Chapter 8

Max's thoughts stormed in her mind as she took in the scene. Normal, still on one knee in front of the room's other unexpected occupant, was staring wide eyed at the confused couple. His mouth moved as if he were trying to speak, perhaps to utter an admonishing "Bip!". All he succeeded in doing was to look like a bespectacled fish out of water. So much for a quickie, she thought with a frown.

"Um, what the hell is going on?" Alec said, his eyes narrowing in puzzlement.

"You just interrupted a very private moment, Missy Miss," he chastised, pointing an accusatory finger in Max's direction.

"Hey, why do I get all the blame?" Max gestured to Alec to prove her point. Of course, Normal's Golden Boy can do no wrong.

Normal continued on as if she hadn't spoken. "And you managed to damage company property in the process. It's coming out of your poorly earned wages." His tone was conversational, but his body language spoke volumes. He was nervous as hell.

"Whatever, man. We'll just get back to work and let you get back, to...whatever it was that you were doing." Alec grinned, intent on walking away, but at that moment, Normal's companion decided to speak. Squeal would actually be the more appropriate term.

"Oh! Reagan, were you doing what I think you were?" It looked as if the blonde was barely restraining herself from jumping up and down like a child. "Because, if you were, of course it's yes!"

Max and Alec turned to each other, suddenly understanding what they'd walked in on. "Ohhh," they both said in unison. Normal had been proposing. In the store room of Jam Pony. Max barely stifled a snigger at the thought.

"How romantic," she whispered sarcastically. "And they say chivalry is dead."

Despite her words, Max was a bit moved. She had never pictured Normal with a girlfriend, let alone popping the question to anyone. She even had the sense to feel bad for intruding on the private moment. That feeling didn't last very long before being replaced with something else. Amazement.

Normal had remained on one knee but had pulled a small black velvet box from his jacket pocket. When Max caught sight of what was in it, she immediately began running the figures in her head out of habit.

"Damn. I could hock that for at least 15 grand," Alec whispered low enough that only Max could hear. She swatted him lightly on the arm, but smiled at the realization they'd both had the same thought.

They continued to watch as Normal, having forgotten their presence with his girlfriend's delighted reaction, slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into an embrace.

"I love you, Emily," he whispered.

Max took Alec's hand in hers and they backed out of the room. They had seen too much of the private moment and were both feeling a tad guilty.

Their earlier heat forgotten, Alec and Max hurried over to the dispatch counter where Skye was still struggling to distribute packages and deal with the phone. Alec clapped his hand down on the counter loudly, bringing everyone's attention to the front of Jam Pony.

"Alright, grunts," he began, smiling broadly. "I'd advise you all to stay away from the storage room for a while. Normal's working out some kinks with his lady friend."

A few whistles sounded, some disgusted grunts and snorts and a couple of disbelieving "Normal? You've gotta be kidding me!"s were heard. All eyes turned to the back of the room when Normal and Emily came into view.

"Dude! Get a room!" one of the messengers groaned. Normal's arm was around Emily's waist and he was blushing slightly.

"Oh for the love of Mike! Get back to work, you useless, no-good, dead-beat bums!" Normal's voice was annoyed, but the look on his face gave his real feelings away. At the moment, with this woman at his side, he couldn't care less what was happening around him.

Normal faced the curious crowd of messengers. "Listen up, you reprobates. These packages are missing their mommies, so get to it! Or you'll all be looking for new jobs tomorrow!"

Max and Alec sniggered. "Hate to break it to ya, Normal, but we're all looking for new jobs."

Normal rolled his eyes and shook his head. He then turned to Skye and lowered his voice. "I'm taking my fiancée home. You're in charge for the rest of the day. And for heaven's sake, clean this place up! It's a dump! Now, bip! You have deadlines."

The messengers stared at him in open-mouthed shock.

"What? Did you not hear me talking to you? Bip, bip, bip!" Normal threw his hands up and waved them in the air. "Useless. Utterly useless," he muttered.

Alec clapped Normal on the back and smiled brilliantly at him. "Didn't know you had it in ya, Ray. She's a fine looking female," he winked and elbowed his now smiling boss. "Way to go."

Inwardly, he was greatly relieved. Maybe Normal would stop hounding him about his golden muscles and gladiator dreams. Alec shuddered at the memories and unconsciously pulled Max closer to his side.

Quinn walked over to the couple and leaned close to Max's ear. "This is just so wrong. How the hell did Normal get a woman? Let alone one that agreed to marry him?"

Max laughed and shouldered him teasingly. "Feeling left out, Quinn? You'll find a woman who can stomach you one of these days," she added, grinning.

"Aw, Max! Now that hurt! And just yesterday I thought you were the one that would rock my world," he teased back, hand resting on his heart. "My life is over. It's not worth living anymore. You're the one that got away."

Alec raised an eyebrow at his friend. "If Maxie really was the one for you, then yeah, you're screwed." The three friends shared a smile and Alec knew that things would be good between them again.

It had barely been an hour since Normal had left Skye in charge of Jam Pony, but the celebratory party was already in full swing. Several people were doing tricks with their bikes, packages were laying haphazardly on nearly every surface, music was blaring, and best of all, not one "bip" had been heard in nearly an hour. Life was good.

Cindy and Sketchy walked into the chaos with slack jaws. Observing the disarray of the previously oppressive establishment, Cindy said, "Aiight. What's goin' on? Why we partyin' and where the hell is Normal?"

"I'm not tripping, right?" Sketchy questioned uncertainly. "This is all happening?" Cindy just shot him a look and he shrugged. He looked around the room, eyes landing on Max and Alec seated on one of the sofas. "Let's go find out, shall we?"

They walked purposefully over to their friends. "Boo, what the hell happened here?" Cindy asked, having to raise her voice over the loud music and general noise around her.

"Normal left to have a little quality time with his fiancée, so we're throwing a party in his honor," Alec grinned.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sketchy said, waving his hands. "You sayin' Normal's getting married? Who the hell would marry Normal?"

"Some chick named Emily," Max answered, shaking her head. "Alec and I walked in on the big moment."

"If you could call falling through the door to the store room 'walking', then yeah, that's what happened." Alec wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"All this hetero joy is makin' Original Cindy nauseous," Cindy joked. "Y'all two need to get a room."

"We tried. How were we supposed to know that Normal would be proposing in the store room? I mean, it's not exactly the most romantic spot in Seattle," Max stated, rolling her eyes.

Alec put a hand over his heart as Quinn had done earlier, mock hurt on his face. "Maxie, are you saying that I would take you to a place less than romantic to express my love?" Then he affected the pout - the one every woman, even Cindy, would argue should be illegal.

"Alec, sweetheart, you wanna show me love, get me some new kick-ass modifications for my bike. If you're taking me to make out in a damp, moldy storeroom, you're just gonna have to face up to the fact that it ain't romantic," Max said, crossing her arms in front of her, but smiling. Everyone laughed, including Alec.

"She got you there, sugah," Cindy got out between chuckles. She looked back toward the entrance to Jam Pony and saw Lianna and Biggs walking in, hand in hand. From the expressions on their faces, she knew they'd be coming over to get an explanation for the impromptu party. "Here come the other lovebirds."

A shrill beep erupted from Max's hip. She looked at the number displayed and sighed. "Logan," Max stated. Alec rolled his eyes. "Lend me your phone?"

"I'll never understand why you don't just get your own. That," he snorted scornfully at her pager, "is a piece of antiquated junk."

Max slapped him upside the head. "Now why would I do that when I can use yours for free?" she replied, smiling sweetly.

Alec rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "Not like I pay for it either. Suit yourself," he said, tossing her his phone and settling back to wait.

Max stood from the sofa and dodged her way around her fellow employees to get a bit of privacy. She hesitated before dialing Logan's number. How would he feel about her new-found relationship with Alec? True, Max had broken up with Logan weeks ago, and he'd seemed to understand. But somehow, she didn't think he'd be so thrilled about her current choice of boyfriend.

The phone barely rang once before Logan answered. "Hello?"

"Me hittin' you back," she replied while glancing over in her friends' direction. She saw the shocked looks on Lianna and Biggs' faces and knew they'd just gotten the scoop on Normal.

"Max, I've got some news." The sound of Logan's fingers tapping away at his keyboard was clearly audible over the phone.

When isn't there news? she thought before responding. "Better be global," she replied with a hint of irritation. "What's up?"

"I've got a few things that you might want to see. Think you could swing by here sometime soon?"

"I'm already gone."

"Right." Logan's voice held something Max could not identify, but she passed it off as he'd been staying up too late doing work for the 'cause.' She could hear the doorbell ringing in the background.

"See you-" Max stared dumbly at the phone in her hand at the telltale 'click'. "He hung up on me!" she muttered angrily.

"You okay, Max?" Alec's low voice rumbled in her ear.

"Whatever," she replied shortly. She nodded toward the door with her head. "Logan has news. Let's go."

"Why do I have to-" His whine was cut short when Max glared at him over her shoulder. "Roller-boy would have to pick today to have news," Alec grumbled. Max ignored him, though she had been thinking the same thing.

Technically, Logan had said he had something for her to see, but she didn't mince details. She wanted Alec with her and that was that.

"Another politician need relieving of something extremely expensive?" Alec asked hopefully as he slung his arm around her shoulder, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"I don't know. A girl can dream though, right?" Max joked, elbowing him in the side. They both waved good-bye to the others and went outside.

Max hopped onto her Ninja, Alec taking his place behind her. He put his arms around her as the engine purred to life beneath them. She glanced longingly back at Jam Pony before speeding off toward Fogle Towers. As usual, we gotta leave the party to go save the day.

Logan quickly hung up the phone and went to answer the door. A messenger held out a flat package.

"Would you sign here, sir," he requested, handing over a clipboard.

Logan signed wordlessly, accepted the package and shut the door behind him. He quickly made his way over to the computer terminal, ripping the package open in the process.

Assorted 8x10 glossy photos fell onto the desktop. Each photo was accompanied by a post-it note with a brief description. Logan removed the last photograph and stared mutely at the Manticore symbol. He retrieved the letter from the envelope and unfolded it, smoothing the paper before him. Neat penmanship covered the page in large, bold letters.

Everything started with this. You know how to contact me.

Logan paused a moment, studying the pictures and the notes. He reached for the phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Lydecker? I got your little package. What do you want?"

TBC