{-For the Best-}

Sleep had offered all too brief a reprieve when tapping on the door broke the relative silence. Gently, Max slipped out of bed, first sitting and then standing, cautious with the still tender state of her back. Once she was vertical, though, it was fine.

From just about as far on the other side of the not-large bed as was possible, Alec had already donned a T-shirt and was struggling with his jeans – testing the limits of his injury with calculated movements. "We really need a bigger bed."

The lament was not lost upon Max, who had given up altogether on the idea of bending down for her shoes, and was buttoning up one of Alec's shirts instead of her own. "Mmm, only when we're all beat up." Ignoring the snorted reply, she came around to the other side of the bed, her jeans slung across her arm, and reached for Alec. "I'll help with yours if you'll get mine."

Alec shot a meaningful look toward the hallway door, but Max's raised eyebrow reminded him that without pants on neither of them could very well be expected to answer the door. "Coming," he called, and the tapping ceased.

With a good amount of maneuvering, and the added flexibility of a few hours to heal, Alec and Max managed to finish dressing. They were both feeling better but, since this day was as likely to be jam-packed as the last, there was no need to strain anything.

It was Alec who reached the door first, asking who it was and swinging the door open with his good arm, while Max poured herself a glass of milk and wondered if they might attempt dinner with their mothers again tonight.

As half-expected, the door opened to reveal Emily and Maria – looking wide-awake and not at all surprised to see the two transgenics less than at par. Maria spoke up first, hesitantly, "Good morning," while Emily eyed the evidence of last night's fight on Max and Alec.

Shrugging at the concerned looks being passed back and forth between the mothers, Alec led them in to sit down. "Morning. Don't worry – it's not as bad as it looks."

Replying quickly, Maria and Emily managed the small talk quite admirably - assuring the transgenics that they were both fine, whatever that meant, and asking various little questions. It was Maria who finally hit upon the subject of their visit, "Emily and I have made a decision; we're leaving Seattle."

Startled, Max nearly choked on her milk – a small gasp escaping when the motions to still the choke too vigorously moved her back. Still, she recovered quickly. "If this is about last night... it's... we're fine, really."

Emily cast nervous looks between the two transgenics and Maria. "It is and it isn't."

Seeing Max about to object again, Maria hastily continued Emily's train of thought. "We're a hindrance to you both right now." Again, she cut off the protest before it could be uttered, "Let me finish. You're so busy trying to protect us," she noted Max's downcast eyes and Alec's set face, "that it's leaving you vulnerable."

This time, silence met the statement. Obviously, Alec and Max wanted to protest but, after the night before, they weren't quite sure what to say. Finally, Alec began, "There's always someone to protect..."

And Max continued, "We'd still like you to stay, both of you. There hasn't been enough time..."

When Max trailed off, Maria stood quickly and rushed to envelope her long-missed child into a hug. If Max stiffened, Maria let it go. Emily motioned Alec to sit down and gently patted his shoulder, explaining the other part of their reasoning. "It's not goodbye. We'll come back when things are calmer... it's just... we need time to find ourselves again. You need time to find yourselves. There's no point all holding on to each other if we don't know what we're holding on to."

Face carefully blank, Max pulled away from Maria, "When are you leaving?" She offered a small smile of acceptance, but it didn't stretch beyond her lips.

As Emily gave Alec a quick hug and then stood, Maria stepped back to join her, explaining, "There's a bus leaving in twenty minutes. We're going to head east for a while and see where it takes us."

As best they could, the two transgenics attempted to express their feelings. How happy they were to have spent time with Maria and Emily, how sad they were to see them leave.

Neither mentioned the little flickers of thought announcing, things may never 'calm down' and that this was going to make their jobs easier. The X5s needed to lie low for a little bit, sort out a mode of attack against White and the familiars, and they couldn't do that with Maria and Emily there.

The clock edged toward goodbye, and so they all said it, and all hoped that it wouldn't be the last time. With final hugs and kisses, Maria and Emily stepped out the door to go explore their lives.