AN: Umm yea I lied…I procrastinate way too often. Okay this is it for at least a week, possibly longer depending on recovery time...Yea unless I put off planning and packing some more.

Chapter Twenty Two

She walked in as she had the two previous days, quietly. The apartment was silent just as it had been the first day despite its occupied state. She was used to coming home to the soft taps of Logan's fingers on the keyboard or hearing his voice on the phone. There was just silence now. A quick look into the open entranceway of the office confirmed the fact he wasn't in there, then she frowned reaching the end of the hallway and not seeing Logan in the living room. A quick look over at the bassinet confirmed there was no infant inside of it and she realized the stroller was no longer tucked into the corner of the room, neither was the carrier.

She wondered if Logan would have just taken him without calling her. Not that it would have changed anything…But still…He would have called right?

She tried to put off that lingering feeling of unease in her stomach and made her way towards their room to strip out of the clothes that held the city's stench.

It wasn't a smile of relief when she saw Logan stretched out across the bed and the little body covered in lime green jammies resting upon his chest as they both slept, but neither was it a sigh of regret. Just something as she saw he was he still there…

A thought returned to her as she silently dropped her bag to the floor, stripped off the vest, kicked off her shoes and gingerly laid down beside them. The thought of trying to imagine Sketchy with a kid, she was pretty sure he'd have about as much luck with it as she had last night. Logan though…He seemed to be picking it up pretty quickly, then again he'd had no choice. She couldn't imagine Sketch in just over half a year behaving as Logan and he would be that baby's father.

She caught her hand only inches away from the baby's head as she'd been going to stroke the downy hair. She snatched it back and placed it along with her other hand under head as a pillow as she continued to watch them until she joined them in sleep.

-o-o-o-

The soft tappings against chest coming from the waking limbs pulled him out of his own slumber.

She awoke with him as he shifted and he realized she was home and in bed with him.

"You've napped twice in a week now," he pointed out the obvious as he dropped his head to the side to look at her, he loved her just woken look, then again he loved all of her looks. He smiled as he rubbed the baby's back hoping the kid would remain content for just a while longer.

She smiled a bit, "Yea, 6 days without a full night's sleep, naps start seeming pretty good."

His lips twitched in a satisfied smirk, "We didn't really sleep on Wednesday."

A small chuckle came from her throat, "Speak for yourself, three hours leaves me rested."

A small groan emerged from his, part as he realized they were going onto a week of abstinence, the other part was sleep was just barely below that need, despite the fact he'd gotten a full night's sleep. Talk about unnatural…

"I'm hungry," she softly whined, having awoken meant so had her stomach which had barely been filled all day.

"You've got two choices, pasta or pasta," he smiled.

"Don't we-"

"Steak and chicken thighs, both in the freezer, I forgot to take them out."

"You didn't fix the microwave?"

He paused wondering exactly when he was supposed to have time to do that in between his job, Eyes Only and the ever attention needy baby who was demonstrating that by once more flailing against his body no longer satisfied by only Logan's hand. He reiterated what he'd learned last week, "It's something that's going to cost just as much to replace as the microwave itself."

"Well have you called anyone about a microwave?"

"It takes time Max," he said sitting up as she continued to pout. "You didn't have hot water for half of your life and you're whining about a microwave," he smiled.

"Did you just realize now that I'm spoiled?"

He turned back to face her now seated form instead of standing, "No, I realized that the first time you woke me up hungry at 4am," he smiled.

She laughed softy and waves tumbled around her, he leaned back as she leaned forward as his hand found its way into her hair holding her to him as they kissed.

Will let out a cry, finally fed up with being ignored for so long, Logan let out a groan and Max a whimper as they stayed connected with their foreheads touching.

"Put on the water for the pasta?" he asked looking into her eyes, knowing he had to tend to the infant's needs first.

She let out a breath and nodded.

-o-o-o-

Another day, another change in attitude from Max.

Frankly at this point he was getting more than confused. First total hiding, then slight curiosity, to gentle helping, before wanting to get rid of him, which led to completely ignoring and looking like she was going to bolt, followed by the total turn around of pacing and cooing as she soothed the newborn, another turn around with actually bolting and now she was back to minimal interest, basically only dealing with Will because he was in the room. But now she'd moved onto total seductress Max since the baby had just fallen asleep again after a diaper change.

"You don't really have to work do you?"

Yea like he was going to mention he had a pile of back work to catch up on, an article he'd promised to have finished and to his editor by two tomorrow that was still only a series of scraps of notes. Not to mention he still hadn't gone through the disks Krit had pulled from Martavio's. Nope, definitely not mentioning any of that as Max straddled him in his desk chair only seconds after he'd sat down. He'd spent almost nine full months with this fantasy, all those times leaning, hovering, sitting up on a nearby table…Yup this got him every time.

"I could be persuaded not to," he replied seriously, "what exactly did you have in mind?"

"You don't look particularly rested…I think maybe it's time for you to go to bed." She paused and pretended to think about it tilting her head, "Then again you also look like you could use a bath."

"You now come to think of it, I do feel a little grimy," he nodded.

She smirked hopping off of him, he followed the trail of clothes and let a sad lingering glance fall upon the bathroom door where he could already hear the water running as he headed into the bedroom, times like this the exo was sooo not as handy as it normally was.

-o-o-o-

Never let it be said Max wasn't practical, it came from living in every different type of bad situation there was, limited access to showers, limited water supply, no hot water, she'd been through it all. So he wasn't particularly surprised as Max returned to her previous task of actually bathing once her breath had slowed. He smiled watching her head emerge from the water and flip up as she finished rinsing out the shampoo. He however wasn't as big of a fan of the tub, lingering feelings of safety, granted completely unwarranted, but still, it was one of those things he'd never even realized he'd used his legs for. He was great sitting up, but submerging himself…Not exactly one of his favorite activities.

The baby's cry from the adjoining room brought them straight back into their reality, the situation at hand that had kept them from this for almost a week. He groaned as he went to pull himself out of the tub, snagging the towel she'd dropped to the side in preparation once he sat.

The cry increased in intensity as Max was stepping out; she turned back to him with a frown, wondering what could have caused that change. She realized as she began to towel off that Logan wasn't exactly in any condition to go rushing out to tend to him and she seriously doubted he'd allow her to quickly dry him off, wrap the towel around his waist and position him in his chair, dry him off yes, but the last two definitely not, he didn't react well with anything that reminded him of a child.

The cry was loud though and tore straight into her and she saw Logan eyeing his chair.

"I'll go check on him," she found herself saying. The cry reminded her of her dreams, not that there had been any particular cry, just the feeling in her gut that something was wrong.

Half of her expected Manticore soldiers to be awaiting her as she stepped out of the bathroom; the apartment however was silent except for the screaming baby as she made her way through the kitchen and dining room towards the living room where the bassinet lay with Will inside.

"Hey, hey," she murmured gently dropping a hand to his chest; he paused in his screams with the new stimulus, but then returned to his loud vocalizations of unhappiness. "What's wrong?" she asked scooping him up and pulling him close. His cries once more paused, but then returned as his cheek was wetted by Max's exposed shoulder. She groaned to herself realizing that she'd just dampened his entire outfit and not just his face, though the effects to his clothing were minimal compared to his face. She wondered exactly how Logan was bathing this kid, if he reacted like this to a little water on his face, then she realized she actually had absolutely no idea how Logan was bathing him.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," she tried to soothe as she bounced a little with him, she knew he couldn't be hungry again, he'd eaten less than two hours ago and she doubted he needed a diaper change this quickly. She paced up the living room to look into the bathroom, hoping to see Logan emerging. Of course he wasn't, since she'd barely just left him.

"Wet baby," she said walking into the bathroom where Logan still wasn't back in his chair so she couldn't pass the baby off to him.

He chuckled slightly as she snagged a few more towels, which the baby didn't appreciate since it meant there was no longer a hand rubbing his back. She thanked god for Logan's snooty ultra soft towels instead of the either rough or threadbare ones she'd once owned as she undressed the baby on the couch upon one and dabbed the exposed parts of his skin dry all while trying unsuccessfully to calm him. By the time Logan finally wheeled his way into the living room, Will was wrapped up in a plush towel, pressed against another towel that Max had draped over her shoulder to keep him dry this time and was continuing to cry relentlessly.

She gave him a pitiful look and moved to drop the baby into his arms before he'd even finished entering the area completely. The baby thankfully remained dry this time since, Logan had taken the extra time to thoroughly dry off. The baby quieted almost instantly, or a least the cries lessened dramatically as they tapered off as the baby was once more in the arms of its caregiver. She didn't really know what it was that coursed through her in that second, shock? Relief?

Then the sight of Logan stripped down to only a towel without even his glasses with the incredibly small infant who was drowning in the white towel Max had wrapped around his small frame, two strong hands splayed across it. The adult's head dropped down the infant's as he further continued to reassure him…

"Oww oww," Logan said dropping a hand away from the baby to move up where the baby now had a firm grasp upon his chest hair.

Max laughed now that the crisis was finally averted and dropped down to the couch leaning forward watching as Logan tried to disengage the hand without hurting either of them.

"Yea I'm gonna pull your hair, see how good that feels," he said looking across at his laughing partner. Not to mention it was chest hair, that hurt a hell of a lot more than hair on the top of your head.

"You know that's a reflex, primates needed to be able to grab and hold on when an enemy attacked so the mom could flee." She didn't remember where she'd learned that information, but she suplied it anyway.

"Ugh," he said rubbing the slightly tender area, but now free area, "hey we're not in the plains of Africa anymore kid. You're safe."

And just like that the moment was broken and Max was pulled back into reality.