Disclaimer: See, I used to own them right. But then, what had happened was, Charlie and Jimmy gave me this great settlement, and so I sold them back for like a bazillion dollars. What an idiot I was…

Rating: PG-13 for language and violence

Time-frame: post AJBAC

A/N: So I updated a little sooner this time. Are you proud of me? The onslaught of reviews is what helped. Need I say more? BTW, thanks for the reviews! It means a lot that you guys are stickin with me to the end…which isn't too far off by the way.

Chapter 10

Almost Within Reach

"Um…okay. Pardon my French, but what the hell is going on here?" Syl regarded the two people before her as though they were strangers she'd just seen on the street.

Logan stood silently, part of him still lost in his own thoughts, the other part simply afraid to confront an angry X5…a situation of which could quickly escalate into a battle for his life. Praying that Krit would interfere if need be, he plunged head first into the story for what was felt to be the fiftieth time that day.

"Max has amnesia." He was beginning to feel that every time he said it, it was more and more real. Max has amnesia…she might not ever remember me…I might never find out how she really felt about me, before all this happened…she might never be the same… All of the mights were starting to drive the normally considerably sane journalist to the loony bin.

Syl's stance tensed even more. "Say that again?"

"He said she has—" Krit started to answer.

"No, I heard what he said," Syl cut him off. "I'm just hoping that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"Well, sweetie, Max doesn't remember anything. How many different meanings could that possibly have?" Krit was slow in his speech, as though explaining calculus to a six-year-old.

Syl immediately turned her glare on him. "You, sir, are skating on ice a quarter of an inch thick. I would watch my step if I were you." The X5 held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, and took a few steps back. Max's sister turned back to her, realizing that she hadn't really said anything since Logan revealed her little problem. "Is this true Max?" she asked her, still not wanting to fully believe it.

Max looked away, but nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Could this possibly happen at a worse time? If Manticore wasn't seeking us out before, which I know they were, they definitely are now. We really need to get back in there, and shut their system down…and we need all of us to be at 100." Syl wanted to scream, but found she couldn't. Instead, she sank down onto the couch and held her head in her hands, tendrils of her straight blonde hair falling around her cheeks, hiding her face from view. Krit sat next to her, and laid a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Don't touch me," she spat out tersely without looking at him.

Logan took pity on the boy, regretting his earlier hope that Syl's anger would be turned towards him. The poor boy probably had enough problems. Being in a relationship with her in all probability meant being the brunt of her warpath more than occasionally.

"Krit, why don't you come help me out with something in the computer room. We can leave the girls to talk. Maybe Syl can help Max remember something." His heart wrenched at his last statement, but his voice showed no change of emotion.

Krit silently rose and followed Logan out of the room, leaving the two sisters alone to their thoughts.

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Max turned to her sister as soon as the two men left the room. "I'm sorry, Syl. I'm a liability."

Syl turned to the younger girl. "No, Max," she insisted. "This isn't your fault. It's just…Manticore's already had you in their possession twice—"

Max interrupted her. Her face a mask of disbelief. "I got caught?!"

Syl didn't answer her, but seemed to be going through some memories of her own. When she did finally speak, her voice was but a soft whisper. "We went on our own mission: take down Manticore. But it went sideways, and you and Zack got caught. Look, Max, I don't know exactly what went on in there. But whatever it was, it even had Lydecker on edge. Maybe it's better that you don't remember."

Max looked down at the now barely visible cuts and bruises that had lined her arms. She had wondered about them when she woke up, but was afraid to ask Logan where they had come from. She vaguely remembered a wrap being on her wrist, but thought nothing of it, as the next time she awoke, it was no longer there. He must have removed it while she slept. "No, Syl. I have to remember. I had a life. Manticore did this to me. They took it away from me. They took Logan away from me. I can't even remember who he is. Do you know how much that hurts me? How much it hurts him? I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to run anymore. I don't want to hide anymore. Manticore has to pay. And this time, we're not taking any prisoners, and neither are they."

The blonde X5 gazed at her sister with what could only be described as love and respect, and then she smiled. "Still as stubborn as ever I see. Apparently losing your memory has absolutely no side effect on your attitude."

Max gave her a cocky grin. "Are you kidding me? The bitch is here to stay."

Syl couldn't help but laugh. "Krit!" she shouted toward some arbitrary point in the apartment. "Let's move!" She turned back to Max. "We'll be back baby sister. Don't go causing any trouble until then."

"Me? Trouble? Whatever gave you that idea?" Max protested, with an evil glint in her eye.

At that moment, Krit emerged from the back hallway. He bent down to give Max a hug. "Sorry I didn't get to talk to you much Max. It seems like every time we run into each other, we never get a moment to ourselves. But I'm glad you're back in the land of the conscious. And I'll see ya soon. I promise."

Max gave him a soft smile. "Stay out of trouble big brother."

He nodded, just as Logan appeared behind him. "Hey guys, I figured since I'm already having guests for lunch tomorrow, maybe you'd like to join us."

Krit, hearing nothing but the word 'lunch', was ready to accept, but Syl beat him to the punch. "Thanks, Logan, but Krit and I have some real important things we have to take care of." Krit started to protest, but one look from Syl had him scowling to himself in silence. "We will be by tomorrow though. It just won't be until later."

Logan nodded in understanding, before tossing them a set of keys. "This is to a safe house I had open on Bridger's Road. It hasn't been lived in for a while, so it might be a little dusty, but I figured it'd be better than sleeping outside."

Syl's grin reached her eyes. "Thanks." It was all that was said before the two X5s left once again, leaving Max and Logan alone.

Max turned to look up at Logan. She smiled a little, and patted the seat on the couch next to her. "So…where were we?"

99.9 percent of Logan's body screamed for him to sit down next to Max and continue right where they'd left off. But then, there was that still, small 0.1 percent that was angry, bitter and jealous of Max's recent discoveries and newfound happiness with her friends and family. Instead of being the rational, reasonable journalist he had spent his life yearning to become, he let his irrational side take over.

"You know, Max, maybe we better just turn in for the night," he spoke monotonously.

A flash of hurt passed through Max's eyes visibly, and Logan instantly regretted his words. But she shrugged it off. "Ok, whatever. You can go ahead. I think I'm gonna stay up for a while. Then maybe I'll just crash in the guest room."

Rational Logan screamed at irrational Logan all the way back to his bedroom. He called himself every obscenity in the book, not fully comprehending when his language had become so colorful, he figured that he must've been spending too much time around Original Cindy. Mindlessly stripping down to his boxers, he crawled between the sheets of his freshly made bed, almost getting up to thank Max for changing his sheets, and fell into a fitful rest.

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Max sat on the arm of the chair, staring out into the darkness. It had begun to rain again, which was fine with her, because she felt like crying anyway, though she didn't know why. But no, she wouldn't cry. If Logan wanted to act like an ass, then that was fine with her. She wasn't going to drag herself down wondering what had made him so recently distant. She had other things to worry about. Like how she was going to get back at her creators for their contribution in this sardonic frightmare that she called a life.

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Tension ran high early in the morning. Logan opened his eyes, and groaned despite himself as he remembered the events of the night before. He could hear the shower running in his room, and wondered vaguely why Max had chosen to use the bathroom in his room as opposed to the one down the hallway. He was about to get up, throw on some pants, and head to the kitchen to start breakfast and avoid any embarrassment when the water shut off, and the door to his bathroom opened. There stood Max, dripping from head to toe, wrapped in nothing but his sorry excuse for a fluffy towel.

Max's breath caught in her throat when she saw Logan sitting on his bed in only a pair of thin black silk boxers. She wanted to look away, excuse herself before she caused any further damage to both of their egos, but her smooth demeanor wouldn't allow it.

"I never took you for a black silk person," slipped out before she could stop herself.

"Really?" he questioned, unconsciously allowing his eyes to slowly travel from her head to her toes, and then back up to her eyes.

Max felt a rush of heat flow through her when she noticed the way Logan looked at her. They held eyes for a long moment, neither one able to look away. Then as one, they spoke.

"I need to get dressed."

Max hurriedly left the room, and Logan let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Whatever happened, he had the distinct feeling that today would be a day to remember.

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The television flicked off, and Max put the remote on the coffee table. She hadn't spoken to Logan since after the shower incident. He'd made breakfast, and she'd eaten, but no words were exchanged. Max found she couldn't even look him in the face, though she wasn't sure why. Something between them had changed, and she knew that further changes were to come, but she wasn't sure if she should be afraid or glad for them. The sexual tension was driving her bonkers. She decided that she'd had enough of Logan's childish games. If he wouldn't be up front with her, at least she would be up front with him. Though she couldn't remember many parts of it, Max knew that her relationship with Logan was special. It had to have been, with the way she caught him sneaking looks at her. She worked up her nerves, and began to head toward the kitchen where she knew he stood making lunch for Bling, Cindy, her and himself.

Halfway there, a wave of dizziness passed over her. She stumbled a little, knocking into a table and spilling the vase of flowers that it held onto the floor. Logan immediately came forward from the kitchen.

"Max!" he exclaimed. "What happened? Are you okay?" His voice was filled with concern, and Max would have commented on it had she not been feeling like hell.

"I don't know," she whispered. A familiar sense washed over her, and a wave of dread as she realized what was happening. Before she could tell Logan to get her some tryptophan, her body dropped in a fit of shakes. Thinking quickly, Logan rushed forward and caught her. He lifted her small frame, and placed her on the couch. Retrieving a syringe of liquid tryptophan from the bathroom that Sam had left in his care, he carefully injected it into Max's arm, praying that it began to work soon. He knelt at her side, and took her hand in his.

"Max. Max can you hear me?"

Through her drug induced haze, Max heard Logan's voice and turned to look at him, her body still wracked with the quakes.

"Logan," she managed, though her mouth felt dry.

"What can I do Max?" he asked helplessly, as he watched her fight for control of her extremities.

"Stay with me, please."

"I'm right here," he whispered, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"You won't leave?" she questioned, feeling the same.

"I'm not going anywhere," he reassured her.

From somewhere, deep in the back of Max's genetically engineered brain came a memory…

Flashback

The quivers slammed through Max's nerves spouting uncontrollable trembles through her limbs. Logan rolled his chair beside her.

"What can I do?" he asked, his blue eyes clouded with concern for her.

"Stay with me please," she barely managed through her chattering teeth.

"I'm right here." He never missed a beat.

"You won't leave?" She had been left alone so often. No one knew about her seizures. Not if she could help it. So that meant often, she was left to ride the roller coaster of hell alone on the cold tile of the bathroom floor. All she really wanted was to be able to let her guard down. To let someone else take care of her for once.

"I'm not going anywhere." Logan knew he wouldn't leave her side even if aliens came crashing through his window. He was going to stay right where his chair was parked until Max was able to get up and walk away from him on her own.

And stay there he did.

End Flashback

Logan watched as Max's body finally began to calm down resulting from the effects of the tryptophan, and she drifted off to a restful sleep. He watched her serene features, as her chest slowly rose and fell. She looked so much younger than she really was in her sleep, as though the cover-up of attitude was reserved for when her mind was fully conscious and functioning. The attitude she felt she needed to flash at the rest of the world to let them know she meant business, and she wasn't taking smack from anybody. Logan smiled to himself as he thought of how often she threw that attitude towards him. Maybe she was hoping that it would push him away. If only she knew that it just made him love her all that much more.

It was in watching her sleep that he realized that it didn't matter if Max never remembered who he was. As long as she was safe and happy, then he would be also. Suddenly, a rancid odor filled his nostrils, and he realized as he dashed to the kitchen with a flash of panic that he had left the lunch on the stove.

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Bling boarded the elevator, his mind completely off in the distance. So much so that he barely heard the 'Hold the elevator!' that someone shouted from across the lobby. When the person stepped in, he looked at her in surprise.

"Original Cindy."

"The one and only. What's up Boo?"

"Nothin," he laughed. "Just wonderin what exactly Logan decided to make us for lunch."

"I feel you," she responded. "I overslept, and was almost late for work. Rather than hearin it from Stormin Normal, I skipped breakfast and right about now, Original Cindy is starvin like Marvin."

Bling laughed heartily at her anecdote, and the elevator opened to the Penthouse floor. He held the door, allowing her to step through first, and they both approached the apartment.

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Max awoke slowly, the grogginess keeping her from remembering exactly where she was. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting in the ray of sun that shone down on her from the window. It was then that she remembered. She'd had a seizure, and Logan had promised to stay with her. But she wasn't on the couch anymore. She now realized that she was back in his bed. The satin sheets smooth and soft against her skin. She looked down and noticed that Logan hadn't left her side. He was asleep, his head rested on his arm as he leaned halfway on the bed, one of her hands grasped tightly in his own.

She smiled down at him. A feeling growing in her that was only slightly familiar. Without thinking, she reached and slowly ran her fingers through his hair, making it stand on end.

"Well now isn't that just the Kodak picture?" Bling's voice shook Max from her trance.

Her head snapped up to look at him and she snatched her hand back as though she'd touched a hot griddle. Beside Bling stood Original Cindy, shaking her head with a smirk on her face.

"Tell me about it. Original Cindy is all but wonderin where her camera is right now."

Max's cheeks reddened. "Hey guys." She shook Logan's shoulder. "Logan, wake up. Our 'guests' are here," she hissed at him.

Logan groaned, and sat up slowly, his glasses askew, and his hair flattened to the side of his head. His eyes focused on Max, and he gave a soft smile. Then he followed her line of view to the doorway, and noticed his two friends watching him in amusement. Immediately, he began straightening himself.

"Oh, hey. You guys are a little early aren't you?"

Original Cindy laughed, deciding that her friends had been through enough torture for the day. "We just wanna eat Moneybags. Can we get some food please?"

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Bling looked at Max closely as they sat at the table. "Max are you okay? You look a little pale."

Max just shook her head as if to say it was nothing. "I had a seizure earlier." Cindy and Bling exchanged a look. "But I'm fine now," she quickly added. "Sam left some liquid tryptophan here, and it worked pretty well."

"Well, if you're sure you're okay…"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I promise," she replied distractedly. Not wanting to continue the conversation further, she looked away.

Logan brought the last two plates of soup and the bowl of breadsticks to the table.

"This is what we're havin?" Cindy looked at the bowls skeptically. "Original Cindy could've opened a can of Campbell's in her own apartment."

"Don't be fooled Cindy," Logan smiled at her. "This isn't Campbell's. It's my mother's own recipe. It's ten times better, I promise."

She shrugged, and began to eat slowly. He sat down next to Max, and began to eat also. Everyone just enjoyed the silence and comfort brought from each other's company. It was a few minutes before Logan looked up and noticed that Max hadn't touched her food. He put his spoon down and looked at her.

"Max are you okay?" he asked, his face full of worry.

Slowly, the X5 turned to look at him. She gazed directly into his eyes for a moment before softly whispering.

"Were we in love?"

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Post: Already workin on the next chapter. Hopefully, it'll be up soon. Until then, hang on to your seats. Thanks much

Angie731