A/N: Okay guys! Thanks for the feedback and for staying with us, though we are taking so long to post. We hope you still enjoy our story!

By the way: this chapter is not betaed, so please bear with our mistakes. ;-)

Imperfection

Max squinted at the first rays of sunlight shining right into her face. She had slept for hours on end and still felt pretty groggy and exhausted. Her head hurt like hell and she needed a moment to remember the events of the last night. They were still blurry and disconnected, but she remembered having gone through a seizure, the worst one she had ever had and Logan...she rubbed her eyes before finishing her thought…OH MY GOD! She had been fighting Logan!!! With a start she sat up, but came to regret the sudden action instantly; her head started spinning and she sank back, groaning. Taking a deep breath, she tried again, considerably slower this time. To her relief, she found that Logan was lying next to her, save and sound asleep. Only the frown on his face showed that he had to be in the middle of a troublesome dream.

He was sitting on the floor, somewhere-in the middle o nowhere and he had no idea how he had gotten here. He looked around, but his surroundings were covered in a thick fog. Then he heard a strange moan that grew louder and louder until he could physically feel it. Finally he could discern a dark figure approaching him painfully slowly until it was hovering over him. He tried to make out the face but all he could see was a blur. He fingered for his glasses, assuming he'd lost them. But they were there, perched on his nose. Only he couldn't see properly-no matter how hard he blinked or rubbed his eyes. The figures movements were in slow motion now, but he could see and feel a fist approach his face. He tried to move, but he was glued to the ground. He prepared for accepting the blow, hoping this nightmare would finally come to an end. But instead of the fist smashing into his face he heard a disgusting sound that send shivers down his spine. The strange moaning that sounded like a wounded animal transformed into a deafening cry.

Max sat up further and took a closer look at his face. OH NO! There was a dark bruise on his jaw. She bit her lip, realizing that must have been her inflicting it on him. How on earth could she have done that to him? How sick did her genetically engineered mind be to hurt the only person she trusted and could rely on right now? What kind of creature was she to hurt the man she loved? Max felt tears of anger and frustration well up and she forced herself to swallow them down. Oh no Max, don't go there again. she chided herself. Stop the self-pitying. Better concentrate and remember what happened, how you could allow yourself to lose control like that!

Looking down at Logan again, she noticed that his breath was coming faster now in his sleep and he tried roll onto his side. His eyes under his lids were moving fast. He was having a nightmare.

"Logan?" Max whispered, almost afraid of waking him. What would he think of her?

He felt like he was bathed in sweat, trying to move away from the figure and the sound. The cry turned into a high pitched wail and eventually reduced to a helpless whimper. The presence of the dark figure was still inevitable. It was there, hovering over him. It was close, very close. He could feel it, he could smell it. He new that smell. He..., he felt himself being torn from the dream by another sound, a whisper, calling him from far away and the dark figure disappeared in a flash of fleeting white light.

"Logan? Wake up, you're just dreaming." Max hesitated to touch him, what if he didn't want her to touch him again, after last night she couldn't even blame him.

Logan felt himself floating in between dreams, another nightmare threatening to swallow him, but the voice was still calling him, so he concentrated on it, hoping to wake up and not end up in another horrible dream.

"Logan, please. Wake up." He heard the voice again.

Finally, his eyes flew open and he looked into Max' face who was leaning over him...just like...he shook the thought off, trying to get rid of the aftertaste of that stupid nightmare. Logan blinked at Max, shocked to see her desperate expression. He pushed up on his elbows and took a few seconds to get his bearing.

"Logan?" Max whispered, seeing the bruise for the first time in the sunlight. It looked pretty bad.

"Man, what a nightmare!" he said, shaking his head violently, trying to shake off the bad dream. He let his gaze roam around the motel room, while he could feel his heart-beat slow down considerably. Then, the event of the previous night came back to him. Trying to hide the last bit of confusion still lingering in his mind about Max's loss of control, he eventually turned towards her, forcing a smile. "Good morning. How do you feel? Any better?"

Max looked back at him, frowning: "Me? I'm fine! But what about you? God, what did I do to you last night? I'm so sorry. ...I didn't mean to...I don't know what to say..." she stuttered. "I hate myself for this," she eventually concluded in a desperate voice.

Logan sighed and lay back again opening his arms for her invitingly. "That wasn't you Max. Whatever caused that whole...episode...it wasn't your fault. …And I can use some kick-ass once in a while," he tried to cheer her up.

Max snored showing no intention to lie down. "Yeah right, your girlfriend slapping you while behaving like a freak is totally what you signed up for." She exclaimed.

"Max, calm down. It's no big deal. Really!" Logan said, reaching out his hand for her.

Max looked at him for a long while, then eventually gave in and buried her head in the crook of his arm, cuddling close to him. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." Logan repeated, stroking her face absent-minded. "But we really have to find out what caused this and what to do about it! I mean, I thought you couldn't get any worse from last time...but this!"

Max nodded, she was worried as well, suddenly remembering talking about an expiration date, back then she had meant it more as a joke, but now it seemed to become reality. There was a twist in her guts and she had to tell Logan. "What if I was designed that way? What if those guys have nothing to do with it, what if I have this expiration date?"

Logan rolled his eyes slightly. "Come on Max! Don't be stupid. You're a human being, not a piece of meat." It made him angry to hear all this self-discriminating crap from the woman he loved who seemed so perfect to him, regardless of her seizures.

"I still don't know anything about this body of mine, but I know it's not human, it's human-made Logan!"

"Max, I understand that it's not easy to live with the knowledge of being a genetically engineered super soldier. But you have to stop talking about yourself like that. I mean, there might be some things about your body that are ...a little screwed up, but still you come so close to being perfect!"

"But my freaking body is so unpredictable. I never know what will happen next, what…"

"Max! " Logan interrupted. "Nobody knows that. People get sick, they get terminally ill, even die. Just like that. That's life. Nothing is predictable. Your life may change from one day to another. Without warning. Nobody is safe from that!" He took a deep breath, considering his next sentence. "Can't you think of your body's occasional ...flaws as just something natural that actually makes you more human?" he ended his speech, not sure where all the words had come from. They just seemed to have come flowing out of his mouth. He looked at Max sincerely, anticipating her reaction.

"And this is coming from you of all people! Mr- I can't-live-this," Max gave back, trying to make it sound light-hearted, but she immediately realized he didn't take it that way.

"Excuse me?" Max felt his body stiffen.

"Logan, you are telling me to accept my flaws and shortcomings while you fought for like one year to come to terms. And you are still a far cry from having accepted being in the chair," she replied honestly, gauging his reaction, hoping he wouldn't freak out.

Logan inhaled sharply. Her words hurt him more than he wanted to show. He knew she was mostly right, but he obviously hadn't brought across his point.
"I was just trying to convince you to stop talking about yourself like you were not human and stop blaming yourself for things that are not your fault! I'm not saying that those things are easy to accept!" he shot at her.

"This sounds exactly like what Bling and I were trying to tell you all the time!" She didn't know why, but suddenly she was angry. "Why does that all adapt to me all of the sudden, but with you it's different?"

"This is ridiculous Max. I'm no different. You just hit me in the face with that fact, didn't you!!!?" He sat up angrily and transferred to his chair. "-Oh and about coming to terms; I'm aware that I probably still have a long way to go. I just can't understand how such a perfect and beautiful woman can talk so bad about herself!" he unlocked the brakes and wheeled towards the bathroom.

"You're the one who is talking bad about himself all the time!" Max yelled after him. "You're the one who can't get over his "flaws". You think I'm perfect? Well I've always considered you perfect, Logan. You are altruistic, gentle, brave, dedicated and the greatest person I've met. You help so many people through Eyes Only. But still you can't get your focus off that damn chair!"

"That's not the point!" Logan yelled back. "We were talking about you Max, not me! Don't turn this around!" Logan yelled back, staring at his face in the mirror. Then he slapped himself mentally. What a stupid fight! This could have been the perfect start to a perfect day. Instead they were fighting about those stupid issues again.

"Yeah, right." He heard Max say. "This is not about you, you are untouchable, right? We don't talk about your feelings; you just bottle things up until you nearly break down. But I'm supposed to shake everything off when you tell me so. I'm the one with the attitude problem?"

Max took a deep breath and leaned her head against the cool wall. It was still hurting and she didn't feel like being in this fight.

Logan took a last look at his bruised face and returned to the bedroom. He stopped in the door frame "That's not what I meant Max. I just can't stand it when you're talking bad about yourself." He wheeled up to the bed, checking her reaction. "Because you are so perfect to me. Because I love you so much. "He added softly. Max looked up with a frown on her face and slapped his arm playfully. "Hey, that's not fair! I'm still trying to be angry with you!" Logan drew a small smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start this. We both have an attitude problem, aight? Settle for that?" He looked at her pleadingly.

Max grinned back. "I can live with that! I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have reacted that way. I didn't mean to hurt you. I guess I'm just pretty drained and scared right now." She moved over to him and placed a kiss on his lips. "Thanks for being there for me…and I'm really sorry about that…" she gently touched the dark bruise on Logan's chin.

Logan nodded. "No problem...It's the least I can do. …Being there for you. But I can certainly do without the hitting," he added with a little wink. In truth he didn't care to much about any blows he'd have to take but he was increasingly worried about Max's health.

"In any case, we gotta find out what causes these seizures and what we can do about them!" Logan finally broke into action. He took his cell phone from the bedside table and dialled Dr Carr's cell phone number, which he'd been given, so that he could reach his doctor in case of an emergency. Last time he'd tried Sam hadn't picked up, but instead Logan had listened to his mailbox. He has to be available sometime! Logan thought angrily, when after the fourth ring there still was no answer. Maybe Bling had found something out in the meantime, but he just didn't want to wait any longer. He had never seen Max so exhausted and she still looked scared, as if she was expecting another blow any minute.

Max didn't object this time to getting the doctor involved. She knew Logan was right. She was scared herself. She had never felt that helpless. She couldn't even trust her own body anymore. Up until now, she always had been able to control the seizures with the tryptophane pills, but now that didn't seem to do any good. She couldn't afford losing control over herself. After all, she had to be fit for the fight; she had to defend herself and Logan if the going got tough.

As much as she considered Logan capable of taking care of himself, she didn't think he or any other guy would be able to stand up to those bastards with their unpredictable fighting techniques. She thought back to the night, Logan had been attacked in his apartment. She shivered, thinking about the aerosol and how it had affected even her-the genetically enhanced super-soldier. What effect could it have on a normal human being? If Logan….but- she stared into space for a second-hadn't he been exposed to it also? Why hadn't it had such a dramatic effect on him? No, she dismissed the thought that had been forming in her mind. That couldn't be, right?! That was just a coincidence. Max sighed and then slowly stood up, testing her balance. Then she shakily made her way to the bathroom. A cool shower would help clear her head. Besides she didn't want to listen to what Logan told Sam; she didn't need to hear about her weaknesses. At that thought she shook her head to herself. She really wasn't any better than Logan with that!

Logan impatiently listened to the calling tone. 'Come on, Sam. Pick up already!'

Logan followed Max with his eyes, as she shakily made her way to the bathroom. He didn't like at all what he saw. "Hello?" he finally heard the familiar voice at the other side of the line.

"Sam? This is Logan Cale. I've been trying to reach you."

Max closed the door behind her, glad she could disappear from Logan's worried gaze. She had to admit it was a good feeling to know someone cared, but she wasn't used to it.

"Logan, what's up? Anything wrong? Are you okay?" Sam asked, his voice muffled by traffic sounds.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm calling to ask your advice on behalf of a friend." Max could hear Logan's voice through the door, but concentrated on not listening. Instead she decided a shower would be a good idea.

"Listen, I'm in the car right now. Can I call you back?" Sam asked.

Logan frowned. "It's real important Sam. You remember Max, right?"

"Sure," came Sam's short answer.

Max let the warm water run over her body, she was still feeling strangely weak and tired, but at least she could trust her body more or less for now. The pictures from last night still haunted her, she couldn't quite remember what had happened, but there were single scenes coming back to her mind, like Logan holding her hand, and her fighting him, hurting him. How could she have done that? She vigorously shook her head, provoking another headache and held her face under the water. There was no use in tormenting herself with those questions. She just had to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

"She has these seizures every now and then...turned out that Tryptophane helped. But recently it doesn't work anymore. The seizures get real bad and she has been hallucinating. Yesterday she lost control completely."

"Wait a second. This is nothing we should discuss on the phone, really, Sam interrupted him. "If she's that bad, you should probably bring her over right away! I can't tell over the phone how she is and what kind of meds might help…"

"I can't, Sam. We're not in Seattle. .."

"Logan…" Sam started, his disapproval evident in his voice.

Max stepped out of the shower after only a few minutes, she felt shaky and tired. She towelled herself off, dressed some shorts and one of Logan's T-shirts and started to brush her teeth. Logan still seemed to talk on the phone.

"I can't get her back to Seattle in this condition."

"Then you should go see another doctor. Tell me where you are and I'll recommend someone qualified."

"I can't do that right now. Please, Sam, if you can' t help us we're lost." Max heard the last few words and swallowed hard. This time she was the one to worry about, and Logan was the one to take care. That was new to her, and not how she had planned this.

Sam sighed. "Okay, so I need to know all the symptoms as well as time and duration of the seizures. And can you think of anything related to them?"...

Logan started to explain as much to the doctor as he could, without giving away too much information. He knew he could trust Sam, but just like Bling and OC, he didn't want to put him in any danger.

Max silently sneaked into the room again and sank down on the floor, leaning against the bathroom door. She listened to Logan's voice without really hearing the words. She was scared and her heart hammered against her chest.

Logan also mentioned that Max had inhaled some gas that had been set free from a leaking transporter which had been involved in an accident on the way. He doubted that Sam would buy that, but he couldn't think of anything more plausible right now. He was too worried. And there was no chance, he could tell Sam the entire truth, so he hoped that would do for now.

When they had finished their conversation, Logan snapped his phone close and frowned. Sam had promised to look into it, but he had also said, he could not promise anything.

Max looked up when she heard Logan put the phone down and looked at him helplessly. She suddenly felt the need to be near him and just let him comfort her. She tried to get up from the floor but sank back, exhausted. Part of her wanted to call for Logan to help her, but she just couldn't get over herself. She would not show such a weakness, not even in front of Logan, not already again.

Logan tentatively placed the phone back onto the table, thinking hard what to do next. The conversation with Sam hadn't been too promising. When he finally looked around for Max, he was shocked to find her on the floor, slumped against the bathroom door.

"Max, what...?" he rushed over to her and held out his arms. "Come here, let's get you back to bed." he continued in a soft voice.

Max shook her head, swallowing once more. "I'm fine. You don't have to do that."

"Do what? I'm just trying to help! I would have carried you over without even asking, but that's not an option right!" he said slightly offended "You belong in bed Max, so come on. Let's do this together," he pleaded a little softer.

Max suddenly couldn't help but smile a little; she was too tired to fight right now, besides she was alone with Logan, the only person in the world she trusted completely. She had to let go and let him care- just this one time.

So she eventually raised her arms so Logan could help her get up.

Logan half dragged, half lifted Max onto his lap, as her legs gave out on her again.

"Damn it!" she cursed.

"Don't worry. It's okay. I got you. "Logan said soothingly, making sure Max was settled comfortably on his lap, before he wheeled over to the bed.

"This is freaking me out, Logan," Max admitted, her voice cracking, clinging onto him.

Logan stopped and pulled her close, one hand steadying her around her waist, the other holding her head gently. "Don't be scared. I talked to Sam. He promised to look into the problem right away. He'll come up with something. Some treatment..." he paused as he noticed his voice becoming more and more insecure as he went on. "Don't worry. It's gonna be okay." he repeated, trying to convince himself as much as he tried to convince Max.

"You promise?" She crawled over onto the bed and looked back at Logan, her eyes big and watery. She looked more like a frightened child, not like the strong young woman Logan knew.

Logan swallowed hard and nodded. "I promise." He dearly hoped that he would be able to keep that promise. He reached out his hand and stroked Max' cheek which was hot and flushed. Right now he wasn't too sure.

Max smiled at him, then closed her eyes and allowed herself to give in to the exhaustion.