Author's Note: Thank you, thank you for all the great reviews! Alright, so I just figured I'd settle the virus thing in one chapter because then we'd all get closure. I've already strung along the Kris/Alec thing a long time to add layers to their relationship and I want to go back to that. So, for all my exclusively Kris/Alec fans out there...CHAPTER 16 is for you! Please be patient, I should have that one out by Sunday. Okay, well, hope you enjoy, please review if you have the chance!!

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"Wait, are you telling me that Jacob is some freaky genius guy and Kris is a science whiz?" Alec asked Max disbelievingly the next day at Jam Pony. She had just told him all about Jacob agreeing to try to stop the virus and Kris helping him do so.

"Basically, yeah. Kris called me last night and confirmed that Jacob was in. They start today."

"Won't Jacob know you're a transgenetic?" Alec asked, worried. Could he be trusted with something like that?

She shook her head. He won't be looking at my DNA, just my blood. And my blood just looks like regular blood, type O, you know, the regulars. He'll be focusing on Logan's DNA to match the vaccine to the strain. But listen, I need a favor," Max said, getting to the point of why she told Alec all of this.

"Again?" Alec teased. Max hit him in the gut gently as a warning. "Yeah, yeah, sure, I was just kidding, Maxie," he teased some more.

Max turned serious. "If something goes wrong, and Logan is infected with the virus, can you please give him your blood?" she asked.

Alec looked at her curiously.

"Apparently, the transgenetics have antibodies to these biowarfare viruses which can be transferred to regular people, but mine are infected with the virus, so I wouldn't be able to help him. So if it came to that, could you do this?" Max asked him modestly.

Alec was shock by her polite nature. "Of course, Max," he said seriously.

She smiled. Alec was definitely a better Alec now, fourteen months after he got out of Manticore. "Thanks," she replied appreciatively.

He smiled back.

Just then Kris came bustling into Jam Pony, fifteen minutes late, with a large coffee in her hand.

"You're late, missy," Normal scolded lightly as she went to her locker.

"Sorry, Normal, sir, I overslept," Kris explained. Normal brushed the mistake off lightly.

"Overslept?" Alec asked her incredulously.

"Yeah," she said as she opened her locker. "Jacob and I were studying until the early morning and I woke up like twenty minutes ago."

"Studying what?" Alec asked casually, knowing the answer already.

Kris wasn't sure how to answer. "Oh, well, um, we were uh..." She couldn't find a good excuse, so she sipped some coffee to buy some time.

"It's okay, Kris. Max told me the whole deal," Alec said.

"Oh? Good," she sighed with relief. She wasn't too good at keeping things from Alec.

"So, you never told me you were a brainiac," Alec teased.

"I'm not. I just understand this stuff," she said hurriedly.

"Sure," Alec said, not believing her.

"Seriously, I never went to college, and barely scrapped by in high school, but science just came to me easily. I don't know why," she insisted, clearly annoyed.

Alec frowned, he didn't know this would make her so uncomfortable. "Sorry, I was just kidding around," Alec said, getting a package for them to deliver together.

"I know, it's just, I guess Jacob is getting to me a little," Kris said, slightly annoyed, as they walked out of Jam Pony.

"What do you mean?" Alec asked.

"Last night he was telling me how I should go to college and whatever cuz I have a brilliant mind, is how he put it, but he doesn't understand," Kris explained.

"Understand what?"

"School is stupid and not for me," she said simply, taking another gulp of coffee.

Alec nodded. "I wouldn't really know. School for me was um...not really school," Alec said uncomfortably.

Kris internally slapped herself. "Yeah," she said sadly.

She was constantly forgetting that Alec didn't have a regular past. He just seemed like...a normal guy. Granted when he came back from his crime fighting with cuts that healed the next day or when he didn't know things like pop culture she was reminded that he was a transgenic who was trapped in a prison for twenty years, but other than that, he was...Alec. She supposed that was why she didn't understand this whole transgenetic frenzy. If these people who had the phobia actually took a minute to get to know the transgenetics, they would learn that they were just like the rest of the population. But people got scared quickly and made poor judgments even quicker.

As they biked to the delivery location, Alec asked, "So, about last night, are we cool?"

"Yeah, as a cucumber," Kris replied truthfully.

Alec laughed. "Good. Let's not fight again, ever," he suggested, somewhat naively.

"Well, it's sorta inevitable," she said, smiling.

"Oh, joy..." Alec deadpanned.

"No worries. It's part of any relationship," she said sagely.

"Relationship, eh?" Alec said, a cocky grin on his face.

Kris sighed, feigning annoyance. "By the way, you probably won't be seeing too much of me for the next week."

Alec smirked at the fact that she didn't say no to the relationship thing. He had learned from her that there were many type of relationships. "Yeah, I know," he said, hiding his disappointment.

"I gotta help Jacob with the virus thing. We can't bring in anyone else and he might need an assistant type-of-person. We really need to do this by the end of the week cuz he has to go back to L.A. We're starting right after work today by getting samples of Max and Logan's blood and then heading over to the lab," Kris explained.

"I understand," Alec replied. He wasn't crazy about she and Jacob spending countless hours together, but he wasn't about to selfishly deny Max and Logan a possible solution to their physical problem just because he was feeling slightly...insecure.

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"This is definitely a strain of Zycinor," Jacob said confidently after examining Max's blood later that day at the lab.

"What does that mean?" Max asked anxiously.

"Well, we just have to modify the vaccine to fit this particular strain and Logan will be immune to it," Jacob explained.

"Seriously?" Logan asked happily.

"Yes," Jacob replied. "Give me and Kris a few days to generate the specialized vaccine and you two should be fine."

"This is fantastic!" Logan exclaimed. Kris was shocked, Logan never seemed this happy.

"But wait, won't vaccines wear off?" Max asked skeptically.

Jacob shook his head. "The government gives civilians these primitive vaccines, telling them it would only last ten years or so, but in truth, we've created vaccines that will last a lifetime. It's just that if the government revealed that, they would lose billions of dollars because people wouldn't be returning to their doctor's office for repeated vaccinations. And well, the government is corrupt like that, but I really shouldn't complain since they license us for research," Jacob explained.

"Huh, interesting," Logan said, thinking that this could be a possible Eyes Only investigation. "How much do we owe you?"

Jacob furrowed his eyebrows. "Nothing."

"You're doing this for free?" Max asked, surprised.

"I don't want anything," he said. Well, at least nothing they could give him.

"Wow, thank you," Logan said appreciatively.

It wasn't like he needed the money, and he loved this research kind of stuff. Kris smiled at Jacob proudly.

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She was practically asleep at the lab six days later. She was so exhausted from working eight hours at Jam Pony and then helping Jacob with the virus, but this had to get done tonight. If not, Jacob would be leaving tomorrow with no vaccine for Logan.

But she was truly getting tired of doing science for endless hours. She actually subjected herself to this stuff for ten hours a day for three months with Jacob's family? She must have been insane. She had to continually remind herself that she was doing this for Max and Logan.

Jacob loved every minute he spent at the lab studying the virus and trying to match the vaccine to the strain. This kind of stuff was what he lived for, especially when Kris was beside him.

"Damn, we're so close, but this equation won't balance," Jacob said, frustrated as he looked at some papers. No matter how many times he worked it out, he was getting nowhere.

"What?" Kris said, snatching the papers away from Jacob. Majority of the time she spent there, she was just checking Jacob's work since he was the one with all the experience. She studied them for a while and started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Just that you can't even read you're own handwriting. That's supposed to be two not a five. It's not possible to have five hydrogens on one carbon," she said, pointing out the mistake.

Jacob laughed uneasily, it was a terribly stupid mistake. "Right, thanks," he said.

"Uh huh," she said sleepily.

A few hours later, she was awakened by Jacob's exclaim.

"We got it!"

"What?" Kris asked groggily.

"We did it," he said.

"Are you sure?" Kris asked him excitedly.

"Yup. That damned five in the equation was screwing everything up. I needed a double bond there and everything else fell into place...take a look," he said proudly.

Kris looked into the microscope and saw Logan's cells unaffected by the virus because of the vaccine. "Oh my God!" she screamed with happiness. "Oh my God, oh my God! Oh my God, you did it!" She hugged Jacob happily and he held her back. This was absolutely amazing.

"No, we did it," Jacob corrected. "No, I couldn't have done this without you," he insisted, looking straight into her eyes as he still had his arms around her waist.

Kris swallowed nervously. "Um, you should do it a couple more times to make sure it wasn't a fluke," she said, pulling out of his embrace.

Jacob sighed. He had been so close.

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"So, you really think you got it?" Max asked Jacob anxiously the next day at the lab.

"Yes, this should work. We viewed the results multiple times under the microscope and every single time Logan's cells were unaffected by the virus," Jacob answered.

As he promised, Alec came just in case Logan would need his antibodies to fight off an infection. He looked at Kris sitting next to him; she looked as though she hadn't slept in a days. Her eyes were red and she slouched on the chair with fatigue.

"Okay, are you ready?" Jacob asked Max and Logan. They looked at each other reassuringly and nodded.

Logan lifted up his sleeve and Jacob injected him with the vaccine. Kris bit her lip nervously, praying to any and all deities that this would work. Alec found himself holding his breath with anticipation. Max kept on shifting her weight from one foot to the other anxiously.

"We'll need to wait about an hour to ensure that the vaccine circulates throughout your body," Jacob said, placing a bandage over the spot on Logan's arm where he injected the virus.

Alec exhaled deeply. He thought the results would have been instantaneous, showed how little he knew about science. Gruesome ways of killing people, yeah, he knew a lot, but science...nothing. He shook his head sadly.

"You okay?" Kris asked him.

"Yeah, fine," he said casually.

She chuckled. "Right," she said incredulously.

"No really, I am," he insisted.

"It's completely nerve-wracking," Kris commented.

"It'll be fine," Alec assured her and himself.

"Yeah, well, if it's not and something happens to Logan, I mean, if..." she trailed off.

"Hey," Alec said comfortingly, "if it gets to that, you got my blood."

Kris smiled and rested her head against Alec's shoulder. "Thanks, Alec," she replied tiredly.

"Sure thing," he replied.

Jacob was quadruple checking all the calculations to make sure that they had done everything correctly when he saw Kris leaning against Alec as she rested. His heart constricted for a second with jealousy. Why was Alec even there? Max had insisted he come and Jacob didn't ask questions, but he was still suspicious. Jacob would be leaving today and would that be the end of his relationship with Kris?

"Okay," Jacob said after an hour of waiting that felt like days. "The vaccine should be in your system completely." Alec shook Kris awake and everyone stood up with nervous anticipation.

"So, that's it?" Max asked, letting the excitement seep into her voice.

Jacob nodded.

She turned to Logan, whose eyes were already on her. Logan smiled tentatively.

"So, what do you say?" he asked Max, holding out his hand for hers.

She looked at it, "Are you sure about this?" she asked him hesitantly.

"Yes," Logan replied.

She slowly reached out so her hand met his, almost anticipating Logan to collapse from an infection.

But he didn't.

His hand felt warm and a bit damp with all the nervous sweat, but Max didn't care. She was feeling his skin against hers for the first time in over a year. She began to laugh with happiness, but she could not control the overwhelming emotions of the whole experience and began to cry. She rarely cried. But there she was, crying because she was holding Logan's hand.

"Come here," Logan whispered, pulling Max into a hug. God, it felt good to have her body against his, he had almost forgotten the feeling. Logan let go of her hand to gently touch her face and wipe the tears away. "You have really soft skin," he said in amazement.

Max smiled, "Thanks," she said, her eyes still watery. She reached up to wrap her arm around his neck and bring him down to her lips for a kiss. This was all so amazing.

Kris watched as she stood next to Alec, wiping a tear occasionally off her face. She was so happy for them. Knowing that she was part of them coming together was an indescribable feeling. She looked up at Alec and saw that he had his stare fixed on the floor.

Alec was never a fan of happy couples, it just reminded him of what he would never have. But he grudgingly had to admit that no one deserved this more than Logan and Max.

Jacob proudly watched, detached from the emotions of the group. He had succeeded in many aspects. He had found Kris, regained her friendship, and brought two people in love together with science. He could only ask for one more thing.

Just then Max came over to Jacob, "Thank you for doing this for us. It's a miracle. I...thank you," she said appreciatively.

Logan shook his hand vigorously, his usually eloquence gone.

"My pleasure," Jacob replied honestly.

"Congrats, Maxie," Alec said.

Instead of punching him for the nickname, she flung her arms around his neck. "Thanks, Alec," she said.

Alec was surprised but hugged her back, smiling. After she let him go, Logan shook his hand and grabbed his shoulder affectionately.

"I can't thank you enough," Max said to Kris.

Kris tried to find something to say, but couldn't, so she shook her head. Finally finding her voice she said, "No, I'm so happy I could help." Max gave her a big hug.

"Thank you," Logan said, hugging Kris.

"You're welcome."

After the thank you's were over, Logan and Max walked hand in hand out of the lab and back to Logan's apartment.

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"Leaving?" Kris asked later that day after she had taken a nice, long nap.

"Yeah," Jacob said, packing.

"Oh," Kris said. "Um, I don't think I ever said 'thank you' for helping Max and Logan," she said gratefully.

Jacob smiled. "You did," he reassured her. All of the sudden, he stopped packing and turned to her. He had to do this. "You know when you asked me what I was doing here before?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah," Kris replied suspiciously.

"I didn't tell the whole truth," he confessed.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I want you to come back with me," he said quickly.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"I want you to come back to L.A. with me. Sean's been dead for a year, there's no reason to avoid the city any longer. We can make new memories there," Jacob explained quickly.

"What about here?" she asked him slowly.

"What about here?" Jacob replied.

"My apartment, my job..." Kris started.

"I'll pay your next month's rent and you can go to college," Jacob said.

"But I just can't live off your family forever. That's ridiculous, I'm not even part of the family," she replied.

"Then become part of it, eventually," he said passionately.

"What?" She was so confused.

Jacob sighed. He walked over to where she was standing in the kitchenette and took her hands. "Remember when we first met? You were in the library at my house reading my work and I got so angry at you because it was classified information. And then you just replied It's not delta p, it's delta q as you flung the papers back at me and stormed out of the room. You were right, I had made a mistake and you caught it. And then something inside me, I don't know, but...I think I've loved you since then. And if you'd give it a chance, maybe you could love me back," he finished quickly.

Kris was shocked. She didn't know what to say in return. She didn't love him. Could she? She wasn't sure at the moment. He was like her big brother and thinking of him as her lover confused her.

But she could go home to L.A., she could be taken care of. She wouldn't have to worry about the grocery shopping, or the bills, or waking up early for work, or any of it. Her mind became caught up in all the wonders of a more comfortable life.

"Okay," she said quietly.

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Yay, Max and Logan can get it on now...hooray! Anyway, Chapter 16 should be coming up soon. Hope you enjoyed this!