First of all, Thank you, thank you, thank you to all that reviewed the first chapter of this story. I have never received so many reviews in such a short amount of time. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. On with the story and good luck in the New Year. Enjoy.
Original Max A
"Feelin' better?" Original Cindy asked giving Max a cup of tea. She sat next to her on that couch as Max sipped slowly. Max put the cup down and nodded.
"Yeah. I'm aiight," she replied softly.
"So what? Do you think you're sick, like stomach virus or something?"
Max shook her head, "Nah. Genetically-engineered super soldier, remember? My immune system is like top security with fences, dogs and the whole nine."
"If you say so, boo. But you don't go puking like that fo' nothin'"
"True dat," Max agreed, "Looks like I might have to see Sam."
"Who?"
"Logan's doc."
"You sure that's cool?"
"Yeah. He's good people."
"Oh…" Original Cindy replied and bit her lip. She looked at Max, tumbling questions over in her mind.
"What!" Max demanded.
"Nothin', just thinkin," she said and got up, "You want some more tea."
"No, I'm cool. What were you thinking?"
"Neva mind, it doesn't make sense."
Max folded her arms and raised her eyebrow at Original Cindy.
"Try me," she dared.
Original Cindy rolled her eyes, "Aiight, aiight. Original Cindy was just thinking…that maybe…" she took a deep breath, "Maybe you have a bun in the oven."
"What are you? Nuts! No way," Max concluded. She stood up and started pacing.
"No, no, no, no, no!" she stated as she continued to pace and then stopped in front of Original Cindy.
"Anyway, symptoms wouldn't show up for a few weeks. Even if I was, which I'm not, I wouldn't throw up the day after."
Original Cindy put her hand on her shoulder, "But, girl, you're so revved-up, how do you know that's not revved up too?"
Max shook her head, "It wouldn't be like this. I'm telling you, something else is up."
Just as Max went to grab to the phone to call Logan, someone knocked on the door. Max and Original Cindy froze and looked at each other for a moment.
"You expecting someone?" Max asked, holding the phone to her chest.
"Uh-uh," Original Cindy replied.
Max put the phone back in the cradle and signaled for Original Cindy to answer the door.
"What?" Original Cindy questioned, not getting what Max was doing.
Max sighed in annoyance, "Just answer the door."
Max moved just outside the frame of the door, in case of some sort of attack. Original Cindy grabbed the knob and Max nodded to her.
"May I help you?" Original Cindy asked once she opened the door.
There was an Asian woman standing in front of her who was about 20 or so. She was dressed in black pants, shirt and a long black jacket. Her hair, once in a tight French braid, was now wild. Her eyes were a little red.
"Is Max here?" she asked.
"Who wants to know?"
"Her sister, Brin."
Seeping with anger, Max turned over
to see her sister, "What do you…"
Her rage caught in her throat as she took in Brin's
haggard appearance.
"Max, I need your help."
Max stayed halfway in the door assessing the woman in front of her. She could believe that Brin had the nerve to see her and still call herself her sister. They had done to Brin what they couldn't do to Max during the months that she was at Manticore; they had turned her back into a solider. As a reprogrammed solider, Brin captured their other sister, Tinga, and when Zach, Syl, Krit and Max attacked Manticore, Brin chose to stay. With Manticore now burnt to the ground and the high-ups trying to eradicate its existence, Max thought that maybe that was why Brin thought she could just walk back into her life claiming to still be family, but she couldn't be sure.
"Original Cindy, go to the window, see if there's anyone outside," Max ordered.
"What am I looking for?" she asked once she got to the window.
"The men in black and if they are not there, then dudes who look out of place with shiny black shoes," she directed, never leaving the doorway.
"I'm alone, Max," she said in a sharp monotone.
"Let me be the judge of that."
Original Cindy returned shaking her head, "I didn't see anything,"
"Do you want to check for yourself, Max, and make sure she didn't miss anything?" Brin mocked.
"No. I trust her," she replied, staring Brin down, "You packin'?"
"What do you think?"
"Hand it over!"
"You must be insane."
"Hand it over or walk! I don't know why you're here, Brin, but if you need my help, then we're doing it my way," she demanded and held her hand out for anything and everything that Brin had brought with her. Brin gave Max her guns and a knife.
"Now do you trust me?" Brin asked.
"No," Max replied and moved to let Brin in.
"Like I began to say, what do you want?" she demanded and shoved Brin into the couch. Brin glared at Max for a minute, angered at the kind of treatment she was receiving, but she couldn't be choosy about her allies.
"I need
to disappear."
"Don't we all," Max snipped,
standing in front of her.
"Look, Max. I need to get to somewhere where they can't catch me and I need to do it soon."
"You got two legs. Why do you need me?"
Brin opened up her jacket to reveal a very swollen belly.
"Because I've gotten as far as I can on my own," she replied.
Original Cindy moved to Max's side.
"Wouldja look at that?" Original Cindy turned to Max with a smirk on her face, "Looks like you're not the only one."
Brin looked at Max up and down, "If you're pregnant and no showing, then you must not have conceived at Manticore. I cannot believe that you would breed with one of the diseased miscreants out here. You could have at least…"
"Brin! You came to me to save your ass. I don't think you're in a position to judge my choices," she stressed.
Max stormed away from Brin and grabbed her jacket, "Come on, we're going to see a friend of mine."
"Who?" Brin inquired tersely.
Max ignored her and opened the door wide open, "Just follow orders, solider."
Max and Brin arrived on at their destination about 20 minutes later. They climbed the steps and Max knocked on the door.
"No one home," a gruff voice replied
"Come on, Big Fella. It's me!" Max called. Brin gave her a questioning look.
Max smirked, "Trust me."
Just then, Joshua opened the door. Brin, instantly got into a defensive stance, reacting to Joshua's appearance. He looked at Brin and then shut it. Max was taken back in surprise by Joshua's behavior. Confused, she banged on the door again.
"What's wrong?" she shouted.
"Her!" Joshua grunted from the other side of the door, "Manticore!"
"Joshua, it's okay. She's with me. I need you," she yelled through the door.
"Why?"
"I need you to do me a favor," Max stated.
Joshua opened the door, "What favor?"
"Let us in and I'll tell ya, Big Fella."
Joshua nodded and let them in.
"Look after her," she said, once they were inside, "And make sure she doesn't go anywhere."
Brin looked at Max in disgust, "You really expect me to stay here with this…nomlie?"
Joshua growled in her direction.
"Shut up, Brin! I told you, we're doing this my way," she ordered and then turned her attention back on Joshua, "Can you do this for me?"
"Yes. But come back."
Max smiled, "I will. Just…"
"Wait! Why are you leaving me here?" Brin demanded.
"Until I can figure things out, you'll be safe here. Joshua will protect you, if you need it," Max explained.
Brin shook her head, "I don't like it."
"Tough!" Max responded annoyed, "You came to me remember? This is the plan so far, take or leave it."
Brin remained silent and slowly took a seat in one of Joshua's chairs.
"Okay," Max said and then turned to Joshua.
"I'll be back in little while," commented she and hugged him.
"Be safe, little fella"
"You too," she replied and left the house.
"Logan!" Max shouted, unapologetically entering his apartment. She was so focused on Brin's reappearance that she didn't have time to think about the repercussions of last night, until she entered the apartment. All of her feelings came back in a rush and the mission-driven ride down here was forgotten. Although she told Original Cindy that she would feel comfortable around him again, now she wasn't sure. At least with Brin around they had something else to focus on besides each other. Max hoped that would make things…more manageable.
"Hey," Logan called coming up to her.
"Hey," she replied smiling.
"How are you holding up? He asked cautiously.
"I'm alright. You?"
He smiled, "Good. Actually better than I've been in a while."
"Me too," Max replied and they fell into a peaceful silence.
This was the comfortable part. Max felt like the edge was gone, the constant pressure she felt to do the impossible to get what she wanted. They could now look at each other with a little less regret and sorrow in their eyes over what could have been. Now they were better able to stop looking at what could have been and instead looking at what is. Somehow, the present didn't seem quite as bleak as in did before. The night they had spent together renewed something in their relationship that neither often acknowledged, but both needed…faith.
The virus had taken so much energy out of their relationship that sometimes it was hard to understand why they kept on trying. Logan sometimes felt like he was crawling and begging for the straps of emotional caring that Max would give to him. He loved her, yes, but a man's pride could only take so much. What Max thought was protection, was punishment for Logan for the crime of wanting to be with her and damning the consequences. Max still hurt over her ability to hurt him. Causing pain to the ones she loved and considered family made her feel unworthy of the air she was breathing. But now as they looked at each other, they began to realize something, somehow, things were going to be okay because they believed it, because they had faith.
Logan shook his head, "So, from the way you walked in here, I take it, this isn't a social visit."
"Nah. Brin is in Seattle."
"Brin?" Logan questioned. That was a name he hadn't heard in a long time, not since Max's other sister, Tinga died.
"Yeah. She's knocked up and needs to disappear," Max stated with a little disdain in her voice.
"Do you want to help her?" Logan asked.
"I have to," she replied walking around him.
She faced Logan, "I have to help her."
"Despite was she did to Tinga?" Logan challenged.
Max looked at the floor.
"I can't change that, Logan," she replied and then looked up, "But at least if I help her, I can stop another niece or nephew from becoming motherless."
Max walked back up to him, "You know what will happen to her if she gets caught. They're not trying to capture transgenics anymore, they are trying to kill us and I won't stand back and watch if I can stop it."
"She could just be playing on your sympathies, Max. You and Zach helped her before and she knows you'll do anything for family."
"Maybe, but I told you. Pregnancy is a career killer for a solider," Max commented and cocked her head to side, 'So, could you please hook a girl up?"
"Alright, but there's something about this I don't like Max," Logan replied.
"Me too," she agreed, "But for right now…let's just try to get this bitch over with."
A/N: So Dr. Sam Carr is mentioned in this chapter. Honestly, I don't remember if or when he ever learns about who Max really is. I just know that in After The Dark, it was Sam to did the test on Max and Logan's blood to see if the virus was gone.