Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nitwit!
A/N: Keep reviewing guys. Also read the prequel 'The Days Before'
Max and Zack were walking back to the apartment from the Space Needle when Max's pager went off again.
"You can't avoid Logan forever, Max," Zack said. 'What the hell am I doing,' he thought. 'Well, it's not like I want Max around him but she doesn't even know if she likes him and besides, if that damn pager goes off again I'm going to chuck it off the Space Needle.'
Max sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just wish things weren't so complicated."
They turned the corner that led to Logan's penthouse and Zack started climbing up the side of the building.
"I think Logan would appreciate it if we don't drop in on him literally," Max warned.
"Yeah well, Logan would also appreciate it if we didn't steal, didn't knock people out, weren't genetically engineered killing machines, and became saints," he replied as he continued climbing.
"Point taken," she said, and started up after him.
"Blowin' up my pager, it better be major," Max said as they stepped into the room. Logan, as usual, was sitting in front of his computer, and jumped a mile when he heard her voice. Zack rolled his eyes at Max's catch phrase, then thought, 'I'm surprised Logan's eyes are still intact and haven't glazed over from looking at the computer by now. He should at least be cross-eyed all the time or something.'
Logan turned around in his chair and cleared his throat. "I need you two to do me a favor."
"What kind?" Zack asked suspiciously.
"An Eyes Only mission. There's a man who has been trading bombs to many dangerous people for an enormous amount of money, and I need to find out where these bombs are and who has them. The police have long since stopped searching for him but if you guys could kidnap him and drop him on their doorstep, both Eyes Only and the police would greatly appreciate it."
"Wait, wait, wait a minute," Zack said. "Hold up. You want me to go on some bogus mission? No way."
"Yeah, sorry Logan, but I'm out too," Max said. "I just got my job back and if I go missing for the shortest amount of time, Normal's gonna fire my ass. Plus, I sort of like being alive. And with the whole Eyes Only thing, please stop referring to him in the third person. We all know it's you."
"But Max," Logan protested. "It's for a good cause. I really need you to do this. Please, for Eyes On – me." 'I don't want to send her on a mission with Zack of all people, but this needs to be done,' he thought. 'Eyes Only is an important asset to our society.'
"I don't know," she said.
"I'm not going," Zack declared.
"It's going to be real easy," Logan insisted. "You and Max are going to be staying at a hotel, disguised as a married couple." He had to force out the word 'married'. 'God, saying the word married with Max and Zack in a sentence will make me puke.' "Zakes Hunarid, which is the guy's name, will be at this hotel on vacation. All you have to do is find out which suite he's in, break in and get the info on where the bomb's are and follow him wherever he goes: I think he has a secret warehouse somewhere. Then you nab him and deliver him to police headquarters bound and gagged." 'I'm a genius,' he thought proudly.
Max looked at Zack warily. "I don't know. I'll do it if you come with me," she said.
Zack sighed. 'At least this way I'll get to spend time with her.' "Fine," he said. "But it better be as easy as you say it is. I don't want my ass shot off, thank you very much and I like walking."
Logan beamed. "Great, that's just great." He handed them a bunch of papers. "Marriage license, your names are Rosa and Jake Matthews, I already booked your hotel room, don't worry, two beds, and everything else is set. You leave tomorrow." Max took the papers.
"I'm so going to regret this," she muttered then walked out the door.
"You're telling me," Zack said and he left as well.
Logan stood in the middle of the room, confused. "Was it something I said?"
Zack sat on the couch in the living room, bags packed, waiting for Max to finish getting ready. She finally stepped out wearing tight jean hip huggers and a black camisole top. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, with some loose strands framing her face. The sight took Zack's breath away. 'She looks gorgeous as usual,' he thought before he realized he was staring.
He cleared his throat. "Uh, we better get going. Plane leaves at noon."
"Miami. I gotta say, even though the mission sucks, at least we'll be having some sort of vacation," she said.
"Yeah. Your bags packed?"
"Uh huh. You got the gear?" she asked.
"Yup. We're set."
"Let's go," she said and they were about to walk out the door when Alec walked in.
"Hey guys. Oh right, you're going on that mission. You know, not fair leaving lil ol' me back here with disgruntled Normal while you guys tan in Miami," he said.
Max grinned. "Sucks to be you." With that she sashayed out the door.
Alec looked at Zack bewilderingly. "What's with her?" he asked.
"It's Max," Zack said. "You never know."
"I love this!" Max screamed as they drove toward the hotel in a flashy red Mercedes, the wind rippling through her hair. Zack was at the wheel and he looked over at her, grinning. 'This isn't too bad so far, at least Logan has good taste in cars.'
He saw the sign for the hotel and pulled into the parking lot.
"Well, here goes nothing," he said as they walked to the registration desk.
The desk clerk looked up and smiled. She was about the same age as Max and Zack, and dressed very sluttish. Her nametag showed that she was Marina, and when she saw Zack she put on a hundred watt smile which made Max scowl. Max linked her arm through Zack's and smiled dangerously, surprising Zack.
"Me and my husband should be registered in the computer," she said.
The girl looked like her mom died. No, probably worse. "Oh. Names?"
"Rosa and Jake Matthews," she said.
After a moment of scrolling, Marina found their names. She looked even more disappointed. "You're honeymooners?"
Max's jaw dropped open. "What?"
"That's right," Zack said smoothly, trying to cover up.
The girl looked at them. "But it says here in your license that you were married for a few years. You guys are just starting your honeymoon now?"
Now Zack was at a loss of words and it was Max who covered up.
"Actually, it's our second honeymoon. Our jobs were weighing down on us lately and we figured we'd have some fun," she said, raising an eyebrow suggestively making the girl blush in embarrassment that she tried to make moves on Zack.
"Right," Marina said. She handed them their key card. "Well, enjoy your stay."
"Thanks," Max said. "Come on hubby." She smiled at Zack and gently tugged on is arm, his mouth still open from astonishment. Once they were out of earshot, Max shrugged innocently. "What? She was asking too many questions so I figured I'd make her shut up." She rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's go see the room."
The thing that was really surprising them was how easy it was to lie that they were honeymooners.
"Whoa, nice digs!" Max said, and blurred onto the bed, jumping up and down.
Zack couldn't help grinning at her childish delight. The room really was great. It was enormous, perfect in every way, except…
"Max, there's only one bed."
She looked around realizing he was right. "So much for Logan coming through," she muttered.
"Don't worry," he said. "I'll take the couch."
"Oh, Zack, don't be stupid. This bed is big enough for both of us. We're adults, we can share. Besides, it's not like we haven't slept together before." She winced, realizing as soon as that came out of her mouth how that sounded. "I mean-"
"It's okay Max, I know what you mean." He checked his watch. "We better get changed. There's the whole formal party thing that will go on soon, we can find Hunarid then."
"Why do they have random parties?" Max wondered. "Oh right! I'm so stupid! Today's Valentine's day. No wonder."
"Today's Valentine's day. Never really noticed. Okay, let's get changed," Zack said.
Zack went into the bathroom to change while Max did it in the room. She put on her dress that she had bought the night before and fixed her hair. When she was done she called out to Zack. "Okay, I'm decent, you can come out now."
When Zack stepped through the door, everything except Max disappeared. She was wearing a flowing white spaghetti strap gown, with a long slit running up the side until her mid thigh. The dress hugged all her curves in the right places, and her hair was piled up into a messy bun on her head, with curled tendrils hanging here and there. 'She's a goddess,' he thought.
'Damn, he looks hot,' Max thought. She had never thought she would see the day where Zack was wearing a tux, but he looked – Damn, he looked fine. Neat but with his hair still a little messed up to portray the 'don't mess with me' bad boy look/'I'm in charge' look. She noticed he looked a little spaced out and unfocused. "Zack?" She walked up to him. "Zack, you there? Whaddaya think?" She twirled around.
He seemed unable to process anything for a while, but he realized she was talking to him and the words tumbled out of his mouth. "You look… gorgeous Maxie."
She flushed. "Really?"
"Yeah."
She walked up to him, her dress swishing. She straightened his bow tie. "You look pretty handsome yourself. Come on, let's go." With a nod from Zack, they left.
A/N: How did you like it? I think it was okay. More Max/Zack goodness coming up soon. God, I'm such a hopeless, pathetic romantic. So people, come on and review. REVIEW PLEASE! Thnx LOL Hope you liked it! Max/Zack hooking up either next chapter or the one after that.
Thanks to:
kiwifruit03 – Thanks so much for your review. I love pranking Logan. LOL
willow98002 – When I was first typing the 'decorating' part, I wrote that Logan screeched like a girl but I changed it because Max has to have a least a teeny weeny bit of conflict of who she really wants. (I personally don't see the conflict. I mean Logan loser/nerd Zack hottie Thanks for reviewing!
Iridescent Twilight – LOL! Love your sense of humour. When I was first typing this, I made everything (paint) permanent, but then changed it to washable. Should I have kept it permanent and destructive? Let me know. When I'm done this fic I'll go back and correct stuff. Thanks for reviewing!
shygirl1 – I can't thank you enough for always reviewing. But I'll do it again. LOL Thanks so much! Max and Zack are hooking up soon!
REVIEW PLZ! (electronic kisses)