Okay interactive story. Bob says something in a review and I realize it needs to be addressed hence the first part of the chapter. Aside from that let me say, this is also a weird story.

Chapter Seventeen

Logan avoided any feelings of guilt as he informed his editor he still wasn't coming in and couldn't start any new articles. He'd proven himself worthy of his job countless times; this wasn't as if he was taking advantage of his step-uncle owning the paper even though technically he was.

He did some Eyes Only research as the baby slept, then made some calls to informants as he paced with the baby, before settling in to do some work that actually paid the bills, a long term article about some pretty minute corruption with the sanitation workers. The baby was in his arms as he proofed what he'd spent the morning writing as there was a knock at the door.

Bling was there raising up the black sling in a sign of peace, knowing showing up with a feminine one would cause him to find out just how much he'd built up Logan's upper body strength.

"Thanks" he said with a nod and backed up so his friend could come inside.

"How'd the other one work out?" Bling said walking in and dropping the sling down on the end table.

"Didn't need to use it."

"Max get up with the baby?"

"She got the bottles, I fed him."

The single look Bling gave him was enough to seriously chip away at his faith that this thing was going in the right direction, "She just needs time."

"She even hold the baby?"

"Will," he supplied the name they'd come up with this morning before answering, "no."

"You got her to name the baby, but not hold it?"

"I think I might have technically named him," he said as the situation started to dawn on him.

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly defensive he answered, "I said that the baby should at least have a temporary name."

"You didn't even give him a real name?"

"Didn't you just ask me to tell you what happened?"

Bling gave him a look and allowed him to proceed.

"I kinda joked about Wilbur when all she could come up with was his size."

"From Charlotte's Web? You're calling the baby, Wilbur?"

"No, Will and that was Max not me."

Bling shook his head at him as he made his way over to the couch.

"She just needs time." He said to both himself and Bling.

"You sure about that?" Bling asked as he watched Logan lower the newborn into bassinet.

"This is Max," he replied it as if it answered everything.

Bling just leaned back and looked at him.

"Max is the most caring and compassionate person I know."

Bling just looked at him for a minute, not about to fight Logan's words; he knew them to be true despite her tough girl attitude, "She didn't ask for him Logan."

"I know Max," his resolve might be wavering, but he still to clung to everything he was so positive he knew about her. How she was with Jude, with Maria…Chase, she'd loved her nephew even though she barely knew him, just like she loved Jace's Max, she didn't know if she had a niece or a nephew, but she loved him. Her love for her siblings…Zack. He didn't doubt for a single second that up until they had taken away her choice of becoming a mother that she would have taken any child of Zack's (no matter the circumstances) into her heart, her life. Any child she could have created in heat would have been loved regardless that Manticore had been the basis for its creation.

" Logan," Bling softly said his name to draw him out of his thoughts.

"I searched for her mother with her," he said nodding ever so slightly, "I know one day she'll regret letting him go."

"She bring it up again?"

Logan nodded, "Told her I made some calls." He didn't bother filling in Bling on the rationalization he'd made.

"So what are you gonna do if at the end of all this she still wants to give the baby away?"

He paused for a moment, it was amazing how attached you could become to someone so tiny in just over a day, "I don't really have a say in the matter do I?"

As if the baby understood what was going on that, he started to whimper, Logan could already distinguish the noise as being only seconds away from a full-fledged cry and quickly moved to take him into his arms and softly soothe him, rubbing his back and mentally promising he wouldn't let the words that had just been said come true.

-o-o-o-

"Hey Logan," Krit called out walking into the apartment after a short knock (knowing Logan was home because of the Aztec in the garage as he'd parked his bike alongside Max's). He and Syl almost never waited to be let into the apartment (especially at this time of day), the lock was easy for them to pick despite it being top of the line. The knock was of course their concession to all the times they'd walked in at inopportune times, but it being midday he assumed Max was at work.

He saw the other man in the kitchen, "I'm glad you didn't go into work today, I'm starving. I got those disks from Martavio's, what the hell is that guy up to?" Logan turned, the look on his face one of confusion. "Hey Bling," Krit nodded as he entered the kitchen and was once more greeted with the surprised and not entirely happy to see him look. What the hell was going on?

Before he could even open his mouth to speak the corner of his eye focused on the large ivory object to the right of him, across the room, he turned and focused on it. It was a bassinet. His mind rationalized that Max must be pregnant, but why would she have gotten a bassinet so early? Why was it so prominently displayed in the living room? Easy answer Krit, his mind told him, Max either told Logan by surprising him with the piece of furniture or Logan had brought it to celebrate how happy he was. Then he heard the soft rustling in the deafening silence of the room…The soft rustling coming from the large ivory creation across the room.

He turned back to Logan, whose expression was one he couldn't really identify as his mind was suddenly swarmed with everything else that was going on. The three men remained silent as Max's brother made his way across the room to peer into the bassinet and was greeted with alert blue eyes as the baby gently moved before him. His mind froze and struggled to understand, the alleged X-5 intelligence suddenly didn't exist as he took in the brown hair, blue eyes and small body covered in a white romper with tiny hippos across it.

Not some rescued kid, Logan and Bling wouldn't look like they did, that canceled out babysitting too. Did they adopt…That's when it hit him, when the mental block finally fell, "We were too late," he said with a nod. "Woah," he said as he realized he was looking down at Max and Zack's kid.

He reached out a finger and touched the white and blue sock sticking out from where the blanket had been kicked free, his thumb and finger encased the kicking foot and he felt the baby's foot curl in response as the enormity of it all hit him, the enormity in this infinitely tiny little package.

"Where's Max?" he asked with his head turned as his hand held onto his nephew's foot.

"Work," Logan said taking in the scene knowing that if this had been a year ago that would have been Max's response.

Krit's mind struggled to understand why Max would be at work instead of at home, but that question was lost as everything else was while coming to terms with the little guy before him, "Aren't you supposed to swaddle babies?" he found himself asking as he stared down.

Logan shook his head, since Bling reminded him of that just a little while ago, "You try swaddling anything related to Max. Apparently that's right next to needs no sleep."

Krit chuckled a bit, Syl was going to kill him for not only seeing their nephew first but knowing about him. He realized he should probably let her hold him first as he was leaning over to scoop the newborn into his arms.

"Support his head," Logan called out, sounding ever so much like the worrisome parent.

Krit chuckled at hearing Logan, "I know how to hold a baby Logan."

Bling stifled his laugh as Logan shot a look over at him, "You're a lot better today."

"Thanks," Logan said sarcastically, yesterday really hadn't been his fault.

"So why is Max at work?" Krit asked as he moved over to the couch so he could further study his nephew.

"You wanted a sandwich right?" Logan asked as went to grab another roll.

"Yea," Krit drawled out as he looked over at the man behind the counter suddenly busying himself, the man for all intents and purposes was not only his friend, but his brother-in-law. "Why is Max at work?" he asked with growing apprehension.

Bling looked over at Logan who was simply staring out ahead instead of answering the question, his mouth would begin to move as if he was about to answer the question, but would then stop. Finally he spoke, "Max is still pretty traumatized from everything that happened this summer."

Krit stared at him in shock. Traumatized? They were all traumatized; they'd spent their entire childhood being soldiers/monsters. It was a physical and mental abuse that made it amazing that they hadn't all turned out like Ben. Manticore had succeeded in killing 4 of their siblings, Brin had been brainwashed…What the hell did any of that have to do with why Max wasn't at home with her kid, with her nephew…As the thought of that crossed his mind he was suddenly glad he'd stopped thinking of Syl as his sister around the first time she'd gone into heat, she was simply his partner in everyway. Too much time in the outside world, made it impossible to not find son/nephew thing a little odd sounding. "He's family," Krit said firmly, "no matter how he got here, he's family."

Logan's eyes briefly went to Bling, see he got it, they said. "It's not just Will," he said as he began to defend her.

"Will?" Krit asked looking up, "That's his name?" He'd forgotten to even ask something like that, he should probably get all that other stuff he knew Syl would hit him with the moment he got home, he gently raised the baby in his arms and guessed him to be around 6lbs, but knew that answer wouldn't satisfy Syl.

"At least for now because he's so small."

"Like Wilbur?" Krit laughed, which the baby apparently didn't appreciate.

Logan quickly moved towards the baby, which Krit willingly released. Will quickly returned to his drowsy state when placed against Logan's shoulder.

Bling looked on in shock, amazed at the change that had taken place in less than 24 hours.

"So what's just not Will?" Krit asked softly.

"She's afraid of babies I think, kids too, but not as much so. She doesn't smile anymore or make faces at them, she avoids them."

Krit shook his head, nah, no way, he would have noticed that or Syl would have mentioned it.

"The nightmares she has-"

Krit cut him off, "The ones where you die?" Syl had mentioned that to him, she'd pried that much information out of Max. Max's nightmares were common knowledge amongst the group and a pretty common occurrence in all of them, despite the fact that they hadn't landed back in there.

"They're not just me," he said with a shake of his head as he moved to put the now sleeping infant to bed.

"She tell you that?"

Logan gave an exacerbated look to Max's brother, Max tell anyone anything? "The baby started to cry when she was sleeping." His eyes closed briefly before he continued, "She was so scared or upset…I don't know."

Krit was struggling to comprehend this, Max got defensive, detached, but she was almost never scared. Then he realized he was wrong, he'd seen Max scared on two different occasions. She'd launched herself into Logan's arms and almost toppled him when she'd been worried about him. Max wasn't as brave as she led everyone to think. "She'll come around," was all he said. She had to; it was as simple as that.

Logan nodded in agreement.

Bling looked on in disapproval as the other men were caught up in an illusion, refusing to even acknowledge what could very easily end up being reality, "What happens if she doesn't?" He asked again.

"She will," Krit said with a nod, "she has to." He looked at Logan before the other man could impart his negativity again, "Tell me what she's said, what's happened. Why is she at work instead of here trying to deal with this?" Max wasn't the type of person to just run away when things got tough.

Logan sighed and made his way over to a chair, "She wants me to find him a home."

Krit's mouth opened, the kid had a home didn't he? Complete with Mommy and Daddy, sure the mommy was a little freaked but…

"She hasn't touched him."

Krit got up at this point and paced for a moment before turning to Logan, "So drop him in her arms."

"It's not that easy."

"Yea it is."

"I will not do that to her," he stated simply. That was like plunging a person with arachnophobia into a pit filled with tarantulas. Might work in theory, but it wasn't as if he could sit there and force her to hold the baby until she got past everything, all he'd end up doing was making things worse. He had to do this her way, gradual. Funny, he'd never related the word gradual with Max until this past year.

"Then I will," he said growing angry. They didn't behave like this; this wasn't who any of them were.

"No you won't," Logan's eyes held a steely glint as he focused on her brother.

Krit let that fight go seeing the resolve in Logan's eyes, "If he goes anywhere it's to me and Syl. You will not give our nephew away to strangers. He's Zack's kid too, if Max doesn't want him…" he shook his head amazed at the anger he suddenly felt towards his normally beloved sister.

"This isn't her fault," Logan firmly reminded him.

"I know," he answered with a nod and felt some of the anger that had washed over him start to dissipate.

"You know the sandwiches have been done for awhile." Bling said hoping to end the conflict.

Logan stood and looked over, he hadn't even been aware the other man had taken over the task, "You know you can't tell Syl right?" he said as he and Krit moved in sync to the food.

"You're aware she'll kill me?"

"I already went to Lydecker on this. I'm lucky to still be standing." He joked in all seriousness, though he doubted Max would be angry at him or at least not outwardly so since it definitely wasn't his fault no one raised in Manticore had any respect for common courtesies, like being invited in. He just didn't want to force the kind of pressure or strain on her that he knew would come with telling her sister.

Krit nodded as he went to grab a sandwich, "I'll do my best at keeping her away. Can't make any promises though."

"Just try, that's all I ask."