Chapter 21
A Sign of Things to Come
Max made a face as she took a sip out of the goblet. "Do not walk over with a wine glass with what looks like wine and not have it be wine."
Logan laughed sitting down next to her "You're pregnant you can't have alcohol, what makes you think I'd give you wine."
She pouted "Today's special."
"Yea well my son would like all neurons to end up in their designated places."
"Just for this" she said raising the glass "I'm having a girl"
"Please don't threaten that" he said pulling her in close for a kiss "I can't handle two of you"
Max scrunched up her nose and sniffed "Are you drinking wine?"
Logan laughed "No, you can't so I'm not. You really think I'd risk it?"
"Smart man. Maybe I will be nice and have a boy after all. So three years…" she said with a wistful smile
"They've been a good three years haven't they?"
"Yea definitely not bad. A little busy though. Probably not the most normal courtship." she laughed
"What you're saying that you're not supposed to meet your future wife by her breaking into your apartment?"
She turned to him "Hey you broke right back into mine."
"Oh that's right…Almost forgot about that."
Max made a face "I can't believe I married such a creepy bastard." she went to take a sip from the glass and grimaced again, she'd forgotten it was only juice. She stretched over and put the glass on the table and dropped a hand to her barely curved stomach. Heat was definitely playing a very different role on their 3rd anniversary than it did on their first.
Logan had decided it was a good omen of things to come that she'd gotten pregnant as he'd been investigating why shipments of the pill were turning up as placebos, of course knowing that in advance hadn't slowed down or altered their actions caused by her heat, when she'd surprised him turning up in the middle of the day, it wasn't like she gave him any time to think. Remembering the possible consequences had come later and been proven more than possible. Their baby was a blend of Eyes Only and Manticore, the two reasons they'd come together.
She pushed away other thoughts of Manticore, Lydecker had managed to bring down Kleinfold's by reintroducing the exposé and the few other documents he'd retained from Manticore. The government however had so far managed to avoid having Manticore exposed. The guy, Harry Lever, who had been on both of the employee rosters was found dead in his house days two days after Lydecker disappeared in the wind. As for Lydecker, she didn't know what happened to him, if Manticore found him or not. He'd at least managed to stay alive for a month because a package had arrived for her at work with the name of a doc down in Fresno who could remove the implant.
"Please tell me dinner's almost ready."
"You cannot be hungry again," he looked over at the clock, "you ate less than two hours ago."
"That was a snack" she defended, "and it's not me, it's your son."
"Max" he said laughing as he stood to go check on dinner, "He only weighs a few ounces."
She pouted as he walked away still laughing at her appetite.
She stood and went to follow him, but got distracted by their wedding photo. They'd married on their second anniversary, so today was actually their first wedding anniversary. It was also their first alone anniversary. The wedding hadn't changed how she felt about their relationship or Logan, it hadn't made her more committed. It was nice, but they had been joined for long before it, they hadn't needed a priest saying words before them. Their vows may have been silent, but they had been known in their hearts.
Original Cindy had enjoyed it though, not really understanding why they had it on the rooftop and had been more than pleased to move back downstairs to the apartment for the party afterwards. It had been a party and not a reception they had made sure of that. Max thankfully didn't have to keep her promise to Cindy and Daphne hadn't been invited since OC had a new girlfriend at the time and only Bennett and Marianne had been invited from Logan's family, mostly done to give Logan piece of mind, it was bad enough they had to share their day with others, but family was pushing it. They could have chosen another day, but they hadn't wanted another anniversary besides from their own.
His arms came around her as he looked down at the picture. Them standing in the night sky lit up by lanterns, thankfully the weather had been good and they hadn't needed to use a tent. Logan was in a black suit with a white tie instead of a tux and Max's dress was a simple white floor-length halter, with none of the ornate-ness of Marianne's. It had still been a good day even though they'd had to share it with others.
"Is it wrong that I preferred this" his eyes gestured to them, "to that" he pointed at the picture with his head.
She laughed, "I don't know, but I definitely agree with you. We're homebodies"
Logan raised an eyebrow and looked at her.
Homebodies they definitely were not, once her June Cleaver phase wore off they got back to real life. Still too attached at the hip to fully please Original Cindy, but Eyes Only got its attention back and so did Max's friends. They were decently social now, not only with Max's friends, but Logan's too, which she hadn't even been aware he'd had in that first year. He'd already been overly involved with Eyes Only before he'd been shot, so it had been even easier to pull further away after. Their lives were on an even keel now, they had been for over a year and a half, rumor had it though that was going to change with the baby, but they were ready for it.
Logan pulled away to return his attention to hurrying dinner and Max's attention dropped down to a smaller frame, the little boy with sandy hair and hazel eyes. Her hand dropped to her stomach as she wondered if their son would look like him. It was the only photo she had pulled out of the photo albums that had resided in the safety deposit box Lydecker had left her, the albums were the physical version of the disks he'd left her. The box had contained everything he'd been before Manticore, before his wife died. Photo albums, scrap books, the medals he'd been awarded, the deed to the cabin in Toren, the life of her father, not the man who'd existed in his body afterwards. That was putting it too bluntly and Logan told her that all the time, but it was all she could handle. The Donald Lydecker who had been trying to have another child with his wife was not the one who raised her that was clear in every single picture she saw of him, it was clear in the journals Julia had left, which Max still hadn't found the courage to read in full. In just under two years, she had only made it three years into the journals. There was one entry that remained in Max's mind though. It was shortly after the 17 year old girl, her mother had found out she was pregnant, she read it over and over again, it had reminded her of her final words with Lydecker.
I guess one day you're going to be reading this, you or your siblings. I don't know how this all is going to have turned out, I don't know if Deck and I will fall victim to the statistics, if we'll fail. I doubt it just because of how stubborn he is, but I don't know what lays ahead for us, for you. We're doing things out of order, I'm sorry you're not coming into a perfect world, but I've got to believe everything's going to be alright. Even if it's not, I know we'll have tried our hardest and they'll be good memories to go along with the bad. I'm pretty sure the good's gonna outweigh the bad, even though things seem pretty scary right about now. Even if it doesn't though, at least we were in it together. Can't worry too much about tomorrow right? Today, right here and now that's the only thing we're guaranteed.
She smiled as she watched Logan doing his thing, which was still his thing despite the fact that she was getting better at it. She walked over and hopped up on the counter and started to fill him in on Sketch's latest exploits involving a stripper and her well-connected, very jealous boyfriend. He started to laugh and she dropped a hand to her stomach, watching him, definitely a sign of good things to come.
AN:
Okay I was going to end with Lydecker and Max standing before the graves, but I really wanted to bring Logan and Max back to their anniversary, past everything that had happened and allow Max to finally be happier and free (since most of the story was basically Max being scared and afraid of losing everything). I wanted to keep her with Logan in the final chapter because the thought of losing Logan and the life they were just starting to live is what kept her from going on that mission.
I skipped doing a whole Max/Lydecker coming to grips with this together for a few reasons. First Manticore is still after him, Lydecker would put her in jeopardy. Secondly, I don't think Lydecker could ever forgive himself for what he allowed to happen, so how could he force himself into her life. The third reason is I just kinda like leaving him in the wind, her not really knowing.
Also means that I can come back and do a sequel in the future because yea a scene between Deck and the man who killed his wife, stole his daughter…That's gotta be interesting.
Thanks for reading guys and reviewing I really appreciate it even when you hate to do it. It's a damn good way to get a sequel. Okay well that's it…THANKS!
