AS209 Much Ado About Something Chapter 2: Prologue, a dark angel fanfic

AS2.09 Much Ado About Something by Star24 and Lelu2

Prologue

Fogle Towers

Logan was working hard as he steadily paced away the miles on his treadmill. His grey t-shirt was soaked with sweat, and a small towel was slung around his neck. Every so often, he would reach up and use a corner of it to wipe away the sweat that was running down his face. His discarded glasses lay forgotten on the corner of the training table that was pushed into the corner pf the room.

Bling rounded the corner and stood there watching for a few seconds. He frowned and walked over to look at the mileage indicator on the treadmill. Logan ignored him until a hand reached out and switched off the power to the machine.

"What'd you do that for?" Logan was clearly annoyed.

"There's a limit to how far you should push yourself, and you have gone way beyond it. I'd be remiss in my professional duties if I didn't point that out to you."

"I know how much I can do." Logan grabbed a water bottle that was hanging from the treadmill handlebars and took a swig of it.

"As your PT and trainer I beg to differ with you on that point. Don't turn that back on." The last, as Logan started to reach for the power switch.

"I could fire you, you know."

"And then who would come around to put up with your moods?"

Logan stared at him for a minute as he thought about it, and then grinned in triumph, "Max."

Before Bling could reply, a voice called out, "Did I just hear my name?" Max came around the corner into the room, taking in the situation at a glance. She quickly ran an appreciative gaze over Logan's form, and then turned to Bling, "Why do I get the feeling that he's being his usual pigheaded self?"

"Because he is?" Bling grinned at her. "He's sulking because I turned off his machine before he could drop from exhaustion," he explained, earning a glare from Logan which he ignored.

Max grinned back, and turned to Logan, "I was on a run in the area, and seeing as how it's lunch time I thought you might possibly be in the mood to whip up some food for a starving bike messenger?"

Logan decided he was in a losing battle and shrugged. "Just let me wash up a bit and I can probably throw something together." He looked pointedly at Bling, "Are we done for the day?"

Bling laughed, unperturbed by Logan's clear annoyance. "I'm out of here. Max don't let him get back on that thing and kill himself, okay?"

"No problem. A girls gotta take care of her meal ticket, you know."

Logan had already headed for his bathroom for a quick wash but he called out, "I heard that."

Bling and Max both laughed, and then Bling was out the door.

* * * *

Max wandered around the apartment aimlessly while she waited for Logan to return. Seeing him on the treadmill had hammered home to her the fact that he really could walk again. She knew she should be happy for him and she was, not to mention that that hard stone of guilt that had sat in her gut every time she had seen him in the chair was now gone. But at the same time she was nervous.

When she had first met Logan he had struck her as arrogant, a bit too self assured. He had been someone she never would have dreamed of opening up to and allowing into her secrets. The chair had changed that, had brought him down to her level, and little by little he had inched himself inside her defenses, learning things about her that no one else came close to knowing. Not to mention the fact that he stirred up emotions and feelings that frightened her.

His being in the chair had tempered that fear, had allowed her to feel that she could handle him without being overwhelmed by him. But now that safety net, fragile as it was, was gone and she wasn't too sure what was going to happen next. It was too late to pull back from him, he knew her too well and they had gone too far for that. But at the same time she wasn't sure exactly where they were headed and Max disliked uncertainty. On some level emotional involvements were still a frightening thing for her…

* * * *

Logan walked into his bathroom, stripped off his soaked shirt, and let it fall to the floor. He walked to the sink and picked up a washcloth then used it to sponge himself off. He would have liked to take a shower, but knew that Max probably didn't have time to wait. This would have to do. He straightened from splashing water on his face and looked at his reflection in the mirror.

He still couldn't quite believe he had his legs back. Every morning when he woke up, the first thing he did was stretch them out and wiggle his toes, confirming that he could still feel them. He wondered if he would ever take walking for granted again. He also wondered if he would ever get over the nagging sense of guilt over the means by which he had been given his 'miracle' cure.

His mind wandered from that, to a remembrance of the look Max had shot him when she had come in today. He hadn't missed her running her eyes over his body, and part of him felt a purely male surge of pride about it. Their physical relationship was still new enough for him not to take it for granted, but then again he doubted he'd ever take anything about Max for granted, no longer how long he knew her.

Logan wasn't sure exactly how the recent change was going to affect them. On the one hand, he was thrilled that they had finally acted on the feelings that had simmered beneath the surface from the first time they had met. But on the other, he was afraid of how Max might ultimately react. He half feared that once the novelty wore off she would attempt to retreat back behind those walls of hers that she seemed to put up so easily…

* * * *

Max pushed back from the table with a satisfied smile.

"Good, huh?" Logan asked her.

"Passable," she teased. Lunch had been very good and she knew he knew it, but she wasn't about to feed his ego.

Logan gave her a mock glare. "Guess you won't want to come over later for dinner then. Seeing as how lunch was only passable."

"I didn't say that. Anyway a girl's gotta eat and since you sit around here all day while I'm out busting my butt for Normal, you kind of owe me dinner. Least the way I see it."

Logan laughed. "Not to mention that you don't exactly cook, right?"

Max pouted at him. "You gonna believe everything my roomie tells you? I can cook if I want to."

Logan just shot her a look of disbelief and got up from the table. "Interested in seeing my new Eyes Only stuff? I've got a few leads and I'm trying to decide which one I should pursue first."

"Why not." Max shrugged and followed him to his computers. "I've got a few before I need to head back to Jam Pony. Especially since I'm the one who'll probably end up hanging from some rafters somewhere in order to get the goods on the bad guys."

Logan sat down in front of his computers and started pulling up files. Max leaned her hips comfortably against the table next to him. She allowed her eyes to run over his arms as he worked, watching the play of his muscles under the skin. His legs didn't look bad either for a guy who had just recently climbed out of a wheelchair, she mused to herself as her eyes dropped down to peruse them. A thought struck her then, that they really should do some research into exactly what procedures Manticore had used on Logan. She didn't want any nasty surprises popping up in the future.

The sound of Logan clearing his throat brought her back to the present, and she felt herself blushing slightly as she met his knowing eyes and slightly wicked grin.

He raised his eyebrows. "I asked if any of these looked interesting to you, Max." he repeated quietly.

She leaned over him to look at the screen, grateful for the excuse to look away. There were three documents open, each one outlining a possible investigation for Eyes Only to undertake. The first two were routine, crooked cops shaking down local store owners and a local politician taking bribes for awarding bogus contracts, but the third one caught her attention. She read through it again.

"That one." Her finger went out to touch the screen indicating the one she had picked. Logan reached out and gently pushed her hand aside so he could see the screen.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he asked her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Max was immediately defensive.

"C'mon, Max you know you like kids. Mina, Maria, Sage, Sophie Braganza and those little girls Bronck was kidnapping to name a few. A scam involving fund raising for a new children's wing at Metro Medical is right up your alley."

"It's just different is all." Max shrugged. "I'm tired of crooked cops and politicians. Girl needs some variety in her life."

"Forget it Max. I know there's a heart under that steel plated armor. This is me, remember?" Logan grinned at her. "Actually I already started to set up the preliminary stuff for that one. Kind of had a feeling you might pick it."

"So why'd you ask me then?" Max said indignant at the thought that he knew her so well.

"So you'd stick around for a few extra minutes?" he teased.

Max stared at him as it dawned on her that Logan was actually flirting with her. The thought sent a quick thrill down her spine. But then she shook it off. Just because they were…involved…didn't mean she was going to go all girly over him. She was still a genetic experiment with a price on her head and he was an underground revolutionary with more than a few enemies of his own. There was no way their lives were about to turn into a rose covered cottage with a white picket fence. She had enough sense to realize that and she reasoned that Logan did as well.

Despite herself a slow smile crept across her face as she contemplated the new possibilities that were opening up before them. Maybe not that rose covered cottage but kicking some ass with Logan working by her side certainly could be interesting…

End of Prologue