A/N: I had to make a small change to this chapter. I left a very important line out when I posted it yesterday and it was bugging me all night. Sorry everyone!

A/N #2: It will be at least a few days before I post any more chapters of this story. The next few are going to be essential to the plot and I want to get them just right. Please be patient. In the meantime, feel free to check out my other M/A fic 494: A Real Good Man. I'll have another 4 or 5 chapters of that up later today.

A/N #3: SmilinStar, thanks for the new review. Glad you liked the letter. I'm not a huge Logan fan, but that always seemed like something he would do.

Max Resurrected

Across the room 452 moaned and in an instant 494 was by her side again. Her eyes fluttered open. "Hey, you. Welcome back!" he said smiling down at her.

452 returned his smile weakly and she struggled to sit up. "What – what happened? How did I get here?"

494 reached over and helped prop a pillow up behind her. "You had a massive seizure, 452. I found you lying unconscious in the woods and carried you back here. 412 gave you a shot of Tryptophan to stop the seizures but we thought we were going to lose you for a few minutes. Care to tell me what you were doing out there in the middle of the night?"

"I just went for a walk and then..." her voice trailed off and she suddenly sat straight up, a panicked expression on her face. "Oh my God, the letter, where's my letter?" She looked around frantically.

494 leaned down and retrieved the crumpled paper from the floor where it had fallen. "You mean this? You had it in your hand when I brought you back." He carefully smoothed it out and handed it back to her.

452 snatched it away from him. "Did you read it?" she asked looking at him suspiciously.

"Nope, didn't get a chance too." He grinned unapologetically, hoping she'd reveal the contents of the letter. When she didn't volunteer anything he tried prompting her. "452?"

"Max" she whispered. "My name is Max, not 452. I'd almost forgotten who I really was."

494 accepted this without question. He had heard rumors that the 09ers had chosen real names; it made sense considering how long they had been living on the outside. To be honest he thought the name Max suited her much better than 452 anyway. "So Max...Whose the letter from?" He was trying not to appear too eager, but the curiosity was killing him. Hmmm...Curiosity killed the cat...Appropriate he thought with a chuckle.

Max sighed and handed him the letter. 494 read and reread it. It was touching, really, he could see why 452 had been crying earlier. He handed the letter back to her and casually tried to wipe his own eyes. "Is this what caused your seizure earlier?"

Max nodded and tears began to roll down her face again. 494 couldn't bear to see a woman cry, so he did the first thing he could think of; he reached over and pulled her into his lap. Max threw her arms around him and sobbed into his neck. 494 held her tight and just let her cry, gently stroking her hair. When her sobs quieted to sniffles he asked gently, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Max nodded slowly and began to speak. She told him about how she and Logan had met, how she broke into his apartment and how he in turn broke into hers; how he figured out who and what she was; how he helped her locate some of her siblings; how they danced around their feelings for each other for so long; how they finally got together and then everything that happened immediately after. She told him about everything, everything except the fact that Logan was Eyes Only, of course. It wasn't that she didn't trust 494; on the contrary, she trusted him with her life. They had become very good friends in the last few months, but that was a secret she couldn't/wouldn't reveal to anyone, not even him.

494 didn't say a word the whole time. He understood that she just needed someone to listen to her and he was surprised to realize that he was happy to be that someone. Besides, if he had said anything she might have realized that she was still sitting in his lap and then she would have moved and 494 wasn't ready to let her go yet.

Max eventually dozed off in 494's arms. He continued to hold her until the breakfast bell sounded then he gently eased her back into her bed and pulled the covers up over her. As he was tiptoeing towards the door, he heard her say sleepily "Thank you, Alec."

494 paused and looked back at her in awe. She had named him. Alec - short for Smart Alec, no doubt. He grinned at the thought. Could be worse... At least she didn't name me Dick.

Still grinning, Alec turned and made his way towards the mess hall, pulling the door shut behind him.