Chapter 10: Day Out

After a whole night away, the rain clouds returned to Seattle with a vengeance. It had been pouring for the entire morning and wasn't about to stop now that afternoon had taken the reigns. The view from Logan's bedroom window was distorted by the countless jets of water that cut through the sleepy cityscape. Max sighed in mild contentment, her dark eyes distant as she observed the grey smudge that was her home.

Logan quietly slipped up behind her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and leaning his head on her shoulder. Max turned and welcomed him with a lingering kiss before turning her gaze back to the blurry mess of buildings that stretched out into the thick fog.

"What are you thinking about?" Logan whispered in her ear. Max put her hands on top of his, gently running her fingers along his smooth skin.

"I don't know, it just all feels so…"

"Weird," Logan finished, Max nodded.

"I guess I just…I don't know, it's hard to explain." Max struggled to express what she was feeling, the words present in her head but got lost on their way out her mouth.

"I'm just so grateful," she managed to say at last.

"Me too," Logan agreed.

Max turned so that she was facing him, taking in his pure eye's, his now neatly shaven stubble and his quirky spiky hair. He hadn't really changed his eyes maybe a little older; scarred by the pain he had put himself through. He was everything that she wanted and now that they were together, the fear of losing it all returned.

"Promise me you'll never leave." Max's voice croaked with the potential grief.

Logan put a hand on her face, absently wiping away the stray tear that had snuck its way down her cheek.

"I promise," he said, the words so quite they almost got swept away in the air.

Allowing herself to be absorbed into his arms, Max pressed her head against Logan's chest, listening to his heartbeat. The jubilation from the previous night gave way to the inevitable assumption that things now had to fall apart. Max's mechanism of self-preservation prevented her from accepting the fact that she had been granted a slice of happiness. Something, Gray the most likely candidate, would come and tear everything from her grasp; Max just knew it like it was preordained in the book of her life.

Running a comforting hand through Max's long black hair, Logan's mind bore the same reservations as hers did. He knew that he couldn't cope if he lost her again. However the overriding thought was that he would rather die a thousand deaths than live the rest of his life without her. Logan felt Max's body quiver as she sobbed in his arms.

"Max…I don't know what the future holds for us. To tell you the truth it's not that important."

Max pulled her head away from his chest and stared at him a little startled.

"Sorry, that must have sounded kinda bad. What I mean is that what matters most is the present and the fact that we are together now. I can't control the way things go, the only certainty I can offer you is that I will always love you. There is not a force in existence that will change that and so no matter what becomes of us…our time shared will live forever." Logan paused a moment gauging Max's reaction. She smiled through bleary eyes.

"We should just start living." She said her voice settled as she joined Logan's trail of thought.

"Yeah," Logan replied pulling her close to him, engulfing her in a tight embrace.

Max sat content at Logan's smooth pine dinner table. They had just finished a substantial breakfast and were now sitting opposite each other both threatening to burst. It was like the old days, Max thought recalling all the times she used to drop round Logan's in search of a bite to eat. The bitter-sweet sorrow from before was now replaced with a deep feeling of security and hope for the future.

Over breakfast the pair had exchanged tales of their experiences over the past year spent apart. Logan's face had been a storybook of emotions as Max recounted her run in with Gray. His features like putty as they morphed from a look of horror to one of deep rooted concern.

"So who do you think this guy is?" he asked after she finished.

"Not a clue," Max replied with a shrug. "I don't know what he is or what he wants. All I can tell you is he's way strong and vicious…and his names Gray."

"You said he had been looking for you?"

Max nodded.

"Yet he spared both you and Alec that means he might come looking for you again."

"Possibly, but I'll be ready for him next time."

Logan shot her a look, his face worried and doubtful.

"I don't know Max, he sounds a little too dangerous. I think it would be best if we could avoid another confrontation until we know a little more about him."

Max grinned. She was glad that Logan was just as cool headed as he used to be, always taking caution over every minute detail. Max was beginning to feel settled, thankful that Logan was the same person she remembered.

"Well I'm sure you'll protect me if he does show up," she said jokingly, trying out the meek role usually occupied by the female in popular films and books.

"Oh don't get me wrong, if it comes to a fight I'll be cowering behind you." Logan replied. They laughed together, a small assuring laugh that barely filled the small kitchen. Falling quiet, they took a few minutes just to look at each other, realising they weren't dreaming and marvelling at how little they had changed.

"So what do you want to do today?" Logan asked. Max looked down at herself. She had been in such a rush to leave Greenough that she had left all her belongings behind. Consequently they had gone up in flames with the rest of the town leaving her with just the clothes on her back.

"I want to go shopping, I think I'm gonna need more clothes."

"Well that's fortunate," Logan said pulling his wallet from his jeans pocket, "cos it just so happens that I'm loaded again."

An impish smile spread across Max's face, "well let's go," she said rising from her seat with an apparent urgency.

It was late afternoon by the time they reached the small shopping mall located in the richer part of Seattle. Surrounded by tall, expensive looking apartment blocks, the two floored building was crammed full of shops struggling for air. Inside the floor was a glossy pearl colour dotted with tiny specks of gold glitter. Typically tedious music resounded through the dome like structure, finding its way into people's heads and refusing to leave until they found themselves whistling along unknowingly.

A water feature sat in the middle of the bottom floor; a palm tree sitting on top of a small pile of artificial sand with clear water lapping against it's sides. It was surrounded by benches and was intended to be a point of rest for shoppers who grew weary of busying around in pursuit of needless possessions.

Usually crawling with the elite of society, the mall was rather deserted as Max hauled Logan from yet another trendy looking shop called Emondz. It had been selling little knick knacks that had Max squealing in delight while Logan stared on in blissful ignorance. They had been constantly on the move, scurrying from place to place. Max would go inside a shop, muse over its various items and then maybe – just maybe – decide to buy something.

Logan had lost interest about an hour ago and was now feeling the strain as Max had him loaded up like a donkey; bags hanging from his forearms, his hands, shoulders, even his neck. The tranquil looking beach display was becoming more and more appealing to Logan as Max quickly scouted for her next point of call. Her head flicked form side to side unaware of anything other than her objective. Logan sighed as she rushed along encouraging him to keep up.

By the time Max had finally had enough, Logan was carrying an entire new wardrobe. He had no idea of how much he had spent but his wallet was now bare. They now sat side by side on one of the heavily varnished benches listening to the water lap against the sand. A sea of bags sat at their feet as Max sipped on a coffee while Logan drank readily from a Styrofoam cup of orange juice.

Max looked like the cat that got the cream as she surveyed her handy work.

"Thank you," she said with genuine gratitude.

"It was my pleasure." Logan smiled at her warmly, the hard work and strain had all been worth it just so that he could see her happy.

"Although I have to say that I never thought of you as the type of girl concerned with looks and possessions."

"Well we all like to indulge now and again. Besides, some of it's for your benefit." Max leaned over to him, a suggestive look on her face, one which reminded Logan of the times when she would go into heat.

"Well…erm…" Logan stuttered as Max began to nibble on his ear, maybe she was on heat right now! He swallowed hard as he felt her breath tickle the side of his face.

"Maybe we should go," he said breathlessly, gathering up the bags and racing out to his trusty car, a cackling Max in tow.

Max had been expecting Alec or Asha to have called in on them by now. For all they knew the cure could not have worked and the virus had killed Logan and Max, in a fit of grief, had taken her own life. However she was glad that there had been no word from either as she sat atop Logan in a sleepy trance.

"Perhaps we should just run away somewhere new. You know somewhere where the bad guys can't get to us." Max murmured, creating a new life for them inside her head.

"Yeah but what about our responsibilities remember? Blah blah, woof woof." Logan sounded dazed as well. Max pondered his response for a moment.

"Well we don't really have responsibilities anymore. Alec told me that you'd given up Eyes Only…"

"Yeah, sort of," Logan's voice lingered as he mulled Max's idea over in his head.

"And me…well no one cares about transgenics anymore. There's been no word from Ames white and his cronies, and Manticore is no longer around to hunt me down. It would be so easy."

"What about Gray?" Logan once again took the role of the realist.

The mention of the name caused a sick feeling to boil in Max's stomach. She shifted uncomfortably, biting her bottom lip.

"He's just a bag of hot air that's had one too many steroids."

Logan laughed at her over confidence.

"So where would we go?" he asked changing the subject.

"Some where far away."

"Ok…let's do it."

"But first," Max got up and slowly walked to the entrance of the living room. Logan watched attentively as she ran her hand down the wooden door frame staring at him seductively. She smiled before disappearing upstairs, a cheeky glint in her eyes.

Logan sat a moment scanning the small room. Placing both hands on the arm rests of his chair, he pushed himself to his feet and followed Max, occasionally looking around in case anyone happened to be spying on them.

Upstairs he found Max lying on his bed lightly stroking the space beside her.

"We'll book the tickets tomorrow," she said before leaping up and pulling Logan into bed.

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This aint the best chapter cos its kinda like an interlude before the next big event. Anyways this fiction is for Lauren, hope you are ok. Peace to all, later :)