Disclaimer: All of the characters that appeared on the TV show Dark Angel (Max, Zack, Logan, etc.) belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).
"Hey, Logan," Max said as she entered Logan's apartment later that day. "Told you I'd be back after work."
"Max," Logan said. He turned around and walked over.
Max smiled. "I see you're wearing those braces again."
"I wear them from time to time," Logan said. "Depends on what I need to do and if I'm gonna be spending a lot of time in public or not."
"Cool," Max said. "I brought Becky here with me. I hope you don't mind."
"No," Logan said, trying to hide his disappointment. "I don't mind."
"I'm sorry," Becky said. "I don't really know anybody in Seattle except you guys, and Original Cindy had a date. If you guys want some alone time, just let me know and I'll go in the other room."
"Thank you," Logan said. She seemed much more reasonable and friendly than Zack. "I want to get to know you anyway."
"So, Logan, get anywhere in cracking the passwords on that disc?" Max asked.
"I'm getting somewhere," Logan said. "The security's even tighter that I'd originally thought that it was. It seems to be structured pretty much the way that I expected it to be: the higher the priority of the files, the heavier the encryption. Everything on the X-series seems to be among the most heavily encrypted files."
"Makes sense," Becky said. "We were the most versatile and consequently we had the most potential of any of the soldiers that Manticore produced."
"I only have the passwords to some basic files decrypted so far," Logan said. "It seems to read pretty much like an instruction manual or a textbook."
"If they had to bring in someone new, that kind of format would help them get up to speed," Max said.
"Anything interesting in those files or is it pretty much just a 'Hi, this is Manticore. Our purpose is to...' kind of deal?" Becky wondered.
"That's pretty much the gist of it," Logan said.
"Oh," Max said.
"Don't worry," Logan said. "Max, these things take time."
Becky nodded. "He's right. The instructors in IT would tell us that all the time."
"I must have bailed before they started with the harder programming and hacking lessons," Max said. "I remember the basics and I can do some file hacking, but anything serious like this is beyond me, at least it is right now."
"Becky, do you mind..." Logan said.
"Nope," Becky said. "I'll be in the other room." She walked out, leaving Max and Logan by themselves in the living room.
"Max, I missed you," Logan said.
"I missed you, too," Max said. "I thought of you almost every day. You helped me keep my head on straight while I was stuck there."
"Max, I..." Logan bent down to kiss her on the lips. Max responded, but gently pushed Logan away before he could deepen the kiss.
"Later," she said.
"But, Max, I thought you wanted to continue what we were going to have," Logan said.
"I do," Max said. She looked down for a moment before looking back at Logan. "I really do, but I want to take things slow. I know, you've been waiting for the past three months for me but our relationship was only starting to build when I got recaptured by Manticore. We need to pick up where we left off, not where we might have been if I hadn't disappeared off the face of the earth three months ago." She smiled at him. "Logan, I want this relationship to work. I want it to go right. It's like decrypting those passwords on the database: it will take time. We have the time now. I'm out of Manticore and there's no way that they can take me back again now."
"You're right," Logan said. "You're absolutely right. I can't help thinking about where we should be right now, though. That helped me get through the last three months."
"I know," Max said. "We will—" Her cell phone rang. "Excuse me for a sec." She walked into the other room.
Logan sat down on the couch and sighed. She wants to take it slow. She is right. I agree with her completely. I want this relationship to be the most perfect thing I have ever done. I'm not going to have it blow up in my face like my train wreck of a marriage did.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Becky asked.
Logan turned around and saw her standing behind him. "You startled me."
"Sorry," Becky apologized. "Max wanted some privacy while she took her phone call, so I thought I'd come back in here." She smiled. "You said you wanted to get to know me better, so now's as good a chance as you're probably gonna get."
"True," Logan said. "You don't look like you're that much younger than Max."
"I'm not," Becky said. "Only about three years." She sighed. "Sorry, I'm just getting a little sick about talking about myself. Zack, Max, Original Cindy...it's just getting a little old."
Logan laughed. "I can see what you mean. If you're not that much younger than Max, then you'd be one of the older X6s?"
"The oldest," Becky confirmed. "Commanding Officer of X6 Unit 1 back in Gilette, as well as that facility's entire group of X6s. Had to really earn that last one." She grinned to herself when she saw Logan look a little nervous. Good. He should be kept on his toes.
"Are you guys upgrades of the X5s since you're one generation after them? Is that how it works?" Logan asked.
"We were supposed to be upgrades of the X5s, but for the most part we aren't," Becky said. "I think that's mostly how it works, but I know that some generations are designed for certain purposes, like the X7s." Like I'm going to tell him that I am an upgrade. Gotta keep something in reserve when dealing with a potential threat, even if it's only a threat to your best friend's love life.
"You seem a little more reasonable than Zack. That guy just flat out hates me," Logan said. "Krit didn't take too much of a shine to me himself when we met a few months ago, though Syl seemed a little nicer."
Gee, I wonder why. "Maybe it's a male X5 thing," Becky offered.
"That was Zack," Max said. "He was giving me the new contact number. He wanted me to pass it onto you. I'll give it to you when we get back to the apartment."
"Great," Becky said with a grin.
"I should get going," Max said. "You up for going to Crash tonight, Becky?"
"Sure," Becky said. "It was nice seeing you again, Logan."
"It was nice seeing you again too, Becky," Logan said.
"I'll call or stop by tomorrow," Max promised. She and Becky left the penthouse and got in the elevator. "I still wish he'd gotten more of the database cracked. It'll be nice to know more about ourselves."
"I know," Becky said. "I'm sure he'll get it cracked soon."
"I know he will," Max said. "I've got complete faith in him. In everything."
Becky looked at Max, but didn't say anything. I'm glad you have faith in him, 'cause I sure don't. I don't have a good feeling about Logan, but I guess actions speak louder than words. I'll give him a chance and play nice for your sake, but if he steps out of line one way or another, all bets are off. I don't know why I don't have a good feeling about him. Maybe it's just a personality conflict. I guess all I can do is watch and let him prove himself one way or another.
TBC