One leg swung casually, but with barely restrained impatience, against the arm of the chair in a rapid, repeating rhythm. The owner of that leg wanted nothing more then to jump up and start pacing the length of the room, but she refrained.
"Max, will you stop with that incessant tapping!? If you are that agitated, go outside." Came the irritated voice from across the room, the possessor of the voice not bothering to turn and address her directly, so absorbed in the computer.
She pouted slightly, feeling like a child from his reprimand, "I can't help it, Logan! This could be big…" Max paused to hop off the arm of the chair and start her pacing route… again, "you said that we're so close!"
There was a hint of accusation in her voice that was not lost on the man at the computer. Logan was well aware that he had called Max as an emergency over four hours ago to tell her that he was an instant away from breaking the insane coding. "We are that close, Max, it just takes time… I actually think that security has gone up since I called you."
Honestly, Logan would have figured that Alec's attention span was this short, but he had never thought that Max would always be moving, constantly; she could barely sit still for more then a moment. Of course, Max had insisted that when she was outside, or it was raining, she was fine. Apparently, being stuck inside for four hours on the first sunny day in a month had her a bit antsy.
For her part, Max was fighting the urge to just walk over there, push Logan out of the way, and do it herself. Push the guy who's helping you out of the way of his own computer, aww, Max, you're such a romantic. But, god, it has been FOUR hours! However, despite her internal battle, Max did understand that Logan had been feeling slightly useless in the face of always dealing with her and Alec, the transgenics. She wasn't about to make him feel even more useless in something he was proud of, even if he was helping about as much as a mosquito at the moment. Even in her head that sounded harsh, and for the thousandth time in the last four hours, Max had to remind herself that she wasn't even sure that she could break into the files any quicker. "I'm sure you'll get past the new security, Logan, you always do."
"Thanks, Max," his voice was softer now, more loving, "you don't have to stay, you know. I can call you again when I really have got it." The 'it' he was referring to was a cure for the virus that stopped Max from touching him. Logan had been tracking the cure for a few weeks now, and was certain he had found the correct database, directly linked to Manticore.
Max shied away from the loving tone to his voice; it wasn't quite something she was ready to deal with right now. It had taken her a year to even consider being ready to deal with it before, and that was prior to Manticore. Right now I can't even touch him without killing him. I'll deal with this when we get the cure. That, however, definitely wasn't right now. "Maybe I should check into my job, ya'know, see if I still have one?"
Typically, right at the moment when Max and Logan were looking at each other awkwardly, Logan with loving, and Max with deep confusion, her pager went off. Max jumped imperceptibly, and quickly looked down at the number, half angry, half grateful at the interruption. "Shit, I knew I never should have given his cell phone back!" Max muttered as she headed towards the phone.
Logan refrained from groaning, knowing exactly who she was talking about, Alec. The same Alec whose cell phone she had 'borrowed' the week before, and kept until exactly last night, having teased Alec about it the entire time. A kind of teasing that Logan wasn't exactly sure he was comfortable with, and he couldn't quite tell why. "And you're calling him why?"
Max laughed slightly as she clutched the phone to her ear, "Because, it might be important."
She chose to ignore Logan's raised eyebrow when he swiveled around to look at her, and she turned so that her back was to him, he didn't think on purpose. "Important?" He tried to keep up a teasing tone, but it seemed to be lost on the transgenic behind him.
Max laughed, but it wasn't from Logan's comment, apparently, Alec had picked up. "God, you are such a jack-ass!"
The person from the other end interrupted her rant, and Logan could tell that Max interrupted him right back, determined to take tit for tat. "No, that is not the most inventive name I can come up with, remember what I almost named you…" that sounded like a threat, not a reminder. "Ugh! Was this really the all-important reason you paged me?"
Again, there was that teasing tone to her voice that Logan missed from Max, he missed that fun side of her. The virus always reared its ugly head just when she was getting comfortable around him again. And, come to think of it… "What do you mean, almost named him? I didn't know you named him."
Max turned wide eyes on him, and even with human hearing, Logan knew that the other end of the phone was silent as well. Max was deciding what to say when Alec must have made a joke, because she laughed, looking relieved. "Pig!" she smiled slightly, sadly, at Logan, "One second, Logan…"
She rolled her eyes at the phone in response to whatever Alec had just said, obviously forgetting that he couldn't see her. Or maybe it was for Logan's benefit, he couldn't tell. "Okay, be right there," she hung up the phone and started towards the door, "Sorry Logan, he's actually got something important to say, I know, god hates me. Anyway," she turned back to Logan and winked, "gotta blaze."
Having successfully used her patented catch phrase, Max was out the door in a few steps, and it slammed with a loud bang, leaving Logan staring at it. Taking a deep breath, Logan turned back towards his computer and typed furiously, "That was… strange…"