscious mind fell further into fatigue and gave up mid-search. Max was pleased to see this, and also the fact that the sheet had slipped and was now only covering him from waist down, which was perfect for her since she wouldn't now have to rearrange it. Max raised the camera and took a photo straight away just in case he decided to move. He didn't, so she became a little braver and moved around to the other side of the bed, by the window, and moved in closer, taking a photo lower down to capture his profile. After snapping up a few more from various places around the bed, she realised there was still one missing. So carefully and as delicately as she could, she stepped up on the bed, and over Logan, with her feet on either side of his hips, and she took another photo. Content with the amount she had, she quickly left the room and printed them off as well, again sticking them in her folder, which was once more hidden discreetly among the files in Logan's computer room, and ready to be retrieved quickly when she was leaving.
Bling stood nervously in the lift, trying to convince himself that Logan would have been okay without him for four days. Unavoidable circumstances had led to him being without phone or any means to contact Logan, and since that was the case he most certainly did not have time to drop in for his usual morning visits. Logan had been decreasing the number of workout sessions per week since he had started walking again, so Bling assumed Logan wouldn't have noticed that much. As the elevator doors opened a sudden dread hit him. In his mixed up past few days, Bling had entirely forgotten about Logan's little trip to the hospital, and then the reason he was there.
"So what happened?" Bling questioned, as Logan lay in the hospital bed, a dark look coming across his face.
"My legs have stopped working. I fell," Logan replied shortly, his voice full of bitterness and an angry look on his face.
"It's going to be okay Logan." Bling tried to reassure him, looking carefully over his friend, now understanding the nurse's questions earlier.
"Yeah. Whatever," was the reply he received, and again it was bitter and angry. Bling still had the feeling that it would have been a lot bitterer and angry if Max was lying asleep curled up next to Logan, with her arm around his trunk protectively.
Taking a deep breath, a now concerned Bling noticed that the door was all of three feet high, snapped in half neatly and leaning haphazardly against the frame. He left the lift and approached the entrance to Logan's apartment.
Max had been sitting in the kitchen, torturing herself by leafing through the numerous cookbooks Logan had, when she heard the lift whirring into life. When she heard it stopping and the doors opening on her floor, she pricked her ears to determine who was coming; remembering Logan's penance for breaking his door in half. After the first footfall Max knew it was Bling, so she relaxed and then quickly went and grabbed her bag from Logan's computer room, then hurriedly made her way down to the guest room.
"Logan," Max said quietly, as she prodded the inanimate lump on the bed.
"Logan." She tried again, this time stabbing him a little harder with her finger. Just as she was about to poke him again, Logan's hand grabbed hers.
"Any harder and you'll puncture a lung," he said sleepily, rolling over to face Max, arm sweeping through the air until it landed around her shoulders. He started to pull her down onto the bed and into a hug.
"Morning. Sleep well?" he asked, eyes finally fluttering open to look warmly at Max. She immediately fell into his warm embrace, her back sinking into the warmth of his chest, with a silly smile on her face.
"Nope," Max eventually replied playfully, wriggling in a little closer.
"Why not? My bed not good enough for you?" Logan responded, feigning hurt. Max squirmed around a little more until she could see Logan's face again, and into his intense gaze.
"I slept all day yesterday," she pointed out. Logan looked at her and smiled smugly.
"Yeah I suppose I did tire you all out. Didn't I?" he said, joking proudly, punctuated with a soft kiss on Max's forehead. Max had just moved to nuzzling Logan's neck when she heard the pathetic excuse for a door sliding on the wooden floor, and remembered why she had come in and woken Logan in the first place.
"Bling's here. I'm going to hide," Max said as she jumped out of Logan's arms and off the bed, shoving her bag underneath.
"Why?" Logan asked, clearly confused as he began to sit up in bed.
"I thought you might want to tell him," Max said, a slight smirk on her face, and as Logan picked up on what she was talking about, the smirk spread to his face too. As Max got to the door, Logan got out of bed and headed to the remaining robe. She stopped and stared at Logan making his naked way around the room.
"Hey, shouldn't you be hiding?" Logan asked, snapping Max from her dazed stare. She smiled goofily and went out the door, still watching Logan over her shoulder as he donned the robe.
Bling walked quickly into the eerily quiet apartment, trying to decide where to check for Logan first. He made his way by the computer room and noticed that all the screens were blank, so decided to check Logan's room.
Max found it wasn't hard to hide in a place that, thanks to the design, was practically perpetual corners, as she stealthily followed Bling around the apartment from when he first entered. Max fought very hard to hide a burst of laughter as she saw Logan wheeling into the hallway with an uncomfortable and tired look on his face. When she noticed he was only using one arm to wheel the chair – making it a very slow and weaving process – she had to practically stick her whole hand in her mouth to keep quiet.
"God, Logan, I'm so sorry," Bling said, quickly making his way around to the back of the chair to push Logan down the hall.
"Oh, hey Bling," Logan said slightly wincing as he turned around, and sounding dazed and confused.
"Logan. What happened?" Bling asked cautiously as they came into the kitchen.
"Well, I was released on Thursday, and since then I've been making my way around here. I just had a shower that lasted 3 hours. You'd be surprised how much you use your arms when your legs don't work," Logan said, almost courageously, as he wheeled – again with one arm – to the counter and attempted to prepare some coffee. Bling couldn't believe what he was hearing, and started to make the coffee for Logan; desperately trying to make up for what happened.
"What about Max? I thought she'd help you out a little," Bling asked, since he had expected Max to take care of Logan, as she seemed to most of the time.
"Oh, Max," Logan said quietly, but with a slightly defeated laugh as his shoulder sunk considerably.
"You know how you were always telling me to tell her how I felt?" Bling looked at him and nodded hopefully.
"Well I did, on Thursday, and she then told me that we 'weren't like that'. And that I could have been her father, and it was gross. And to never try and contact her again, said I was sick." Bling dropped the mug in his hand. They both stared at it for a while, until Logan began speaking again.
"So you could say, that didn't go too well," Logan said, slowly shaking his head and continuing to stare at the fragments of china mixed with black steamy liquid, still slowly spinning on the floor. Bling bent down to start cleaning it up, completely lost for words, since everything he had been sure of for Logan was wrong, and it wasn't him paying for it, it was Logan, which made it even worse. As Bling was wiping the mess up, Logan heard a muffled noise, and a little bit of scuffling. He looked to where the sound was coming from and saw through a tiny crack Max doubled over in fits of laughter, unable to keep a steady footing and so was running into the walls.
"What was that?" Bling asked quickly, as he stood up and looked in the direction of the noise.
"Oh that? Probably rats. Some big ones have moved in and I reckon they know I can't chase them out, because they just sit there looking at me, eating my food." Logan's voice had again returned to the pathetic, yet slightly courageous tone of before.
"Jesus, Logan. I'm so sorry; I don't know what to say. I'm really, really sorry." Bling was completely sunk, he had no idea how he was going to make this situation better for his boss and good friend, and it was just too terrible a circumstance to imagine. Bling hunched over, resting on the countertop and rubbed his eyes slowly. It was about this time Logan thought his game had gone long enough.
"Don't worry, Bling, I'm fine," Logan said reassuringly as he patted the big man's shoulder. It took a while for Bling to register the fact that Logan was patting him on the shoulder. Bling slowly lowered his hand from his face to see Logan standing fully erect in front of him, with a smile on his face.
"Sorry about that Bling," Logan said. Bling's jaw hit the countertop. With perfect timing as always, Max sprang into the room, and before either of the men in the kitchen could register her presence, they heard a faint click.
"Great picture, Bling," Max said triumphantly as she held the camera in her hand.
"What… you?" Bling was having a very difficult time coming to terms with what he saw. Logan then turned to Max and beckoned her closer. She bounded over towards Logan, and when she was a few feet away, she leapt into his waiting arms. Logan held her high and spun around a few times, doing any tissue commercial proud, before finally pulling her to him and into a warm kiss. Bling's jaw slipped from the counter to the floor with a resounding thud. Max leant back from Logan, but still in his arms, with a broad smile on her face.
"Say cheese," she proclaimed happily, as she once again raised the camera and took another picture of Bling in his state of absolute shock. Logan gradually let Max slip from his arms, allowing her to return the camera, and giving him some time to reassure Bling.
"It's alright Bling, you can relax now," Logan said haughtily, as he once again patted Bling on the shoulder, trying to pull him from his stupor.
"Y-you… why I…" Bling stuttered and mumbled for a few minutes, with Logan happily watching and nodding occasionally. Max had returned and poured three cups of coffee, then hopped up and sat on the counter, stroking Logan's hand with her foot occasionally. Bling had recovered mostly and was drinking the brew in his hand as he eyed Logan and Max suspiciously. Logan dropped a spoon, and bent to pick it up. Bling's eyes bulged when he noticed that Logan did not bend at the middle, but at the knees, keeping his torso perfectly straight as he bobbed down into a deep squat, recovered his spoon, then straightening up instantly.
"Logan, since when have your legs worked that well?" Bling asked, clearly amazed at the little effort Logan used to complete his action.
"Since Thursday," Logan replied, suddenly realising that he had full use of his legs again, and becoming even happier.
"Well, we are going need to get some extra leg work in now that you can use them again," Bling said seriously, putting his empty cup onto the counter next to Max.
"I have a better idea," Logan said, looking at Bling with purpose, and then going over to the cupboard and getting a jar of peanut butter, which he gave to Max.
Twenty minutes later, Bling and Logan were standing on the little used, but well-kept running track. Max was sitting happily in the stand with a fresh loaf of bread and the peanut butter, smearing slices with great gusto, and then devouring them.
"Okay Max. We're ready," Logan shouted over to Max, who, momentarily distracted from her food, stood up and walked to the edge of the track. Logan laughed when he noticed the small mark of peanut butter on the side of her face. Max raised her arm into the air.
"Ready! Set!"
"Max," Logan interrupted her.
"What?" She sounded fairly exasperated, clearly wanting to get back to her food.
"You've got a little something just here," Logan said, wiping an imaginary smear of peanut butter from his face. Max brushed her hand over her face, got the offending smudge on a finger, and then licked it.
"Is that better?" she asked, giving Logan a twisted expression.
"Much," he replied, smiling and chortling a slight.
"Okay. Ready! Set!" Max paused a little, for affect and to see both Logan and Bling moving anxiously on the line.
"Go!" Bling and Logan exploded from the line, shooting down the track. Max stood and watched intently, concentrating on their movements. Bling knew he wasn't really a good sprinter, but thought this would be a bit easy since Logan had spent the past six months of his life wheelchair-bound. He was rudely proven wrong, as Logan powered up beside him, turned and smiled at him a little, and then shot off down the track.
Max watched them walking back down the track toward her, both of them sweating profusely from their exertions, but still smiling madly. She stood there with her hip cocked, and the almost empty bag of bread hanging by her side, eyeing the two as they approached.
"Well at least now we can do your workouts in the fresh city air," Bling jested as they came closer to Max. Logan was still buzzing from the run and just nodded madly, too caught up in his thoughts to pay any real attention to what Bling had to say.
"So what do you think of that Max?" Logan asked proudly as he and Bling finally reached her.
"Not bad, I suppose an eleven-twenty ain't too bad for you," Max said playfully, knowing such statements wouldn't easily quash the mood Logan was in.
"Not bad? Do you want a race or something?" he questioned somewhat defensively. Max merely rolled her eyes and headed back to the stand. Bling could see Logan about to retort in an attempt to regain some personal merit, so he placed his hand on his shoulder to silence him.
"Umm… you're not serious? Genetically engineered perfection, remember?" Max heard the statement that sounded very distinctly like a quote, so she turned and smiled at Logan.
"Genetically engineered perfection, huh?" Her smile got bigger and she batted her eyelashes a little. Logan turned to Bling and gave him a stern look, before turning to smile back at Max, embarrassed. Lucky for the run, otherwise the burning in his cheeks would have been obvious.
Max sat down to finish off the rest of the bread when she heard a car pulling up outside the stadium, and a door opening and closing. She moved up to the higher seats in the bleachers, until she saw a figure in a large overcoat walking underneath her and toward the field. She landed silently and effortlessly behind him, following him out to where Logan and Bling were doing stretches.
"Are you Logan Cale?" the man asked politely, not having noticed Max standing directly behind him yet.
"Ah. Yes," Logan responded cautiously, but not entirely worried because Max was standing directly behind the man in full action mode. The man quickly reached into his jacket and started to pull something out. Before he had the chance, Max chopped him on the neck and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Bling, Logan and Max stood looking at each other for a while and the form on the ground. Eventually Logan bent down and gathered what was in the man's hand.
"Oh, whoops," he said, as he opened the very fancy envelope addressed to him and Max.
"What?" Max said quickly, looking anxiously at Logan.
"Ah, nothing. Well, that was Lord Tom's messenger," Logan said, pointing to the man on the ground. He handed the invitation to Bling and bent to help Max pick up the man and carry him over to the bleachers. After a few minutes the man started to wobble back into the conscious realm, albeit it somewhat confused.
"Where am I?" he asked slowly.
"At the track," Logan responded in a friendly voice.
"Sorry about smacking you on the head," Max said guiltily from behind Logan. Logan enjoyed the fact that Max was sitting behind him, with her hand on his shoulder as they watched the man regain consciousness.
"Entirely my fault. Lord Thomas warned me, a warning which I did not heed and so paid for," the man said, in an elegant English accent. Max looked away so she could roll her eyes at another one of these strange acting individuals.
"Well, I do not wish to take up anymore of your time. I trust you have the invitation," the man inquired busily as he stood up. Bling waved the invitation for him to see, and received a curt nod.
"Good good. I'd best be off. It was a pleasure meeting you, and no doubt I will see you again soon." And before anyone could utter another word, the man had left. All three of them sat there for a while, staring blankly at the space Tom's messenger had last stood, until Bling finally broke the silence.
"Lord Thomas?" He looked inquisitively to Logan and Max.
"Long story," they replied in unison.
