A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews! I'm glad I got such a good
response for the last chapter; I was a little worried about how you guys
would like it.
Now I have to ask you all to bear with me, for the fifty-millionth time, as
my damn computer broke, again, for the 7th time in just this month. This
time it was the switch on the monitor. Hopefully once it gets fixed again,
I'll have more time to write.
And as expected I've had about two or more grueling hours of homework every
night, so when the next chapter will come, I'm not sure. But you all know
what a royal bitch school can be. I'm doing my best because I know how much
I hate having to wait for the next chapter of a fic to go up.
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Chapter 9: To Tell The Truth
Foggle Towers
Logan stood at the threshold of Lex's room, taking in each and every one of his daughter's possessions. Her laptop had been left open on her bed, with the headphones still plugged in and several open jewel cases next to it. The half-unpacked boxes left her clothes and books scattered in various areas of the floor and closet.
"Penny for your thoughts," Max came up next to him and snaked an arm around his waist.
Sighing, Logan leaned into her and placed a gentle kiss on her temple, "I was just. looking."
Resting her head on his shoulder, Max knew exactly what he meant.
"You know, I remember the day Lex was born, I just sat up all night holding her," Max remembered aloud, feeling the need to think of happier times. "I was so scared that all of a sudden, I had this tiny little person who came into the world thinking that everything was ok. I missed you so much right then; even more than any time in when I was pregnant. Even though I had Jondy and a baby, I just felt so alone knowing that you were back here; you didn't even know Lex existed and I couldn't get over that. And then she woke up and grasped my finger with her soft little hand and just. looked up at me with those eyes, smiling and cooing. I started to cry and I lifted her to my shoulder to hug her. But she hugged me back; she put her little arms around my neck and just kept cooing as if she knew what I was thinking and was trying to tell me that everything was all right. Maybe it was just some baby-instinct thing, I don't know. But I just couldn't believe something so loving and innocent could have come out of me. And now after tonight, it's like that innocence was taken away. Like she knows that everything isn't ok. I just never wanted her to know any of the pain I did," Max choked out.
Turning her towards him, Logan held her as close as possible, "Shhh, we'll get through this. That bastard won't get away with anything he did."
"Logan, you know as well as anyone that there are too many corrupt politicians in Seattle to promise that."
"I think Eyes Only can take care of it," he looked in Max's eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Metro Medical
"Well, well, look who's up," the nurse remarked as Lex groaned and opened her eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh just peachy," Lex snapped as she tried to shield her eyes from the bright florescent lights.
"I guess I'll call you parents now to tell them your awake," she ignored Lex's sarcasm.
"Huh? No, wait!" Lex attempted to sit up. "I mean- I just wanna be alone for a little bit. I'll, uh, shout for you later."
"Hun, your family will want to see you, but they'll have to wait until the morning anyway. The hospital won't allow visitors until 8:00 in the morning," the nurse informed Lex.
"You don't know my mom and my aunt. No matter what you say, they'll be in this room before you're sad excuses for security guards have a chance to look up from their doughnuts. I'm still tired, too; it was probably just the lights that woke me up," Lex quickly tacked that lie on the end, seeing no other way to keep the nurse away from the phone. "Plus, if I'm still sleeping you may as well let my family get whatever sleep they are," she pushed her luck a little. Faking a yawn, she laid her head back down, "Could you kill the lights, please?"
Sighing, but taking Lex's word, the nurse hit the light switch and headed out the door. As soon as she was down the hall, Lex stood up and grabbed the IV rack next to her bed.
Making her way over to her jacket, in the chair where Max had left it, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and laughed to herself, "Sucker." Walking back to her bed, Lex glanced up at the clock on the wall, "2:37 a.m.," she thought in her head, "Please pick up; pick up, pick up," she tried to send the telepathic message as she hit speed dial.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Boston, Massachusetts
Hearing the shrill ring tone of her cell phone next to her bed, Kayla groaned and cracked her eyes open just long enough to cast a glance over at her alarm clock.
"Who the hell would call me at twenty to six?" she thought as she blindly searched her cluttered desk with her hand until she located the phone. Looking at the caller ID, she groaned again and let her head fall back down on her pillow, "Do the words "time difference" mean anything to you?" she mumbled as she positioned the phone between the pillow and her ear.
"You know I wouldn't call now if it wasn't important," Lex smiled at the sound of Kayla's voice on the other end.
"Waking me up before six a.m.? You better have damn well resurrected Vin Diesel."
"Well, I didn't quite pull that off, but I really need to talk to you."
"Alright," Kayla yawned. "But if I fall asleep, don't hold it against me."
"I almost got raped tonight," Lex blurted out, not knowing how else to start off the conversation.
"Lex that's not funny," Kayla warned. When Lex said nothing in rebuttal, the truth dawned on her and her eyes became wide open, "Oh my god, sweetie, you're not kidding! Are you ok? What happened? Where are you now?"
"I'm alright, I guess and I'm at the hospital," Lex started to relay what she could remember of the story to her best friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Foggle Towers
Rushing in the penthouse's double doors, Original Cindy looked around for Max and Logan, "Boo? Logan? Where are you two?"
"Cindy!" Max ran out to hug her best friend. "Still no call, but at least she's safe."
"Well, you know damn straight Original Cindy won't be getting' any sleep after hearin' what happened to baby boo."
"Yeah, I can relate," Max hung her head. "I'm gonna join Jondy in front of the TV. You know, beats tearing my hair out. I'd rather not let my mind wander right now."
"You're in good company there," Original Cindy nodded. She walked over to Logan and giving him a hug as well, "How 'bout you?"
"I think I'll get some stuff done on the computer, actually," Logan hugged her back.
"Well there's a big surprise," Jondy passed them by.
When she emerged from the kitchen again with a can of soda, Max and Cindy followed her into the living and Logan backtracked to his office. Picking up the phone, he placed a call to Matt Sung to find out more on the perp. Eyes Only would need to a lot more information before he made his first move.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Terminal City
"No, no, she's alright," Tera tried to carefully pick her words for Joshua. "A bad man tried to hurt her tonight, but she's ok now."
"Lex is ok," Joshua repeated. He'd gotten worried and started asking questions when overheard Tera say something to Gem about Lex being in the hospital. "Doctors will make her better."
"That's right," Tera reached out and patted his shoulder. "That's right, Joshua," she repeated. "She'll be all better really soon, you'll see."
"Little Fella is sad?" Joshua asked. "And Logan and Cindy and Jondy sad, too?"
"Yup, they're all sad. But don't you worry, Big Fella, they'll all be ok," she gave Joshua a hug. Watching his face twist as he tried to process his thought, Tera got up, "I'm gonna go home now, I'll see ya tomorrow, ok?"
"Night, Tera. You don't be sad, too," Joshua said as Tera walked towards the door.
Smiling slightly at his words, Tera turned and waved, "I'll try. You don't be sad."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Metro Medical 8:25 a.m.
"Seriously, Mom, I'll be fine," Lex assured Max as they walked out of the automatic doors to the parking lot along with Logan, Jondy, and Original Cindy.
"Are you sure? You'll be alone all day," Logan questioned. "I have meetings with informants until late tonight."
"And I have job interviews," Jondy backed him up.
"I'll be fine. All I need is my laptop and a TV," Lex reiterated to them. "Plus, if I really do get bored I can always just hook up some video games or something." Turning to each of the adults, she dished out her orders, "You two, go to work," she told Max and Original Cindy. "Aunt, Jondy, go to your job interviews. And you," she turned to Logan, "go to whatever meetings you have to. I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself."
Looking to one another, the four adults considered what Lex had said. Finally, as they reached the car, Max put an arm around Lex's shoulders and yielded to her wishes, "Alright, honey, if you're sure."
"I'm sure. And thanks for bringing my bike," Lex took her keys from Max. "I'll call you if I need anything." Attaching her new key to the penthouse onto her key chain, Lex started the engine and headed back home.
Coming up behind Max, Logan sighed, "She's as independent as you are."
Leaning into him, Max shook her head, "Don't remind me. How late you think you'll be out tonight?"
"I don't know. Probably until 10:00 or so. Why?"
"Just so I know whether or not I'll have to get reacquainted with Seattle's pizza delivery guys," Max answered.
"Mmmm, how well?" Original Cindy teased, referring to the 'incident' with Rafer.
"Oh, look, we're gonna be late for work," Max quickly quipped as she glared at Cindy and pointed to her watch.
Logan couldn't help but to laugh at the look in Max's eyes as she headed over to her bike without breaking her stare at Cindy.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Jondy was utterly confused. When she got no answer from Max or Original Cindy before they headed off, she turned to Logan, "C'mon, what was that about?"
Putting his hands up defensively, Logan shook his head, "Ask your sister. I'm not saying anything."
"And just why not?" What's so bad about pizza?"
"Again, don't ask me. Whatever I say, I'll end up getting in trouble for," Logan tired not laugh again as he got into his car. "I'll see you later, Jondy."
"Fine, be that way. But I'll find out from one of you sooner or later," she stuck her tongue out as she gunned her engine and headed home to get ready for her first interview of the day with a motorcycle shop in sector seven.
In his car, Logan reached for his cell phone as he back out of his parking space. Dialing the number without even having to looking at the keypad, he waited for the other end to pick up. "Hey, Sam," he said when Dr. Carr answered.
"Logan, hi. You pick your daughter up this morning?"
"Yeah, I'm just leaving now. Look, I need you to go and pull her file. Same deal as Max, don't wanna leave any tracks because the familiars were using her to get to Max back in Canada," Logan explained.
"No problem. I'm glad she's ok. I looked in on her once when she was asleep; I still can't over how much she looks like Max," Sam said.
"Try talking to her. She acts just like Max, too."
"Sounds like you'll have your hands full," Sam laughed. "Oh, and before I forget to tell you, we've had six more deaths from that drug Eyes Only had been tracking. Just though he'd want to know."
"I'll tell him. Thanks Sam."
"This stuff's deadly; anything Eyes Only can turn up to get rid of it helps the whole country. I'll talk to you soon, I've got a patient coming in," Dr. Carr said.
"I'll let you of any developments, Sam," Logan turned off his phone.
When he arrived at the restaurant he'd been told to meet the informant at, he checked around the outside first. He'd been left a cryptic massage a few days before. The person had said they needed to talk to him and had some information he should know about. It wasn't an informant Logan usually talked to, and they didn't leave a name either, but the voice was somehow familiar. He knew the voice from somewhere and the person's name was right at the tip of his brain, but simply refused to surface. After he didn't see anyone waiting around out there, he decided to go inside. Logan glanced around at the tables until he saw a familiar face and the last pieces to the puzzle fell into place.
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Ok, I know I told some people this would be up by Friday, but between school and getting sick with whatever flu bug is hiding in my locker, I couldn't get over my writer's block. And then, of course, I come on and find out about all the changes going on around here. Anywhoo. Thank you all so much for the reviews! You know by now how much of a review junkie I am. And yes, I know this chapter is a cliffhanger of sorts, but give the newly made-over purple button some love and I will do my absolute best to get the next chapter up within a week. I have most of chapter played out in my head and I have day off tomorrow. Now all I need is the motivation to take advantage of all my free time.
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Chapter 9: To Tell The Truth
Foggle Towers
Logan stood at the threshold of Lex's room, taking in each and every one of his daughter's possessions. Her laptop had been left open on her bed, with the headphones still plugged in and several open jewel cases next to it. The half-unpacked boxes left her clothes and books scattered in various areas of the floor and closet.
"Penny for your thoughts," Max came up next to him and snaked an arm around his waist.
Sighing, Logan leaned into her and placed a gentle kiss on her temple, "I was just. looking."
Resting her head on his shoulder, Max knew exactly what he meant.
"You know, I remember the day Lex was born, I just sat up all night holding her," Max remembered aloud, feeling the need to think of happier times. "I was so scared that all of a sudden, I had this tiny little person who came into the world thinking that everything was ok. I missed you so much right then; even more than any time in when I was pregnant. Even though I had Jondy and a baby, I just felt so alone knowing that you were back here; you didn't even know Lex existed and I couldn't get over that. And then she woke up and grasped my finger with her soft little hand and just. looked up at me with those eyes, smiling and cooing. I started to cry and I lifted her to my shoulder to hug her. But she hugged me back; she put her little arms around my neck and just kept cooing as if she knew what I was thinking and was trying to tell me that everything was all right. Maybe it was just some baby-instinct thing, I don't know. But I just couldn't believe something so loving and innocent could have come out of me. And now after tonight, it's like that innocence was taken away. Like she knows that everything isn't ok. I just never wanted her to know any of the pain I did," Max choked out.
Turning her towards him, Logan held her as close as possible, "Shhh, we'll get through this. That bastard won't get away with anything he did."
"Logan, you know as well as anyone that there are too many corrupt politicians in Seattle to promise that."
"I think Eyes Only can take care of it," he looked in Max's eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Metro Medical
"Well, well, look who's up," the nurse remarked as Lex groaned and opened her eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh just peachy," Lex snapped as she tried to shield her eyes from the bright florescent lights.
"I guess I'll call you parents now to tell them your awake," she ignored Lex's sarcasm.
"Huh? No, wait!" Lex attempted to sit up. "I mean- I just wanna be alone for a little bit. I'll, uh, shout for you later."
"Hun, your family will want to see you, but they'll have to wait until the morning anyway. The hospital won't allow visitors until 8:00 in the morning," the nurse informed Lex.
"You don't know my mom and my aunt. No matter what you say, they'll be in this room before you're sad excuses for security guards have a chance to look up from their doughnuts. I'm still tired, too; it was probably just the lights that woke me up," Lex quickly tacked that lie on the end, seeing no other way to keep the nurse away from the phone. "Plus, if I'm still sleeping you may as well let my family get whatever sleep they are," she pushed her luck a little. Faking a yawn, she laid her head back down, "Could you kill the lights, please?"
Sighing, but taking Lex's word, the nurse hit the light switch and headed out the door. As soon as she was down the hall, Lex stood up and grabbed the IV rack next to her bed.
Making her way over to her jacket, in the chair where Max had left it, she dug her cell phone out of her pocket and laughed to herself, "Sucker." Walking back to her bed, Lex glanced up at the clock on the wall, "2:37 a.m.," she thought in her head, "Please pick up; pick up, pick up," she tried to send the telepathic message as she hit speed dial.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Boston, Massachusetts
Hearing the shrill ring tone of her cell phone next to her bed, Kayla groaned and cracked her eyes open just long enough to cast a glance over at her alarm clock.
"Who the hell would call me at twenty to six?" she thought as she blindly searched her cluttered desk with her hand until she located the phone. Looking at the caller ID, she groaned again and let her head fall back down on her pillow, "Do the words "time difference" mean anything to you?" she mumbled as she positioned the phone between the pillow and her ear.
"You know I wouldn't call now if it wasn't important," Lex smiled at the sound of Kayla's voice on the other end.
"Waking me up before six a.m.? You better have damn well resurrected Vin Diesel."
"Well, I didn't quite pull that off, but I really need to talk to you."
"Alright," Kayla yawned. "But if I fall asleep, don't hold it against me."
"I almost got raped tonight," Lex blurted out, not knowing how else to start off the conversation.
"Lex that's not funny," Kayla warned. When Lex said nothing in rebuttal, the truth dawned on her and her eyes became wide open, "Oh my god, sweetie, you're not kidding! Are you ok? What happened? Where are you now?"
"I'm alright, I guess and I'm at the hospital," Lex started to relay what she could remember of the story to her best friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Foggle Towers
Rushing in the penthouse's double doors, Original Cindy looked around for Max and Logan, "Boo? Logan? Where are you two?"
"Cindy!" Max ran out to hug her best friend. "Still no call, but at least she's safe."
"Well, you know damn straight Original Cindy won't be getting' any sleep after hearin' what happened to baby boo."
"Yeah, I can relate," Max hung her head. "I'm gonna join Jondy in front of the TV. You know, beats tearing my hair out. I'd rather not let my mind wander right now."
"You're in good company there," Original Cindy nodded. She walked over to Logan and giving him a hug as well, "How 'bout you?"
"I think I'll get some stuff done on the computer, actually," Logan hugged her back.
"Well there's a big surprise," Jondy passed them by.
When she emerged from the kitchen again with a can of soda, Max and Cindy followed her into the living and Logan backtracked to his office. Picking up the phone, he placed a call to Matt Sung to find out more on the perp. Eyes Only would need to a lot more information before he made his first move.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Terminal City
"No, no, she's alright," Tera tried to carefully pick her words for Joshua. "A bad man tried to hurt her tonight, but she's ok now."
"Lex is ok," Joshua repeated. He'd gotten worried and started asking questions when overheard Tera say something to Gem about Lex being in the hospital. "Doctors will make her better."
"That's right," Tera reached out and patted his shoulder. "That's right, Joshua," she repeated. "She'll be all better really soon, you'll see."
"Little Fella is sad?" Joshua asked. "And Logan and Cindy and Jondy sad, too?"
"Yup, they're all sad. But don't you worry, Big Fella, they'll all be ok," she gave Joshua a hug. Watching his face twist as he tried to process his thought, Tera got up, "I'm gonna go home now, I'll see ya tomorrow, ok?"
"Night, Tera. You don't be sad, too," Joshua said as Tera walked towards the door.
Smiling slightly at his words, Tera turned and waved, "I'll try. You don't be sad."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Metro Medical 8:25 a.m.
"Seriously, Mom, I'll be fine," Lex assured Max as they walked out of the automatic doors to the parking lot along with Logan, Jondy, and Original Cindy.
"Are you sure? You'll be alone all day," Logan questioned. "I have meetings with informants until late tonight."
"And I have job interviews," Jondy backed him up.
"I'll be fine. All I need is my laptop and a TV," Lex reiterated to them. "Plus, if I really do get bored I can always just hook up some video games or something." Turning to each of the adults, she dished out her orders, "You two, go to work," she told Max and Original Cindy. "Aunt, Jondy, go to your job interviews. And you," she turned to Logan, "go to whatever meetings you have to. I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself."
Looking to one another, the four adults considered what Lex had said. Finally, as they reached the car, Max put an arm around Lex's shoulders and yielded to her wishes, "Alright, honey, if you're sure."
"I'm sure. And thanks for bringing my bike," Lex took her keys from Max. "I'll call you if I need anything." Attaching her new key to the penthouse onto her key chain, Lex started the engine and headed back home.
Coming up behind Max, Logan sighed, "She's as independent as you are."
Leaning into him, Max shook her head, "Don't remind me. How late you think you'll be out tonight?"
"I don't know. Probably until 10:00 or so. Why?"
"Just so I know whether or not I'll have to get reacquainted with Seattle's pizza delivery guys," Max answered.
"Mmmm, how well?" Original Cindy teased, referring to the 'incident' with Rafer.
"Oh, look, we're gonna be late for work," Max quickly quipped as she glared at Cindy and pointed to her watch.
Logan couldn't help but to laugh at the look in Max's eyes as she headed over to her bike without breaking her stare at Cindy.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Jondy was utterly confused. When she got no answer from Max or Original Cindy before they headed off, she turned to Logan, "C'mon, what was that about?"
Putting his hands up defensively, Logan shook his head, "Ask your sister. I'm not saying anything."
"And just why not?" What's so bad about pizza?"
"Again, don't ask me. Whatever I say, I'll end up getting in trouble for," Logan tired not laugh again as he got into his car. "I'll see you later, Jondy."
"Fine, be that way. But I'll find out from one of you sooner or later," she stuck her tongue out as she gunned her engine and headed home to get ready for her first interview of the day with a motorcycle shop in sector seven.
In his car, Logan reached for his cell phone as he back out of his parking space. Dialing the number without even having to looking at the keypad, he waited for the other end to pick up. "Hey, Sam," he said when Dr. Carr answered.
"Logan, hi. You pick your daughter up this morning?"
"Yeah, I'm just leaving now. Look, I need you to go and pull her file. Same deal as Max, don't wanna leave any tracks because the familiars were using her to get to Max back in Canada," Logan explained.
"No problem. I'm glad she's ok. I looked in on her once when she was asleep; I still can't over how much she looks like Max," Sam said.
"Try talking to her. She acts just like Max, too."
"Sounds like you'll have your hands full," Sam laughed. "Oh, and before I forget to tell you, we've had six more deaths from that drug Eyes Only had been tracking. Just though he'd want to know."
"I'll tell him. Thanks Sam."
"This stuff's deadly; anything Eyes Only can turn up to get rid of it helps the whole country. I'll talk to you soon, I've got a patient coming in," Dr. Carr said.
"I'll let you of any developments, Sam," Logan turned off his phone.
When he arrived at the restaurant he'd been told to meet the informant at, he checked around the outside first. He'd been left a cryptic massage a few days before. The person had said they needed to talk to him and had some information he should know about. It wasn't an informant Logan usually talked to, and they didn't leave a name either, but the voice was somehow familiar. He knew the voice from somewhere and the person's name was right at the tip of his brain, but simply refused to surface. After he didn't see anyone waiting around out there, he decided to go inside. Logan glanced around at the tables until he saw a familiar face and the last pieces to the puzzle fell into place.
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Ok, I know I told some people this would be up by Friday, but between school and getting sick with whatever flu bug is hiding in my locker, I couldn't get over my writer's block. And then, of course, I come on and find out about all the changes going on around here. Anywhoo. Thank you all so much for the reviews! You know by now how much of a review junkie I am. And yes, I know this chapter is a cliffhanger of sorts, but give the newly made-over purple button some love and I will do my absolute best to get the next chapter up within a week. I have most of chapter played out in my head and I have day off tomorrow. Now all I need is the motivation to take advantage of all my free time.