Hormones
By: lfbrox
Rating: R
Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk.
AN: Here we go again. Another Thursday. Another update. You may have noticed that I reposted the last 4 chapters (19-22) – this time beta-read by my wonderful and trusted friend Sammi. I'm glad you're back so we can finish this together. Thanks for working as fast as you did. You rock.
Thanks also go out to all the people that still read the story – reviewing or not. I hope you enjoy it. We're almost at the end, so I decided to give you a little sappier chapter to satisfy all the M/L shippers. Hope you like it. Here it goes:
Chapter 23: Jack Daniels and Confessions
"Sounds like a plan. Now all I need to know is you real location in order to get you out." Victor said matter of factly. They seemed to trust him. Now it was the time to proof it.
TerminalCity Headquarters:
"Make the call to your command center first. Ask for an update on the search efforts. Then ask for Renfro. Tell her that you have the roommate and are trying to get the details out of her and as soon as you know anything you'll get back to her. Don't give her anything just yet. Then we will see about revealing our location." Max ordered over the phone, hoping to shed the least bit of doubt she had about trusting that guy.
"I will do that. But I can't make the call from here. If Renfro suspects that I'm betraying her she will trace the call. Even if she doesn't suspect anything I'm sure she will trace the call." Victor explained.
"Sounds like Renfro. She wouldn't trust herself if there weren't so many morons blowing sugar up her ass and assuring her that there's nothing wrong with her." Max snorted over the phone and couldn't believe that Victor actually laughed.
"So what are you gonna do suga?" Cindy addressed Victor. "Cause if you haven't caught the drift this phone call is a way of proving that you're not one of them goons." Cindy stated giving Victor a hard look.
"Yeah. I kinda caught that drift. I say we go back to your place and have somebody listen in. You can all decide then if you can trust me." Victor proposed.
"I guess that's the only safe way." Max said over the phone. "Syl. I want you to go along."
"No prob sis." Syl said and put her jacket on.
"Hey. Why do you want to send Syl? I'm going back to the apartment anyway. I can do it." Alec almost whined.
"No offense Alec, I'm sure one dog can identify another dog. But I think we should trust in Syl and Cindy's female intuition." Max replied dryly. Alec wanted to reply something, but Cindy raised her right hand to mimick a smack-down, and that shut him right up.
"Fine. But I'm coming along too." Alec said, grabbed Victor and walked with him towards the exit.
"Okay boo. We're going. I'll call Dix after the call so he can let you two know how it went." Cindy said and motioned for Syl to leave.
"Okay, thank you. And boo. Be careful." Max said, her voice full of concern for her best friend who had been dragged into this messed-up situation.
"No worries suga. You take care of yourself and your man and especially my little niece or nephew." Cindy said and waved her goodbye to the rest of the guys and left with Syl.
"Okay guys. You just stay put. We'll call you back in a little bit." Dix said and cut the connection.
Original Cindy's crib:
"Stop shhh-ing me girls. He's not even on the phone yet." Alec complained to Cindy and Syl who silenced him every time he attempted to say something.
"Just making sure that you know your part in this." Cindy said over her shoulder while making coffee.
"So you ready to make that call?" Syl asked and stepped closer to Victor who stood uneasy in the middle of the room.
"Give me a second." Victor said and took a deep breath, then took the phone out of his pocket.
"Cindy step closer to Victor so you'll be able to hear the other side of the conversation. My hearing is good enough to follow the both sides from here." Syl said, sensing that Victor needed a little room for himself when he made that call.
"Okay. Here it goes." Victor said, took another deep breath and started to dial, hoping his voice would come through confident, cold and in control.
"Thomas." Came the quick and military reply.
"Victor. Give me an update." Victor ordered.
"Sir. No progress. Vancouver airport under constant surveillance. So are the borders. As ordered the search radius was expanded, but came up empty. Sir." Thomas reported the same to Victor as he had reported to Renfro who came out more frequently to see what progress they were making.
"Keep up the search. Do not spread the radius any further. I come back with substantial information. Now get me Director Renfro on the phone." Victor demanded and exchanged looks with Cindy and Syl to see if they could hear everything all right. At their quick nods he turned his attention back to the conversation that was to come.
"Renfro here. Report." Was all she rasped and Cindy had a hard time not verbally expressing the shiver that ran down her spine upon hearing her voice for the first time.
"Director Renfro, ma'am. I'm here at 452's old apartment with her roommate. She's not very cooperative but she seems to know about the whereabouts of 452. Request permission to interrogate further, ma'am." Victor finished, his voice steady.
"Don't go easy on her. Kill her if necessary but get out of her what she knows first. I will give you 6 hours. She better be dead or singing like a bird then. The same goes for you. I guess you understand me." Renfro said in that ice cold voice of hers. She was clearly annoyed at the speed of the search efforts and wasn't willing to wait any longer.
"Yes ma'am. 6 hours." Victor repeated before Renfro cut the connection.
Warehouse outside of Seattle
Renfro put down the phone. That wasn't what she had had in mind. Maybe she should have sent someone with Victor just to make sure he didn't screw up. She had told him a lot more than he should have known. If she believed in anything but herself and her cause she'd be praying to god that she hadn't made a mistake letting him in on the secret project.
But the self-doubt left as soon as it had come and she rolled out of her office. All heads turned and everybody stood at attention immediately.
"Trace that call." Renfro rasped and two soldiers barked a quick "Yes ma'am" and practically ran to do as they were told.
Original Cindy's crib:
Victor turned off his phone and walked over to the couch where he plopped down. That was harder than he thought. Renfro had given him 6 hours. That wasn't a lot of time. They would have to move extremely quickly now. He didn't feel like saying anything and looked expectantly at Syl and Cindy, waiting for their verdict about his trustworthiness.
"I'll call Dix. He needs to let Max and Logan know to get ready to move soon." Syl said, grabbing the phone and moving into the hallway to talk to Terminal City.
Alec busied himself in the kitchen pouring himself some coffee and biting his tongue to not comment on anything.
"Suga. That sure didn't give away much new info. But Original Cindy has the feeling that you're straight up. She'll give you the benefit of da doubt 'n trust ya." Cindy said, sitting down next to him.
"Thanks. But we need to move quickly now. What's the plan?" Victor asked and for the first time since arriving here he also addressed Alec.
Alec was just about to give one of his earlier suppressed remarks when Syl walked back inside and started to talk even before she made sure that she had everybody's attention.
"Dix and I spoke with Max and Logan. They are gonna pack up their stuff right now and leave enough behind to prove that they have been there. They're gonna head to the closest airport once they get the okay from you." Syl explained, addressing Victor who listened intently. "They stayed at a Motel earlier and that's where you will send the search teams. It was a crappy Motel, so they didn't need to register with their names. Your guy's will have enough to do to search every Motel there. While they do that Max and Logan can head to the airport and board a plane that will take them to a Canadian airport that has direct flights to Mexico. They will travel with an alias and have enough money and faked passports to make it there provided your guys do not have that airport under surveillance." Syl continued, unsure whether to give away the exact locations just yet – even though she had the okay from both, Max and Logan.
"That's great. But I do need the exact locations." Victor said, hoping he didn't sound too eager to find out where Max and Logan were.
"Okay. But I swear. If this is a trap I'm going to find you and kill you. Are we clear?" Syl said in a serious tone.
"Crystal." Victor replied, hoping Syl had enough confidence in him than Cindy apparently had.
"Okay. They stayed at a Motel in Queensborough. Then they moved on to a safe house in the woods near New Westminster. Once you have directed the search parties further east they'll head to the New Westminster airport, where they will fly to Vancouver. From Vancouver they will fly straight to Mexico. That's all you need to know." Syl informed him, still having a bad feeling about telling someone from Manticore where her sister was.
"What then?" Victor asked not quite satisfied with what he heard.
"Well after your guys find the Motel and the room, they won't find them. But Logan is making sure that they will find some clue of where they were headed. So while your guys head over to the safe house in New Westminster, Max and Logan will already be boarding their plane towards Mexico. Comprende?"
"Okay. So how long will it take for Logan to place his clues there? We shouldn't wait for out 6 hour limit to run out. We should move as fast as possible." Victor asked, already forming a plan on how and where to send the search teams.
"Logan said he needs about two or three hours to set everything up. So I would say it's safe to say that you can alert your troops in about 4 hours. That way they will already be on their way to Vancouver and don't have a chance to run into one of your search teams." Syl told him, pouring herself some coffee.
"That settled." Alec said, speaking for the first time since arriving. "We have 4 hours. Anybody else need a drink? How about we hit Crash for a few hours?" He suggested.
Instead of an answer he just received looks of disbelief from the other three. "Okay, okay. Maybe not such a good idea. But I need a drink. I'll be back in a few." With that said he grabbed his jacket and left the apartment while the others just stared after him in disbelief.
"Well, now that it's quiet in here I might as well catch some sleep. Wake me in 3 hours." Cindy said and left to her room, clearly spent from the events of the last two days.
Safe House, New Westminster
"I'm done. What about you?" Max said as she walked in the computer room where Logan was hacking away.
"You're already done?" Logan asked finally looking up from the screen.
"We don't exactly have a lot of luggage. I packed a bunch of blankets and other useless stuff in our bags to fill them." Max said, sitting down next to Logan.
"Yeah, well. We should at least look like we're going on vacation." He said and moved his attention back to his computer screen. "I have made reservations for Mr. Jack Mellencamp and Diane Couger. We can board in about 2 ½ hours at New Westminster airport to Vancouver. Takes about an hour. We have an hour in Vancouver and at 6:25 am we're boarding a plane to Mexico. How's that?" Logan said, putting the final touches to the reservation.
"Sounds good to me. But why the two identities? Aren't we traveling as a couple?" Max asked, inching a little closer to take a look at the faked ID's he was producing on the computer.
"Yeah well. I thought it would be safer to travel as individuals. They might be looking out for a couple. We don't know if they have already found out that the others are back at Terminal City. But don't worry. We will reunite in Mexico." Logan explained, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Fine. But for the record: I don't like it. How will you be able to move around? It'll be easier if I help you." Max weakly protested, knowing that he was right.
"Don't worry. I'm fine. I have my walker." Logan answered, trying to lighten her mood.
"Funny. So how about the 'Last-Stop-Inn'? How are we gonna make sure they know where to find us?" Max asked accepting that they had to travel as strangers.
"The guy who set up this safe house is an Eyes Only informant. He lives in New Westminster. I called him earlier. He's driving down to the Motel to leave something behind. I don't know what, I just told him that it had to be a subtle clue. They will be able to figure it out. He has to pass by the main road not far from here on his way out and I asked him to drop off a bag of clothes and other stuff so we can change our appearance. Then we need to make the pictures for our ID and we're good to go." Logan said and turned around to face her.
"Someone ever told you that you are amazing Logan?" Max said with honest admiration for the man sitting in front of her.
"No. But it's good to hear." Logan replied leaning in to kiss her. But Max pulled back only a moment into the kiss.
"I'm serious Logan. You are amazing. Look at all you did in a single hour. I always thought that I might be the cause if you get hurt someday. I always thought that you would be better off without me to put you in any more danger than you were already in as Eyes Only. I always felt like I had to leave you to keep you safe. Or protect you so my miserable, screwed up life wouldn't kill you. And quite recently I began to wonder if us having a baby would make everything worse. That I would have to protect you and our baby." Max said, tears welling up in her eyes. Logan just took her hands in his and squeezed reassuringly, wanting her to finish her thoughts.
"Call me emotional right now, but I have the feeling that you have protected me more over the last couple of years than I ever had to protect you. You protected me from Lydecker, the Red's, White, and now Renfro. But most of all you protected me from myself. If it weren't for you I would have ended up in a cage a long time ago. Or dead. Probably both. I've just been too selfish to realize that. I was always too concerned about me and my family to fully register what part you played in that. It might sound absolutely cheesy and completely unlike me, but without you I would be lost. I need you, and our baby needs you. And I feel bad that I've only just realized it just now, but I know for sure that with you in our life we don't have to be afraid anymore. I never imagined that I would or could be a mother. But with you I somehow have the feeling that everything will be alright." Max finished, out of breath and out of energy to speak any further.
Logan pulled her onto his knee and hugged her tightly, touched by her speech and relieved that she wasn't fighting it anymore. He wiped away her tears and kissed her forehead softly. He moved his hand from her cheeks to her chin and lifted her head softly so he could look into her eyes.
"Everything will be alright Max. I will protect you and our child with everything I have. I love you and I love our baby. I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you two. Or three, or four." Logan added, and was happy to see Max smile again. "But don't you think for one second that I don't need you as much. You saved my ass a bunch of times from being killed by some corrupt politician or other scam. You also gave me a reason to live when I didn't see any more sense in my life. It was you that kept me from pulling the trigger so long ago. You gave me back my life. You gave me the strength back to start Eyes Only again after the accident, because I finally had a reason to make this world a better place. Make this world worth living in. Make this life worth living for. And I won't let anyone or anything take this away from me. Away from us. I feel like I just started living my life. I'm finally happy. And that's because of you." He stared into Max's teary eyes, then dropped his gaze and gently touched her still flat belly. "And because of you."
He looked back up into Max's eyes and saw new tears running down her face. He moved his hand from her belly to wipe off the tears, when Max's hands stopped him. Instead she closed the distance between them and kissed away the tears that – unnoticed by Logan – ran down his cheeks.
Original Cindy's crib:
Alec tumbled in, drunk as hell. He still had the bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and tried to close the door without waking the whole place. A looked around quickly to see Victor on the couch and Syl, who had pulled Max's mattress to the front door, fast asleep. He didn't feel like sleeping. Instead he moved to where Cindy was sleeping. He slipped through the curtain of her 'bedroom' and sat down on the floor in front of her bed and took another drink from his bottle.
He sat there for a minute or two, looking at nothing in particular. Then he decided that he was bored. He placed the bottle of Whiskey within arm's reach and poked at Cindy's shoulder trying to wake her up.
"Original Cindy's up." She yelped and sat upright in an instant. She figured it was Syl waking her to tell her that it was time for the infamous phone call. But all she found was a very drunk Alec crouched next to her bed smelling like a whiskey distillery.
"Damn boy. Whatcha been doing to ya self?" Cindy asked in shock, taking in his appearance.
"I went back to Terminal City." Alec slurred. "Had a little stash of my good friend Jack there. Wanne sip?" He asked holding up the bottle.
"No. Thanks boo. And I don't think you should have anymore yourself." Cindy said taking the bottle from him.
"Why? Don't I have all the reason to celebrate? Max and Logan are having a baby. Whooohooo. Now isn't that great? He's the black sheep of his family aka Seattle's big hero. Yeahhhh. The great Eyes Only. And Max. A genetically engineered killing machine. Unable to be a regular girl. Well what do you know? Starting a family and all that jazz. Lemme tell ya something Cindy. That's buuuulshit. Like I said to Max. We don't belong to them. We are different. That can't work. It just can't work. Take my word for it sista. Us transgenics weren't made to love. Love sucks. It stinks. It just can't work. We weren't meant to be like that. I used to feel like Logan feels right now – but I tell ya. It won't do any good." Alec slurred and grabbed the bottle back from Cindy's grasp and took another sip.
"Damn." Cindy said eying Alec with shock. "But I don't think you know how Logan feels about Max and I don't think…" Cindy said but was interrupted when Alec suddenly jumped to his feet, grabbed something out of his pocket and plopped down on her bed.
"Nooooooo. I do know how Logan feels. I know exactly how Logan feels. Here." Alec said and tossed Logan's poetry book in Cindy's general direction. Cindy caught it and took a minute to flip through the pages until she realized what it was.
"Where did ya get that boo?" Cindy asked surprised.
"Found it at Logan's penthouse the night I was there – hooking up with the hooker." Alec explained and cracked up laughing at his own joke.
Something dawned on Cindy. She had heard about his non-performance that night from Mole. Now it made sense. "Suga. Tell me about the girl." Cindy said, sensing that it must be a girl from Alec's past if he got so – well, the way he was right now.
"It wasn't just a girl Cindy." Alec babbled and lay down on the bed with Cindy staring down at him. "It wasn't just a girl." Alec repeated and closed his eyes. For a moment he was busy enjoying himself as his head spun. "Her name is Rachel. Was Rachel. She was my assignment. No her dad was. But we fell in love. Damn. I never felt like that ever before when I was around her. I tried to help her, but in the end she died. Died from the explosives I put on her car. Yeah. Rachel. She was the one. But I knew it was wrong. Knew we couldn't, we shouldn't be together. I was right. We just don't mix. We just don't." Alec trailed off, falling asleep in Cindy's bed.
Cindy watched him for a minute and pulled the covers over him. Then she lay back down to grab a couple of minutes of sleep before Syl would wake her. But she couldn't sleep. She couldn't forget what Alec had told her. Could understand the pain and loneliness he felt. She had experienced the same with Diamond. It was hard to loose somebody you love. But people dealt differently with such a loss. And Alec seemed to have dealt with it by closing his heart to emotions. Denying himself to let anybody close. Even though she couldn't sleep she closed her eyes. Feeling sorry for the man snoring next to her.
AN: There you go. What do you think? Now that you reached the end of this document, why not hit the little review button and give me your opinion. Thanks already. Till next Thursday.
Lfbrox