Warning: Ranting ahead. You might not want to read if you have concern for your sanity. You have been warned.
How should I explain this thing? Well, season two of Dark Angel was a series of bad decisions one right after the other. It's kind of unfortunate that the best episode of that season had nothing to do with the main "couple" (The Berrisford Agenda).The virus thing was a very annoying idea that good have been overcome easily, as proven by the last episodes. It would have been cool if it had been used effectively. There are many ways to get passed the "no-touching" rule, as proven by countless Rogue (from X-Men) scenarios. Anyway, enough of my ranting about a show that has been cancelled for more than two years. This story will highlight the biggest obstacle that Max and Logan had when trying to be together… each other. It takes place during "Borrowed Time" and goes on a tangent from there. Enjoy.
Original Max A
"How about a perfect quickie?" Logan asked playfully, but the look in his eye told Max that he was at least half-serious.
She wanted to take full advantage of this wonderful, if temporary miracle, but for her that didn't mean just sex. It meant taking pleasure is something as simple as helping Logan make dinner for them or brushing up against him. It meant packing all the things she had missed in the past few months and all the time they had wasted into a few hours.
"Open this," she laughed handing him a bottle of wine. Happily obliging her, Logan took the bottle and went into the kitchen to get the cork opener. As he walked away from her, Max seriously began to reconsider her position. Maybe a quickie wasn't such a bad idea, she thought as she walked to the counter. Logan turned and made eye contact with her as he was open the wine. Feeling as if he could read her thoughts, she suddenly felt a little shy and smiled. This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.
"So how did this happen anyway?" he asked her.
"Long story," she replied, shaking her head.
"I'm all ears," Logan said, handing her glass of wine.
"Well, you remember when Joshua painted all over my lab papers?"
"Uh-huh."
"It actually helped. I was able to derivate an equation for a serum that would block the virus in my blood. I had it checked out by a lab tech and he said I was right. Of course for him to make the thing for me, he wanted some ched."
Logan looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"How much?"
"Do you really want to know?" she challenged.
"You didn't."
"Logan."
"You did."
"Hey, my skills are a little rusty. I needed the practice," Max smiled.
Logan laughed, "So what did you steal?"
Loosed up by the wine that they just had, Logan and Max were lying silently on the couch, listening to the music that he had put on. Apparently, he had a jazz collection that he kept hidden. It surprised Max when he first put it on, but it instantly relaxed her. Listening to it made this time all the more perfect. She knew that many times jazz artists used improvisation in there works and somehow it was beautiful. Somehow the complexity, mistakes and spontaneity all worked. It all came together into one intricate, incredible whole. Looking up at Logan, she thought about how that explained perfectly how they were. They had made so many mistakes and somehow they were making it work. It was hard, but she never lost faith. If she did, she would not be comfortable right now, sitting across his lap and leaning her head into the crook of his neck. She took in his smell and feeling of him rubbing her back. Perfect was the only word she could think of to describe this moment. She felt more like herself than she had in a while just sitting there and listening to him breathe. In the beginning, she hung out with Logan because he made her feel normal, but now with the trangenics being all over the place and the virus (although currently in submission) she could not even pretend to be normal anymore. And Logan was still here, loving her. Accepting her. And that's what she loved about him.
Max took a deep breath. She knew it was probably really hard for Logan to take it slow like this, but she really appreciated it. She appreciated him and things he did to make her happy. But she felt it was time for a change.
"Logan," she whispered.
"Mmm," he replied turning to her, smiling.
Max returned the smile and kissed him. Their mutual passion surrounding them, Max felt like she was falling in love all over again with each kiss. They carefully made their way to the bedroom and made love for 8 hours, 15 minutes and 20 seconds.
Time to go, Max's mind said to her, time to get up and walk away. Max's mind said to her,
Just a few more minutes please, she begging, trying to get closer to Logan's body.
She shifted some more and accidentally woke him up. He yawned for minute and then looked down at her. He thought there was nothing more beautiful than seeing Max with him in the morning. He smiled at her and she returned in whole-heartedly. Then his eyes changed. He knew she had to go. As Max had said ten hours may seem like a long time, but it wasn't, not for them anyway. Max could almost see what was going on in his head. She wanted to say something, but nothing seemed right at the moment. What was she going to say? "Gotta blaze." "See ya later." "It was fun." Or utter "I love you," like she had a million times over last night. How could she leave when she knew it might be permanent and they might never be like this again? She looked at him with all of her questions in her eyes, the most prominent of which was simply how to say goodbye.
Logan took a breath and smiled at her again, more sad this time. Logan bent down and kissed her sweetly, tenderly, lovingly. But as with most things with Max, what started out simple soon got heated. She touched and grabbed for him as he held on to her hair. He always had this slight obsession with her hair. He loved it, but this had to stop. Gathering up the limited control he had left, he pulled away from her. The whimper she made when he pulled away almost made him reconsider about letting her go, but he knew she would never forgive herself if anything happened to him.
He pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, "Just go."
That was the exact same thing that he said to her the first time they had kissed almost a year ago outside his uncle's cabin. She had the same look on her face as she did back then. She looked lonely and scared, but most of all she looked sad about what she was about to miss and who she was about to leave behind. But Logan also saw the determination inside her sad eyes. She would do what she had to do even if it broke her heart.
Promising herself that she would not to cry, Max made her way out of the bed and silently put her clothes back on. She left without looking at Logan again because she knew if she did, she would break her promise.
"And that's it," she said, relating a much edited version of what happened to her yesterday to Original Cindy. She knew she hadn't been hanging with her girl too much, but she needed her. She needed a friend who was related to her "around-the-way" girl past.
"So it's ova?" Original Cindy asked sitting down next to Max, "You bang the gong once…"
Max looked at her sideways.
"Ok, more, but it only counts as once and you two are back were you were before?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Umm. Now that's a bitch."
"Don't I know it? It's weird. I've slept with guys during heat and get totally flushed if I see them again. It feels awkward and all of a sudden I feel dirty. Like I need to take a non-stop shower for a month. But I don't think it will be the same with Logan."
"What do you think it'll be like?" Original Cindy asked.
"Honestly, comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable and I might end up killing him," Max responded looking off into the distance.
"Well, at least you finally got to do something about your feelings for him after all of this time."
"Yea, I guess so."
"But one thing, though. Please don't go 'round with that, "I'm a danger to e'erbody" dealio. Logan's tired of hearin' it and so is Original Cindy," she stated.
"I told you before, that's what keeps everybody safe."
"And what keeps you alone. Listen, was Logan being in a wheelchair a problem fo' you when it came to wantin' to get wit him?"
Max looked at Original Cindy like she had grown two heads, "Of course not. That ain't what was important. I cared about him and not what he could or couldn't do. Besides, it was more his problem than mine. It truly didn't matter to me. He was just too stubborn to realize it sometimes."
Original Cindy looked at Max with that all-knowing glare in her eyes.
"If ya won't listen to Original Cindy, listen to yourself."
Max took a deep breath. There were ways around the "no-touching" problem. They could beat this thing. One thing she learned last year was that they make an awesome team and hopefully that would be enough for them to get what they both wanted.
"I gotta..." Suddenly, Max felt a sudden pain in her stomach. She felt like she had been punched hard in the stomach and her internal organs were now doing summersaults in her body. Grabbing her stomach and her mouth, she raced into the bathroom and throw up in the toilet.
"Max!" Original Cindy shouted going after her, "What's up, boo?"
Max's only response was the constant regurgitation of her food from the past twenty four hours. Original Cindy rubbed her back trying to provide some type of support or comfort. Finally, Max relaxed and sat on the floor next to the toilet.
"What was that all about?" Original Cindy asked.
Max looked up at her and shook her head, "I have no idea."