A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted. I'm not supposed to get on-line at work anymore and it's hard to find the time to do this at home with two little kids. Hope you like it though.

Please review! It makes my day.

Decisions, Decisions

The members of Unit 7 stood at attention in Director Renfro's office. It had been over 12 hours since the mission ended and everyone had reported back to base except Max and Alec. Director Renfro had just declared the CO's M.I.A. and Unit 7 was not happy about it.

Biggs stepped forward and spoke up "Requesting permission to conduct a Search and Retrieval Mission for X5-494 and 452."

"Permission denied, 510. Your CO's have been declared MIA, deal with it. Their loss, though regrettable, is acceptable within the parameters of your mission. I have already dispatched one team to find and destroy any evidence which might have been left behind. We will not expend more government resources in searching for soldiers who may or may not be alive. If there is anything left of X5s 494 and 452, the disposal team will take care of it."

Biggs was insistent, "With all due respect, Ma'am, 494 and 452 weren't just our CO's; they were our friends..."

"They were soldiers, 510. Soldiers are created to fight and to die, nothing more. You would all do well to remember that. " Director Renfro was really mad now and her normal "cold and calculated" demeanor was starting to crack. "X5-734, front and center"

Brin stepped forward.

"734, you will be the new Commanding Officer of Unit 7. Can you handle that?" The tone in Renfro's voice made it clear that Brin didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Brin stood up a little straighter.

"Good. Take your Unit back to their barracks and make sure they remain in their cells until further notice. Dismissed." Renfro watched as each member of Unit 7 saluted and then followed their new CO out of the office.

Unit 7 marched single file down the hall like good little soldiers. When they reached their barracks Brin stopped and turned to her teammates. She knew that weren't happy with Renfro's decisions and it was time to address the problems. "Ok everyone, listen up. I'm not any happier about this than you are. We all know that Max and Alec are out there somewhere and I can promise you that we will get our COs back, whether Renfro likes it or not." The team breathed a collective sigh of relief and Brin continued. "In the meantime, we are going to have to make the best of things, at least for a little while. Now, we've been restricted to our cells until further notice but that doesn't mean we can't start planning. Manticore trained us well. We are the best of the best. Now let's put that training to work. Ok?"

The team nodded and each headed to his or her own cell with a smile on their face. Unit 7 would be a family again, one way or another.

Max and Alec sat in the kitchen of the late Logan Cale. They had moved Logan's body into the master bedroom and removed all traces of their presence from the rest of the apartment. The virus was designed to disappear from a victim's system within a few hours of death. By the time someone found the body and conducted an autopsy, it would look like he had just died in his sleep.

There was just one thing left to do. "We have to destroy his computer files." Max said wearily. "No one can ever know that Logan was Eyes Only. He had a self-destruct mechanism in place to protect his informant net. He showed me how to activate it once, in case he was ever compromised."

"I'll help you. Do you remember what his password is?" Alec stood and together they walked back into the living room.

"It was his mother's name, but he may have changed it by now. He did that a lot, he was kind of paranoid." Max chuckled softly.

Alec sat down at the computer and began typing. "You're right, he did change it. No big deal though, I excelled in hacking. I just need to look around a bit and get a feel for the kind of guy he was; it will help me figure this out faster."

Alec walked around the living room glancing at the pictures on the wall and rifling through the desk drawers. In the bottom drawer he found a picture of Max and Logan. Max looked stunning in a red dress with her hair swept off her face and Logan was seated in a wheelchair dressed in a tuxedo. Max walked over and looked down at the picture "That was taken at his cousin's wedding, just before Manticore caught me."

Alec handed the picture to her. "Would you like to keep this? I don't think anyone would care; just don't let the guards find it." Max smiled gratefully and tucked the picture inside her jacket. Alec stood up and returned to the keyboard. This time he got the password on the first try. "His password is you, Max."

Tears began to fill Max's eyes again and Alec reached out to pull her into his lap. "It's not your fault, honey. Logan loved you; he would never have blamed you for what happened and you know he wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself." Max nodded but she didn't say anything. He reached around her and began to type again. Ok, Max, we're in. Do your thing and let's get out of here."

Max's hands flew over the keys and within a few minutes smoke began to rise from the computer tower and the screen went blank. "It's done." She said.

Without another word, the two X5s rose and walked out the front door. They didn't look back until they had reached Max's Ninja and climbed on. Max started the bike and then glanced up at the penthouse as they drove away. "Goodbye, Logan."

Neither Max nor Alec said a word as they quickly made their way out of town. There was no need to stop by Cindy's again; she knew their visit had been a one time thing and she understood. Max drove about an hour passed the last Seattle checkpoint and then stopped the cycle on the side of the road. She propped the bike up on its kickstand and turned to face Alec. He could tell by the look on her face that this wasn't going to be good. "We're going back, aren't we?"

Max was surprised by the fact that he had said we rather than you. "I have to, Alec. I'm sorry but I still have family there. I can't leave them behind. But you should go. Take my bike and run. I can tell them you got caught in the debris when the building fell. They'll never know the truth. This is your chance, Alec. You deserve to be free. " Max was crying now, the stress of all that had happened and the thought of Alec leaving was too much for her. She buried her face in his jacket and bawled on his shoulder.

Alec held her tight and slowly stroked her back. "It's ok, Max. I know about Zack and I understand. If my brother hadn't turned out to be a psycho I'd probably feel the same way. You forgot something though; I still have family back at Manticore too." Max lifted her head and stared at him through her tears. "Brin, Jes, Biggs, Paige, Cale, Meeks, they are my family. It's true that I want to leave Manticore, but not at their expense. I know firsthand what happens to the ones left behind. When I do leave, when we leave, we'll do it together. All of us." Max was touched and she leaned in for a long kiss before turning back around to drive. Guess I'm really starting to rub off on him she thought with a smile.