Disclaimer: If, in a perfect world, I owned Dark Angel, I would be writing episodes for cash, not fanfic for fun…So no, if you're still wondering, I don't own Dark Angel, but I do own Justin, Dalianna, her family and all her X-siblings, but I'm more than willing to share.  If you'd like to use them, please just ask.  Thank you.

Timeframe: After "Freak Nation", end of Season 2

A/N: Can't thank you guys enough for the great reviews!  There isn't much action here, but you kind of get a feeling of the type of things that Dali's capable of, and that'll make the action in the chapters to come that much better! Ok, so without further ado, chapter 5…

Chapter 5

Batteries Not Included

Max slowly lowered her glass of wine, as she noticed a picture hanging on the wall that she could have sworn hadn't been there before.  It showed a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair and a bright smile, holding a young boy with the same color hair and an even brighter smile.  He was wearing a birthday hat, and had chocolate all over his face.  Max deduced that the boy in the picture must have been Logan, and though she had never seen a picture of her, the stunning resemblance of the young woman to the young boy confirmed that she was his mother.  I wonder why Logan never talks about his parents…If I had parents that looked half as happy as she does, I would talk about them all the time.  Logan had left to put the dishes in the sink, and chose that moment to return.

"So…," he began, "she lost her whole family just like that huh?"

Max nodded absent-mindedly.  "Yeah, her parents were killed, and her little brother lives with some family over in Michigan."

"How come she didn't stay with the family?"

"What, and put them in danger too?  Nah, couldn't risk it."

"You talk like you're speaking from experience."

"Well, Renfro helped bring to my attention that us transgenics are magnets for trouble, and when we get involved with other people, they tend to get hurt.  Not that I hadn't already figured that out…"   I almost got both you and Cindy killed…as if I could forget.  Not to mention the whole virus thing…  But that was too painful to think about.  She turned back to the picture.  "Logan, who's the woman in the picture?"

He turned to look at it, and for a second, Max could see pain and hurt flash in his eyes.  "That was my mother."  He stalled for a second, it seemed as though he were fighting an inner battle as to whether or not he should continue the conversation.  "We took that picture right after my fourth birthday party."

He's so cute.  "You look happy."

"Oh we were.  We were very happy." He trailed off.  "But apparently, pain ensues happiness," he added bitterly.  Max knew better than to go down that road.

"Hey, you mind if I crash here tonight?  I think Dali might be a little upset if she wakes up to find I kind of left her here."

He actually smiled a little.  "Sure.  Guest room's in the back."

Max rose from the table.  "Night then."

"Night," he answered distractedly.  Max retired to the back room and closed the door behind her.  She laid down on the bed, and from there, she had a perfect view of the clouds passing the moon.  She wasn't really tired, but after awhile, the monotony of the ticking from the clock on the wall lulled her into a restless sleep.

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Logan poured himself another glass of wine and took a sip.  Why, oh why does everything have to be so difficult?  Seconds passed, and then minutes, before he moved from his spot.  He walked to the back room and knocked softly on the closed door.  Logan what are you doing? he thought to himself.  No answer came from the inside, and his mind told him to just turn around and go to bed.  Yet his heart told him to go ahead and walk right in.  So he slowly turned the handle until he heard it click, and pushed the door open enough to slide through.

"Max," he whispered, "You awake?"  The figure on the bed didn't move or speak.

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Max had awoken to the knock on the door.  It was only a soft knock, but she had never really considered herself a heavy sleeper.  Still, she didn't answer.  Whoever it was would just go away, and she would be left alone.  But they didn't leave.  In fact, the door opened, and they waltzed right in.

"Max," came a voice, "you awake?"

Logan! her mind screamed.  What in the world are you doing in here?  Her soldier instincts told her that there was something wrong, and he needed her help, but her woman instincts told her that nothing was wrong, and he was there because…well, she hadn't figured that out yet.  So she didn't move, and instead let him believe that she was asleep.

He crept closer and sat on the edge of the bed.

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Dali awoke from her sleep with a start.  It took her a minute to remember where she was and what had happened.  She groaned inwardly for letting herself become so vulnerable and falling apart.  She could just hear her brother Randy's voice in her head now: "A soldier does not show feelings.  Feelings are millstones in the river to success.  The less millstones there are, the greater our chances at success.  If I ever see any soldier in this unit showing weakness, he or she will be on latrine duty for a month!"  She smiled at the memory of her commanding officer.  Underneath that armed coat that had portrayed him as the model soldier, there was actually a living, breathing human.  He had shown her so on more than one occasion.  She had shown feelings to him before, and never once could she remember being put on latrine duty for it.  Sometimes, he was worse than their drill sergeants, but she knew it was only because he loved them and didn't want anything to happen to them, even though he never actually said it.

She rose and headed toward the kitchen to get something to drink, when she felt it.  The tiny ping of pain that had so infamously associated itself with the meaning that someone else's thoughts were about to intrude her own.  Then she heard them.  "God she's beautiful…If I could just touch her, just one more time…it would be worth it…"  Who the heck is that? she wondered confused.  She wandered towards the closed door down the hall.  It's Logan! she gasped inwardly.  But who's he talking to?  She put her ear to the door, but there were no sounds coming from inside.  She strained her hearing, and heard not one, but two heartbeats, both, despite the steady breathing, racing at a highly accelerated rate.  Must be Max…but what's he talking about?  Why can't he touch her?  Thinking back on all the times that she had seen them together, and there were a lot, Dali realized that she had never actually seen them touch.  It was clear from the way that they looked at each other that they were more than just friends, yet they never hugged or kissed, or even held hands.  She had figured maybe they just saved that sappy stuff for private, which was more than fine with her, but apparently, they didn't do it in private either.

She closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts just on Logan.  His face…his smile…his eyes…The wave of memories hit her like a ton of bricks.  She saw Max breaking into his apartment in a black catsuit; Max and Logan standing in front of a mirror; the shooting; Max and Logan playing chess; the kiss outside a cabin; dancing in a dream; Logan sitting in a wheelchair, looking down at a gun; Logan snapping his legs into some weird, metal thing; the two sharing a kiss; Max dead in Logan's arms; Max back from the dead with Logan in her arms, but this time, he didn't look so happy; a girl with blonde hair checking his vitals; them standing together in an apartment overlooking Seattle, holding hands; sitting in the back of a Cadillac; and finally standing together looking out at the flag that Dali had seen flying over Terminal City several hundred times.  Dali's eyes flew open, and her hand rose to the side of her head.  She applied pressure at her temples hoping to stop the splitting pain.  Bad idea…REALLY bad idea.  She closed her eyes again, and took a few deep breaths, the extreme throbbing settled to a dull pain.  But before she could open her eyes again, another wave of memories hit her.  Oh no, not again.  These were slightly different.  Again she saw Max breaking into Logan's apartment; then standing over him at the hospital; playing chess again; then the kiss outside the cabin.  These must be Max's memories.  She saw Max giving blood to Logan; and the same dancing dream; standing outside looking out at the ocean; killing…Alec?  Ok, I knew the guy got on her nerves, but that's kind of drastic…not to mention impossible.  He's still here…  She saw Max sitting on the space needle; Logan standing in front of her; Max fighting…herself?  Logan and Max in bed.  Ok, whoa, where did that come from?!  The memories kept coming…Max back at Manticore; doing drills; going under psy-ops; holding Logan; Alec standing in front of her with a grim smile on his face; a strange man wheeling Zack away…Hey, that's Zack…once again, standing in that apartment; sitting in the back of the Cadillac; then looking at the flag.  The memories stopped coming, and Dali prayed that that was the last of them.  It felt like someone had gone sledgehammer-happy on her cranium.  She opened her eyes and her vision blurred; she stumbled a few feet to a nearby table and held onto it for balance.  A wave of nausea 20 feet high hit her, and her knees, which had already become wobbly, gave out.  She, the table, and a vase that had previously been on the table all came crashing to the floor.

Logan came running out of the room.  The first thing he saw was Dali lying on the floor.  "Dali! Dali!" he called, "What happened?"  He looked around for any other signs that something had gone wrong, but everything was as he had left it.  Max appeared at the doorway to the bedroom wide-eyed and clearly awake.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know.  Something's wrong with her."  He helped Dali to a sitting position, and she opened her eyes.

"Aspirin…," she managed.  "My head…"

"Max, stay with her."  Max sat down at the girl's side.  Logan took off towards the bathroom.

"Dali, what happened?" Max asked her, but the girl didn't answer, she just clenched her eyes shut and held her head in her hands.  Logan was back a few seconds later with a bottle of pills.  He poured out a few and gave them to Dali, who hastily swallowed them.

A few minutes later, she opened her eyes and looked at the two people before her.  "Sorry about that, sometimes--" Before she could finish her thought, her hands flew to her ears.  "What the hell is that?" she breathed.  "It's so loud! Make it stop!"

"What? What?" Max and Logan searched around in alarm.

"I don't hear anything," Max said.

"Me neither," Logan agreed, "Dali you have to tell us what it is that you hear."

"I don't know," she moaned, "a whistle or something.  Tell whoever it is to turn it off!"

Max took off out the door, and Logan stayed with the young girl.  Max wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, but whatever it was, she needed to stop it.  She ran down the road and came to a crossing.  "To the left," a voice screamed in her head.  She turned left and kept running.  Where to now? She thought to herself, the voice directed her again.  "Just keep going, you're getting closer."  Dali is that you? Max wondered, but there was no answer.  She came to a house with a young boy standing outside.  "There!  Tell whoever that is to knock it off!"  Max looked closer and could see that the boy had a whistle in his mouth…a dog whistle.

"Hey kid," she said.  The boy looked at her, but didn't take the whistle out of his mouth.  "You gotta stop blowing that whistle."  He shook his head and kept blowing.  "Max, hurry!"  "Please?" she pleaded.  She reached in her pocket.  "I'll give you $10."  The boy seemed to be thinking it over.  Then he nodded and took the whistle out of his mouth.  He reached over the fence and took the money from her hand.

"Thanks lady, here comes my dog anyway."  Max turned, and saw a golden retriever heading over to the boy.  They both went into the house, and Max gave a sigh of relief.  She turned and headed back toward Logan's place.

When she got there, she found Logan sitting with Dali on the couch.  Logan looked up at her as she came in the door.

"What was it?"

"Some kid blowing a dog whistle…two miles down the road!"  They both looked incredulously over at the young girl on the couch.

She just gave Max a little smile.  "Thank you," she breathed, and promptly passed out.

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Yeah, ok, so the title makes no sense, but how much sense did it make for the writers to name the season 1 finale "And Jesus Brought A Casserole"?  I mean, I'm sure there's an underlying reason there somewhere; and if I thought hard enough, I know I could find an equally meaningful reason for why this chapter is named "Batteries Not Included"…of course, only a cruel and harsh person would ask me to. J  Chapter 6 coming in no more than a week!