Disclaimer: The usual. Own nothing, no money from this, Fox et al.
Author note: Talk about taking my sweet, sweet time. I must apologise to those of you interested in this fic. I have been a complete arse. I have had tons of time to write this but have not been able to. I seriously have spent so many hours working this chapter, however. It would probably be more time than it took me to write Red Cordial and the chapters of this up until this stage. My god what a struggle. Hopefully you will like this chapter, but alas, it may take me some time to put something together for the next chapter, but you never know.
Story
note: Okay, story. So far (a brief recap since it's been so damn long) Max and Logan woke up nude and in the same bed, due to a heat episode that was resolved between the two of them. Then they had a visit from Tom an eccentric English Lord, who then invited them to a party. Max and Logan fought badly what with Logan letting her down, etc. Now we have this chapter. We go bed shopping and have lunch.
The next chapter will be the ball, I promise.
Special thanks: There were some people, two, if I can count correctly, who dropped a review or two asking about this chapter and the completion of this story. To them we should all thank (those who wanted to see this chapter that is) because I was reminded of it in the sense that I had half a chapter there that desperately needed finishing, so I tried and I tried and here it is.
Thankyou maggieann452 and GingerSnap.
A Good Day
Logan woke the next morning to find the box of pictures had slipped from his chest and the television softly rasping with static. Groggily he got to his feet, placed the tape back in the box and then returned it to it's original location in the safe of his utility closet floor.
He walked into the kitchen and got a small serve of bland, uninteresting cereal, which he ate perched atop his kitchen counter. As he sat there, he noticed the small spot of melted cheese still stuck to the table top, so, using the handle of his spoon, he finished the process of chiselling it off. When that was done – to little joy, mind you – he checked the time and with a heavy sigh realised that it would be an excellent opportunity to broadcast his cable hack of the Mayor and his dirty dealings with the underground boss.
He walked into the computer room and froze solid with what greeted him.
A very subdued Max walked cautiously into Jampony. Immediately Cindy noticed the slight lean and uneasiness of her gait. Something that Max usually carried off with an inhuman amount of poise and grace.
"Okay sugah, I know you been hitting it with your hot boy, so I won't even ask why you didn't come home last night. But what's the funky new step?" she asked, clearly concerned.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Max replied uneasily. Cindy immediately saw the turmoil in Max's eyes.
"Woah, hold up there girl. What's goin' on?' she accused nervously, dragging Max to sit down next to her by their lockers.
"Nothing," Max reaffirmed, nervously checking her pager.
"Okay, we'll start easy then. What happened to your leg that's got you hobblin' around?"
"Just a little side effect from jumping seven stories onto solid concrete and landing a little crooked." Max responded casually.
"You what?" Cindy replied incredulously.
"I'll be completely back to normal by lunch time, so don't worry." Max cringed a little as she said lunch time, and old memories were revisited.
"Havin' trouble with the black helicopter boys or just sprain it or somethin' kickin' some ass?" Cindy ask, trying to get Max talking so she could attack her one more serious issues, like why she looked as if she were about to break down at any minute.
"Actually, I broke it in three places."
"You should be in hospital, boo!" Cindy exclaimed, becoming very 'mother hen' suddenly.
"No, I shouldn't. Another fantastic benefit of having a mixed bag of tricks for a body." Max again looked nervously at her pager.
"You waitin' for a call sugah?" Cindy asked, knowing the previous conversation had been well and truly shut-down.
"Yeah, maybe," Max replied distantly.
Logan actually stumbled back he was that surprised with what was in his study. All the walls and computer monitors were covered with pictures of himself and Max in various stages of embrace. Featured primarily were the photos from the shower and the hospital. He couldn't help but smile as he realised that Max had in fact acquired the camera from Bling and then kept it herself.
He sat down in the computer chair with a large smile on his face as he gently pivoted from side to side looking at all the pictures before him. He then noticed that on the main monitor was a small sheet of paper with something written on it. Plucking the sheet from the screen he saw that it was Max's delicate scribble, and five very small, diminutive and seemingly submissive words.
I'm sorry
please page me
There was something so touching and meaningful about this gesture from Max that Logan shivered slightly and realised that he hadn't seen her for a over a day. He folded the note gently and placed it to the side, then set his computer in motion.
Max and Cindy had just come back from a run and were having a mid morning break in the small lounge area. Max's depression had only deepened throughout the morning, checking the pager on her hip had steadily increased to several times a minute.
'Okay, so he's still asleep, he was up till four and he needs sleep,' Max kept thinking to herself. A sudden burst of static ripped straight through her.
"This is a Streaming Freedom Bulletin..."
A hushed silence feel over the employees of Jampony as they looked on with awe at the under-ground journalist and listened intently to the information and footage of the Mayor dealing with the Mafia boss. All of them, that was, except Max.
Cindy turned to gossip a bit with Max and saw her friend even more distraught and upset than before.
"Max, what's up?" she asked concernedly.
"Nothing," Max sniffed defensively. 'He has to have seen the note by now, and he still hasn't called. I knew it, he's over me,' Max thought sadly.
"Hey hey hey, you bums, place of business!" Normal screeched, before furiously tapping his watch and diving into another 'Bip bip bip' diatribe.
Max slowly walked past him and grabbed a package, making her way to her bike, with Cindy hot on her heels.
"What the hell is goin' on, Max?" Cindy asked hotly.
"Delivering packages," Max replied flatly.
"Don't give me that. You know what I am talking about, boo."
"Well, it's something I don't want to talk about, so I'm going to go and deliver my package." Max responded somewhat aggressively, before turning and pushing her bike out the door. Cindy looked at the empty doorway in disbelief that she had just been blown off by Max.
Just as Cindy was about to go after her, she heard the familiar pulsing of Max's pager, followed less than seconds later by a whirl of wind and colour that was soon identified as Max running to the phone.
Max dialled the number frantically, and discovered it to be engaged. 'I can't believe someone has called him already.' Just as she was about the hang up the dial-tone sounded before being replaced with Logan's voice.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Logan, it's me. Max," Max said anxiously, hearing Logan chuckle slightly at the other end didn't really make her feel much better about the situation.
"Hi, Max. How has your day been?" he asked casually.
"Hell. Caught your hack, who were you on the phone with?" Max spoke in a rush.
"Ahh... when?" Logan asked, sounding slightly confused.
"Just now. I rang and it was engaged."
"Oh, I think you started to call before I had put the phone down." Logan replied, with another small chuckle.
There was a sizeable pause.
"Listen, Max, I'm sorry about standing you up yesterday-"
"It's okay, really. You had all that work to do, I'm sorry for jumping down your throat," Max quickly interrupted, trying to assure him that she wasn't angry.
"But, I should have called you," Logan responded.
"Yeah, you should have, but it's alright, really."
"Okay. So, do you want to try it again today? I promise the only thing that will stop me from turning up is death, but I'm not allowed to do that either, since you'd kick my ass," Logan said lightly.
"Damn straight. Same time, same place?" Max asked eagerly, Logan could hear her grinning through the phone.
"Yep. See you at twelve-thirty."
"Yeah, okay. We need to talk about some things as well," Max said nervously.
"Yeah, I figured we'd have to do that," he responded with a sense of foreboding.
"See you later, Logan."
"Bye, Max."
'Talk? No that doesn't sound good at all,' Logan thought, staring absently at the phone he had just placed back in the cradle. 'At least she's talking to you,' he reminded himself with a more positive air.
Logan walked out of the small, secluded store and into the throng of people that were swarming towards the food centre. He was in the main business section of Seattle, which had seen a fairly significant recovery since the Pulse and now featured one of the most popular food courts in the country. The mass of people dispersed significantly after getting through the bottleneck that was the entrance, so Logan ambled over to the seats surrounding the large garden that was the main centrepiece of the hall and where he would be meeting Max.
Several minutes past when Logan thought he heard a slight rustling in the bush behind him but put it down to some of the children he had seen climbing in there earlier, ignoring their mothers yells of disapproval. Moments later, however, some gloved and slightly chilled hands closed over his eyes, a few soft silken threads fell against his neck and a warm breath millimetres from his ear sent shivers down his spine and a broad smile across his face.
"Guess who?"
"Hmmm, well, they wear gloves, so they obviously do something fairly physical for a living. Their body is small, lithe and I'd say fairly attractive. Hair is soft and smooth, voice is sweet, tender and delicate, but is hidden behind a tough-girl attitude. And, they snore in what little sleep they get. I'd say... Jondy."
"I haven't seen you for a while, you should probably go because I'm meeting Max soon and she'll get suspicious. She doesn't know about our past." His playful response was answered with a smack over the head and a body in his lap.
"I don't snore," Max said indigently, throwing an arm around Logan's neck and bringing her nose to rub gently against his.
"Of course you don't. Jondy does," he said, before stealing a quick kiss. Max scowled at him in possibly the most non-threatening manner he had ever seen.
Logan began to stand and Max slid gracefully from his lap but still managed to secure one of his hands with hers.
"Do you want some food now?" he asked, already knowing the answer so beginning to walk off. Max nodded and followed him, not that she had much choice because she wasn't giving up the prime real estate that she had in his arm.
When Max noticed the huge line of people waiting at every single eatery she groaned audibly, "We're not going to get anything to eat for about seven months with these lines."
"We'll see," Logan responded mysteriously, leading Max through a small pile of people jostling for one of the many communal tables and then up a set of stairs.
"Ah, Mr Cale, what a pleasure to see you again," greeted a friendly enough looking man after Logan had pushed through a door at the top of the staircase.
They had walked into an incredibly comfortable and cheery looking restaurant, however, the first thing Max noticed was that it was completely empty, which seemed out of place since it was the luncheon hour.
After a slight hesitation, in which it appeared Logan didn't want to let go of Max, the two shook hands warmly before the man led them to a small table, collected the menus and walked off in what Max guessed was the direction of the kitchens.
"Shouldn't he be leaving the menus here, so we know what we want?" Max asked with a slight tone of annoyance, she'd come here to eat god damn it!
"Don't worry, I've already ordered for us. I trust you like... well anything I've given you so far, so I'm sure you'll like what's coming for you," Logan said, chuckling slightly at Max's quickness to temper over food.
There was a pause in which Max looked out of the window and at all the people milling about below, Logan grew more nervous with this 'talk' he knew was going to be taking place soon.
"My quality of life has certainly improved since I tried to rob your ass," Max said lightly, still looking on the crowds below. Logan, not exactly sure where she was going with this, decided to opt with the safest option and not say anything.
"You're the first nocturnal mission I failed, you know. Hell, the first ever mission I failed." Logan blinked in surprise at her statement. Again leaning to the side of silence to see what Max was getting to.
"You're just so... distracting. I always screw things up when I'm around you," Max said, taking a large gulp of the wine that had been poured without her noticing. She looked at him and smiled shyly before looking back out the window again. Logan swallowed nervously, not liking the sound of this terribly much.
"Sorry," he mumbled submissively, looking down at the napkin in his fingers.
"You don't need to be sorry about anything. I-I like being distracted by you," Max managed to stutter. This change in tone captured Logan's attention with interest. He studied her features and noticed that she seemed to be nervous, very nervous. Max could feel his penetrating stare on her and knew there was no way she could do what she wanted if he kept that up.
"Don't look at me like that, Logan," Max demanded softly. He went back to looking at his napkin, which was quickly becoming a finely shredded pile of cloth.
"There are things I need to tell you, Logan. Things about me and things about you, but more importantly things about me and you." Logan swallowed with a loud gulping noise. This was it, the part where she suggested that it really wasn't going to work out between them on this level and it would be better if they 'see other people'. God he hated that phrase. His unease and substantial distress had gone unnoticed by Max, who continued to speak, although she wasn't really saying much.
"Oh, god. I don't know how to say this," Max cried in frustration.
"My mother once told me that when you don't know how to say something, you're thinking too much about how to word and sugar coat the deal. It's best just to say it." 'God, where the hell did that come from? I'm supposed to be doing all in my power to cajole against us breaking up, not add weapons to her arsenal,' his inner monologue berated. His panicked eyes shot to Max to see if he could interpret an emotion or feeling, so he would have a better chance to stave off the inevitable. He was quite surprised to find Max smiling warmly at him, her expression seeming slightly relieved.
"You're mum, now that's an excellent point, which will cover the 'you' part of our conversation," she said cheerily, before her face became softer and more compassionate. Logan blinked again in surprise, he didn't think his mother was going to be coming into this.
"Why have you never told me any more about your parents than they were loaded?" Max asked quietly.
"It's something I don't really like talking about," Logan responded slowly.
"Why?" Max asked earnestly.
"Did you know I had a sister?" Logan asked ignoring the question, his tone taking on a strange distant quality.
Max paused, unsure if she should admit to watching him. She steeled herself with another big gulp of wine before responding nervously. "Yeah, a younger one, right?"
The confusion and surprise on Logan's face would have been evident to a blind man. After a few seconds, however, a look of understanding and dawning comprehension came over him.
"You followed me last night. That's why I had such an easy time at the warehouse." Max nodded mutely.
"I'm sorry Logan, but I had to."
"Why?" He sounded genuinely curious.
"Because, I was worried about you, because I-I..." another large gulp of wine, "I want you to be happy and I know how I reacted yesterday wasn't fair and I had to see you again, even if you wouldn't see me." Max's palms were slicked with nervous sweat, her heart rate was fast and increasing with each second he sat there and studied her with that intense gaze. This wasn't even the big stuff and she was already a nervous wreck. Trying for another gulp of wine, mainly for something to do, she found her glass empty. The silence was getting too much.
"Say something," she almost pleaded. His face was written with an unreadable expression, as his eyes searched her face. For what, Max didn't know, but she hopped he found something he liked.
"I never mention my parents, or Claire – my younger sister – for that matter, because it's so hard to think about and even worse to talk about. Well, I think it would be." He laughed a shallow laugh, he had never tried to speak about it before as no one had ever asked.
"Why don't you try?" Max suggested timidly, cautious of the terrain she was treading.
"I take it you saw the video I was watching?" Logan asked. Max nodded slightly. "That was taken at my eighth birthday party, in the backyard."
"You were an adorable eight year old." Max pointed out, causing Logan to smile slightly.
"One of my presents was this stuff called 'Gack', which is like this plasticy goop stuff. Really fun."
"That robot cake you saw, I had another three times. I loved that cake." Max could see him digressing but didn't interrupt as he seemed to be enjoying his reminiscing.
"We played this game with doughnuts that you tie up with string and hang from a tree, you have to try and eat them without using your hands. Kind of like an inverted bobbing for apples, without the water and a much more satisfying reward."
"Those times, with my family, were the best times of my life. Then they were taken away from me and I was all alone. After that no one really wanted me around and I didn't really want anyone around."
"I knew I should have kicked that smug bastard's ass," Max mumbled. Logan laughed at this and shook his head slowly.
"No, I think it was best you didn't kick his ass at my cousins wedding. But hey, there's always Thanks Giving."
"Yeah," Max agreed with a smile.
"Anyway, I thought that with Eyes Only I'd feel better by helping others or at least distract myself with so many important things that I wouldn't have time to remember. And I did, but it was never the same as having a family and there was always an emptiness there, something I couldn't fill but could ignore pretty well." He glanced at her again before looking out the window and heaving a heavy sigh.
"And then you came along."
Max's eyes widened in disbelief. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' she thought, fear for their relationship setting in. Logan noticed her stunned expression and laughed slightly.
"No, not like that. You came along and everything in my life changed again." Max released a held breath.
"Firstly; there was the fact that you were – and still are – the most amazing image of female perfection I have ever seen, which of course meant my intentions were not entirely honourable."
Max raised an eyebrow and feigned indignation. "I had no idea. I thought you were after me for my mind. You cad."
After a brief smile Logan continued. "Then the shooting happened and you came back, saved me in the hospital, then left again. Of course, not after you went and took out Sonrisa."
"I couldn't get you off my mind for that whole three months, and then all of a sudden, there you were. Breaking into my place again."
"Every time I thought of you, I knew that I would never see you again, knew you wouldn't risk the chance of exposure, but you came back anyway. Then after that, I knew that you were just coming back to get information about your siblings."
"I got to know you, and I really liked what I was getting to see. Your kindness for others that no matter how hard you try you can't cover with a tough-ass-no-cares-in-the-world kind of attitude."
"Max..." Logan paused slightly, as if trying to weigh up what he should say next. "... you, you restored my faith in humanity. That no matter how hard life has been to people there is still good in them."
"Isn't that ironic," Max piped in.
"How?" Logan asked curiously.
"Well, you're the people's crusader and you were the one always telling me to give a damn about others, that there was good in them. And here you are telling me that I restored your faith in humanity. It's just funny s'all. Hell, I'm not even human."
"Don't say that ever again," Logan cut in aggressively, "you're more human than anyone I've ever met."
"Not on a genetic level though," Max replied quickly.
"So what? And stop getting all technical," Logan said, managing to grab one of her hands and give it a firm squeeze. "So there you go Max, you saved me from myself. Thank you."
Max had absolutely no idea how to respond to something so sincere and meaningful, and the fact that Logan had said it about her was particular affecting in a way she had never known before.
"Logan, stop it. I think you're gonna make me cry," Max said with a half-sniff half-laugh. "No one has ever said anything like that about me before and it's kinda hard to believe."
"Well believe it, because it's all true," said Logan.
A comfortable pause followed in which they looked at each other, then Max spoke up.
"I suppose that's covered the 'you' part of the conversation."
"So we get to do the 'you' part of the conversation now?" Logan asked brightly.
"Yeah, I suppose it does." Max paused and looked out the window again and the people milling about below.
"You know, there's not much about me that you don't know, really. So why don't we just get our food and start eating." Max shone a dazzling smile at him and he seemed to weaken slightly.
"Oh no you don't. There is no way you're getting out of this that easy," Logan said, returning a brilliant smile of his own.
"Okay, so I guess I'll just start where I left off before," Max said nervously.
"Seems like a good place," responded Logan reassuringly.
"You're distracting, I can't think straight when I'm around you, and now I can't think straight when I'm not around you."
"When I'm with you, I just want to stay with you and when I'm not with you, I'm desperate to see you again. Then when I do see you again, there's this huge wave of relief that you're real and not something I just made up. It feels wonderful to be around you and terrible to be away." Max was rambling and seemed quite agitated, to the point of knocking over her empty wine glass.
"I don't know what's happening to me, it feels nice, but it's so different. I've never had a friend like you before, Logan." When Max had finished, she looked up from her wrung hands to see Logan's face split near in two with a massive grin.
"Logan."
"Yes, Max."
"I think I love you."
"Yes, it looks that way." Logan paused slightly as if considering something.
"You know what, I think I love you too." Max's smile was clearly enough to power five lighthouses.
"No, yes, I definitely love you, Max."
"That's good," Max said brightly.
"It is, isn't it?" Logan laughed.
"Yeah, because now that's the 'us' part discussed, which means we're done talking and can start eating."
Without turning around, Logan raised his hand and waved it twice. Nothing seemed to happen for a while in which Max and Logan just looked into each others eyes with goofy expressions on their faces.
"What better way to celebrate this occasion than with food?"
"I can think of a better way," Max stated some what melodramatically. "Kiss me, you fool!"
He did, and they were most pleased.
Around thirty minutes later many piles of empty plates and a contented Max and Logan sat around the small table, contemplating their next moves.
"We really should get moving on those bed shops if we want to get you something before I have to go back to work," Max said, leaning back in her chair and stretching a little.
"Yeah, and we also need to get you some scantly clothes to wear on my new bed," Logan said with a slight waggle of his eyebrows.
Max swatted him but then laced her fingers through his as they walked out of the restaurant and into the thinning throng below.
"You know, I've been thinking," Logan said, taking a bite of an ice cream Max had insisted they buy as they ambled along the cleaner than your average post-pulse side walk.
"Sounds dangerous," Max replied, eyeing Logan's double-choc since her hazelnut swirl had long since been consumed.
"We really should buy you a new dress for the ball."
"Why bother? I have a perfectly functional one hanging in your cupboard, which, let me remind you, I have only worn once," Max replied, sounding slightly scandalised at the prospect of spending that much money on something she would only use once. "Anyway, I was under the impression you quite enjoyed the way I looked in that number?"
"Oh yes, I did indeed. It just seems like the thing to do, buy a new dress for a social function. But I suppose I'm more used to the high society, snooty girlfriend type who expect that type of thing."
"What are you trying to say Mr Cale?" Max responded, stopping their walk to confront him.
"Nothing at all. Just, you're going to save me some money," he laughed and began walking off again.
"Tryin' to tell me I'm cheap or something buck'o?"
"No, you're anything but cheap, Max. You should know that by now. Think of all the things you've broken."
"Logan I swea-"
"Would you look at that, here's the first store," he interrupted quickly, before ducking into a shop.
About half an hour later Max and Logan stood by the last bed in the shop. It covered all the credentials Logan was after; big, low to the ground, dark timber and most importantly Max approved of it. There was only one last thing to do.
"Mmm, comfy too." Logan said as he wriggled on the mattress. He rolled around a bit and seemed fairly happy with how it felt.
"Come on Max, climb aboard," Logan said, patting the space beside him.
She looked around uncertainly at first, not entirely comfortable about getting into bed in the middle of the day in the middle of a shop but it seemed that there were very few patrons in the store and all the attendants were either busy with them or at the other end of the store. She carefully sat on the bed and then lay down, looking very stiff and a bit nervous.
"You need to relax if you're going to test out a mattress properly," Logan said, twisting around a little more.
Max let herself relax and closed her eyes, the firm mattress quite the comfort. Logan was moving around a bit more which she chose to ignore since he had been doing that ever since he got onto the thing. It was only when the light through her eyelids darkened did she begin to worry. When her eyes opened, Logan was coming down on her with the sheets, blankets and other assorted bed coverings held over his head.
"Logan!" Max yelped in surprise as her world was momentarily blackened. His head had fallen down beside hers and he gently scrapped his scruff covered face against her cheek, sending shivers down her spine.
"Yes?" he responded, his voice far too deep.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing," he responded, but of course his definition of nothing differed from Max's because nibbling on her ear like that was anything but nothing.
Her body sighed traitorously and Logan knew he had her. His mouth soon found hers and Max quickly stopped trying to push him and their coverings away.
"Hem." Max paused slightly, however soon fell victim of Logan's ministrations again and forgot the sound.
"Hem!"
They both stopped this time and looked at each other, their faces both written with the same embarrassed expression. Busted.
Logan slowly pulled the small tent of bed clothing off them. Their faces were flushed and their hair had been seriously effected by rubbing against all that fabric and so now fuzzed quite a deal, their breathing was also quite elevated.
Max looked up and could have sworn she saw the elderly shop assistant smile briefly before fronting a far more serious demeanour. Logan looked up at her and smiled, cheeks going crimson.
"I'll take it!" he finally declared.
As they walked back to their respective means of transportation Max noticed the small bag Logan was carrying.
"What's that?"
"A surprise, so don't even bother asking more," he cut her off, knowing what her next question would be.
"What time will you come by my place tonight?" he asked as they came to Max's chained bike.
"I'll come over straight after work, how's that?"
"Sounds good to me," Logan responded brightly, not quite remembering when he had been this happy before.
Max mounted her ride and looked at Logan uncertainly. "We don't have to do that 'love you' business every time we leave each other and stuff, do we?"
"I should hope not, never been a fan of that. As long as we know, I reckon 'bye' will be just fine." He then leaned in and kissed her briefly.
"Oh by the way, I think this belongs to you," Logan said, producing some black and slightly laced.
"You, what? When they hell did you do that?" Max said, recognising the garment as her own and the one she had been wearing just that morning.
"These fingers are skilled in more than just computer wizardry," he responded with a terrific smirk.
Max stuffed it in her back pack and kissed Logan again.
"See you tonight."
"Yes you will," Logan responded. Max put foot to pedal and began to ride off.
"Oh, and Max," she turned and looked at him as she rolled on slowly, "love you."
Logan chuckled as he heard Max cursing as she rode off about double-standards and such.
'Today has been a good day,' he thought with a smile.
