A/N: Well, I think I'm officially among the undead now. (X-Files humor?
Lost on everyone but me? Thought so.)
Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing. I'm doing my best to get back
into the swing of things and get this project back off the ground. I had to
go back and reacquaint myself the story and its timeline- I didn't even
remember what month I was in. But now that that's over and done with, I'll
just shut up and get on with the show.
Oh- and someone asked me about Logan's walking-status, and to answer their
question, he can walk on his own- no more paralysis. When I was digging
WAMM up for a friend, I noticed I had Sam Carr tell Max in the very first
chapter. (Seems like forever ago, doesn't it? Lol.)
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 19: Looking Through You
Jondy's Apartment 8:30 p.m.
"Everything aiight with Baby Boo over there?" Original Cindy peered into the living room, where slumped on the couch, seemingly uninterested in whatever she had been watching on TV.
Glancing over towards Brittany, Jondy sighed and nervously drummed her fingers on her beer can. Brittany nodded her head, pushing Jondy to speak up.
"Alright, you shouldn't be kept out of the loop any longer," lowering her voice as she walked over towards Cindy. "Logan's proposing tonight. We would have told you earlier, but Max was here, so.."
"Well it's about damn time!" Original Cindy beamed and clasped her hands together. "But, why are we suddenly being so quiet?" she lowered her own voice to match Jondy's.
Before Jondy had a chance to answer, Lex bolted off the couch and out the door, causing all three women to spin their heads in that direction.
"Because someone has a few issues she's trying to suppress," Jondy headed out after Lex, motioning for Cindy and Brittany to stay put.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Finding Lex perched on the roof, Jondy wordlessly assumed her same position, legs hanging over the ledge and resting her arms and chin on the bar that ran around the building's top. When Lex made no indication that she was going to start talking, Jondy broke the heavy silence. "I thought you were ok with all this," she reached out and kneaded Lex's shoulder.
"I am, I guess," Lex didn't shrug off the touch, but didn't relax either. "I mean, they already live in the same place, now it'll just be on paper, right?"
"That's yourself you're trying to convince there," Jondy turned to face her niece. "Now listen, I've seen you nearly every single day since you came screaming into this world- I know damn well you're hiding something. Now spill, because you know I'm not leaving you alone until you do."
"It's not my place to complain," Lex still alluded Jondy's gentle pestering.
"Yes it is," Jondy shook her head, "It's not like you'll be completely unaffected by this."
"It's just something more to get used to," Lex shrugged. "And it' not like I'm not happy for them. I mean, after all the shit they've been through, they deserve to be happy. It's just still really. weird to me, you know? Having two parents instead of one. And Mom never dated, or even looked twice at a guy, so having a man around all the time is strange to me, even after almost five months. And say they have a baby- my only experience with little kids involves giving them back after a few hours, which was always my favorite part. And I still only have one friend in this whole city, whom I can't even see that often because of where she lives and where we go to school. And I'm stuck around all these rich kids all day who do nothing but talk about how much better they are than everyone else. And now there's talk about that stupid what's-it-called ball; I don't even know what the hell Brittany's talking about, so I'm getting sucked into that world, which is most defiantly not a good thing. And.," Lex let out all in one huge, transgenic breath, "sometimes I wish I could just change everything back," she finished in a whisper.
Smiling softly, Jondy wrapped a protective arm around Lex's shoulders, "Well, I wouldn't wanna trade places with you, but you know you gotta just roll with the punches sometimes. You can look at the bright side and see that now you know your father, which always bothered you before; you have a good school to go to; it's obvious that Max seems genuinely happier; and, Kayla would have moved anyway, all this had nothing to do with that."
"Or you can look at the crappy side and see things my way," Lex quipped.
"Sometimes you're even more of a cynic than Max is," Jondy let out a laugh- like sigh. "So how should we blow off that extra steam of yours? Chocolate? Bikes? Violence?"
"That last one sounds good," Lex nodded.
"Ok, one of your ten million Tekken games?"
"Nope," Lex hopped back off the ledge and took of few steps back, "me versus you."
"I like the way you think," Jondy grinned and joined Lex in the open space. "You're goin' down!"
"You wish," Lex mockingly cracked her knuckles and crouched into a fighting stance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Saturday, November 8th 7:30 p.m.
"You're gonna have to go home sometime," Jondy nudged Lex affectionately.
"Yeah, you didn't strike me as the timid type," Tera pointed the Lex with her chopsticks, her mouth full of Kung Pow chicken.
"I am not timid," Lex rolled her eyes. "Or scared, or a wuss, or afraid, or scared or. anything else," she cut in, seeing Jondy open her mouth to say something.
"No, you just said 'scared' twice," Jondy chided, knowing Lex's habit of repeating herself when she was lying.
"I'm fine," Lex fell back on her favorite defense mechanism.
"Need we go over your fifteen million definitions of 'fine'," Max made her presence known as she strode into the kitchen. "I've come to collect my daughter," she said, popping one of Jondy's noodles into her mouth.
"That's just dandy, but aren't you forgetting something," Jondy urged Max on with her hands.
"What?" Max fought to keep a straight face.
"We gonna see it or not?!" she grabbed Max's wrist.
Max took off the glove on her right hand, revealing the sparkling ring now adorned on her finger.
"Holy shit," Jondy breathed as she examined it, "do you have any idea how much we could have fenced a piece like this for?!"
"Jondy!" Max laughed.
"What? It was in past tense. And c'mon, like that thought hasn't crossed your mind."
"Irregardless," Max stifled another laugh as she rolled her eyes and turned to Lex, "do you plan on coming home anytime soon?" she asked in a motherly tone that implied it was more of a command than a question.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Lex sighed and forced out a small smile. Gathering her things, she bid goodbye to three remaining in the kitchen and head out the door behind Max.
Lex breathed in the crisp night air as she tried to gather her nerve and say something to her mother. The temperature had dipped quite a bit lower than usual, she noted as she watched her breath form white clouds in front of her face. Not that it bothered her, though, with her transgenic DNA to help along her physical indifference to the winter-esq weather.
"Well, you're being eerily quiet," Max tried to read what was going on in her daughter's mind. She'd expect Lex to be a little uneasy about the idea of she and Logan getting married, but she had hoped for something other than a total shutout.
"I. I'm really happy for you, Mom. For both of you- you know that," Lex stumbled slightly over her words. "You just know I'm not really too good at this. whole. kinda thing," she tried to indicate what she was referring to with a hand gesture. "You know --big things, like this." Lex let a smile spread across her lips, hoping Max wouldn't be able to see its forced nature.
"You're not just trying to tell me what I want to hear?" Max asked, even though she knew she'd an affirmative answer.
"I'm not- I mean, this was gonna happen sooner or later, right?"
"Right," Max gave a brief nod, reaching out to rub Lex's shoulders.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Penthouse 11:34 p.m.
Logan leaned back against the headboard of the bed and smiled to himself as he watched the sight in front of him. Max stood at the sink in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and tapping her finger on the counter to whatever song was stuck in her head at that particular moment. He had known for several months now that moments such as these weren't in a limited quantity anymore, but knowing that they'd legally be his forever just put a new, and oddly pleasing, twist on the thought, he mused.
"You know," Max halted her movements without even turning to look at him, "unless you've recently developed some sort of telekinetic super powers and failed to tell me, no matter how hard you stare, my shirt is staying on," she made a gesture with her toothbrush on the last word.
"Darn it," Logan laughed as he snapped his fingers.
Max gave him one of her 'I'm-trying-my-damndest-not-to-be-amused-by-you' looks as she climbed into bed side him and clicked off the light, grabbing the covers and wrapping them around her shoulder as she yawned.
"Max?" Logan asked after a few minutes, laying the backs of his fingers on the exposed skin of neck.
"Unummm," Max groaned. "How can you not be tired?" she mumbled, turning over to face him, but not opening her eyes.
"No, not that," Logan grinned and shook his head. His face straightening, he changed the subject, "What I was actually going to ask was whether or not you though Lex was acting. differently tonight."
"Yup," Max nodded sleepily.
"Well, care to elaborate?"
Seeing she wasn't to be getting any sleep, she sighed and looked up into Logan's genuinely confused eyes, "She's just being stand-off-ish because this whole idea is strange to her. But don't go asking her what she thinks about it or if she's ok, that'll only annoy her."
"So, in other words, she's being enigmatic like you and just not talking about something that's bothering her," Logan summed up.
"You know, you're not exactly Mr. Heart-On-Your-Sleeve, either," Max reminded him.
"But you don't think she's mad, at me, or anything like that do you," Logan skipped over Max's comment.
"I know she's not," Max assured him with a lingering kiss to the temple, stroking his cheek. "Now can I go to sleep?"
"Tired from last night?" Logan waggled his eyebrows.
Max yawned, and mumbled, "Ooo, yeah. You 'da man."
"Hey, what ever happened to not damaging my "delicate male ego"?" Logan laughed as Max laid her head on his shoulder and smiled. "I'm going to pretend there wasn't any sarcasm in your voice there," he tightened an arm around her waist and closed his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunday, November 9th 12:40 p.m.
Lex walked in the kitchen from retrieving the mail with a scowl on her face.
"Might I ask what the face is for?" Logan looked up from the article he was reading in the paper.
"Seeing as how your family doesn't even know I exist, they technically wouldn't miss me," she tossed the dreaded debutant ball invitation in Logan direction.
"About time this came," Logan picked up the intricately decorated parchment, reading it over.
"Yay," Lex made no attempt to hide her lack of excitement.
"You wouldn't even wanna just stick it out for one night?" Logan asked.
Her expression staying steadfast, Lex extended her right hand, "Hi, I'm Lex, I don't believe we've met. No, of course I wouldn't," she used her hand to give Logan a sarcastic smack on the side of the head.
"Well, too bad, because you're going to go and suffer with the rest of us," in a tone so parent-like it almost sounded strange to him. Putting a foot down in an argument was still a role virtually always left to Max.
"But that thing says "Logan Cale and Guest"," Lex pointed out, obviously pleased with herself for making that observation. "Mom's obviously gonna be your guest, so that leaves me here."
"Who do you think Brittany's guest is gonna be?" Logan matched her indulgent grin as Lex's face fell immediately.
"Fine," Lex spit out between clenched teeth, putting an end to their staring contest. "But nothing pink!"
"Pink isn't a 'winter color' anyway."
"And you would know that because."
"Because those are the important thins you learn growing up in the blur- collar world," Logan laughed. "If I remember correctly, I think you can pick between red, green, black, dark blue, or something like those. But I had it easier- all I needed to decide was tux or designer suit."
"You're sure I couldn't just wear a pantsuit?" Lex whined in a last-ditch effort.
"Sorry," Logan shrugged. "Rules are rules."
"What exactly are the behavior rules? Stricter than usual I'm guessing."
"Just don't do or say anything Max suggests. Rule of thumb," Logan joked, pleased to see that it brought a smile to Lex's face.
Nodding, Lex backed out of the kitchen to finish up some homework she had yet to get to. Unzipping her backpack, Lex laughed to herself as she wondered how Logan's supposedly snobby family, especially Margo, would react to seeing her and Max. Part of her was looking forward to a good show, but she couldn't help that a small part of her wanted to make a good impression.
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Well, I finally finished it! After I read through Skin Game, all the way, I sat my ass down and got to work. For those of you who don't visit either the DA board at FF or DAR, I'll reiterate again what I've decided to do regarding the rest of this story: I will finish COF. I can promise you all that much. But I plan to end it with this story- no third installment to make it a series. I don't know exactly how far I'll be taking this story, exactly how many chapters there will be, or what the hell I'm gonna do to bring it to a close, but given my wavering interest in DA in general, I do plan for this story to end the fic's run. And as always, I haven't proofread this chapter and am still beta-less, so please excuse all the errors there were.
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 19: Looking Through You
Jondy's Apartment 8:30 p.m.
"Everything aiight with Baby Boo over there?" Original Cindy peered into the living room, where slumped on the couch, seemingly uninterested in whatever she had been watching on TV.
Glancing over towards Brittany, Jondy sighed and nervously drummed her fingers on her beer can. Brittany nodded her head, pushing Jondy to speak up.
"Alright, you shouldn't be kept out of the loop any longer," lowering her voice as she walked over towards Cindy. "Logan's proposing tonight. We would have told you earlier, but Max was here, so.."
"Well it's about damn time!" Original Cindy beamed and clasped her hands together. "But, why are we suddenly being so quiet?" she lowered her own voice to match Jondy's.
Before Jondy had a chance to answer, Lex bolted off the couch and out the door, causing all three women to spin their heads in that direction.
"Because someone has a few issues she's trying to suppress," Jondy headed out after Lex, motioning for Cindy and Brittany to stay put.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Finding Lex perched on the roof, Jondy wordlessly assumed her same position, legs hanging over the ledge and resting her arms and chin on the bar that ran around the building's top. When Lex made no indication that she was going to start talking, Jondy broke the heavy silence. "I thought you were ok with all this," she reached out and kneaded Lex's shoulder.
"I am, I guess," Lex didn't shrug off the touch, but didn't relax either. "I mean, they already live in the same place, now it'll just be on paper, right?"
"That's yourself you're trying to convince there," Jondy turned to face her niece. "Now listen, I've seen you nearly every single day since you came screaming into this world- I know damn well you're hiding something. Now spill, because you know I'm not leaving you alone until you do."
"It's not my place to complain," Lex still alluded Jondy's gentle pestering.
"Yes it is," Jondy shook her head, "It's not like you'll be completely unaffected by this."
"It's just something more to get used to," Lex shrugged. "And it' not like I'm not happy for them. I mean, after all the shit they've been through, they deserve to be happy. It's just still really. weird to me, you know? Having two parents instead of one. And Mom never dated, or even looked twice at a guy, so having a man around all the time is strange to me, even after almost five months. And say they have a baby- my only experience with little kids involves giving them back after a few hours, which was always my favorite part. And I still only have one friend in this whole city, whom I can't even see that often because of where she lives and where we go to school. And I'm stuck around all these rich kids all day who do nothing but talk about how much better they are than everyone else. And now there's talk about that stupid what's-it-called ball; I don't even know what the hell Brittany's talking about, so I'm getting sucked into that world, which is most defiantly not a good thing. And.," Lex let out all in one huge, transgenic breath, "sometimes I wish I could just change everything back," she finished in a whisper.
Smiling softly, Jondy wrapped a protective arm around Lex's shoulders, "Well, I wouldn't wanna trade places with you, but you know you gotta just roll with the punches sometimes. You can look at the bright side and see that now you know your father, which always bothered you before; you have a good school to go to; it's obvious that Max seems genuinely happier; and, Kayla would have moved anyway, all this had nothing to do with that."
"Or you can look at the crappy side and see things my way," Lex quipped.
"Sometimes you're even more of a cynic than Max is," Jondy let out a laugh- like sigh. "So how should we blow off that extra steam of yours? Chocolate? Bikes? Violence?"
"That last one sounds good," Lex nodded.
"Ok, one of your ten million Tekken games?"
"Nope," Lex hopped back off the ledge and took of few steps back, "me versus you."
"I like the way you think," Jondy grinned and joined Lex in the open space. "You're goin' down!"
"You wish," Lex mockingly cracked her knuckles and crouched into a fighting stance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Saturday, November 8th 7:30 p.m.
"You're gonna have to go home sometime," Jondy nudged Lex affectionately.
"Yeah, you didn't strike me as the timid type," Tera pointed the Lex with her chopsticks, her mouth full of Kung Pow chicken.
"I am not timid," Lex rolled her eyes. "Or scared, or a wuss, or afraid, or scared or. anything else," she cut in, seeing Jondy open her mouth to say something.
"No, you just said 'scared' twice," Jondy chided, knowing Lex's habit of repeating herself when she was lying.
"I'm fine," Lex fell back on her favorite defense mechanism.
"Need we go over your fifteen million definitions of 'fine'," Max made her presence known as she strode into the kitchen. "I've come to collect my daughter," she said, popping one of Jondy's noodles into her mouth.
"That's just dandy, but aren't you forgetting something," Jondy urged Max on with her hands.
"What?" Max fought to keep a straight face.
"We gonna see it or not?!" she grabbed Max's wrist.
Max took off the glove on her right hand, revealing the sparkling ring now adorned on her finger.
"Holy shit," Jondy breathed as she examined it, "do you have any idea how much we could have fenced a piece like this for?!"
"Jondy!" Max laughed.
"What? It was in past tense. And c'mon, like that thought hasn't crossed your mind."
"Irregardless," Max stifled another laugh as she rolled her eyes and turned to Lex, "do you plan on coming home anytime soon?" she asked in a motherly tone that implied it was more of a command than a question.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Lex sighed and forced out a small smile. Gathering her things, she bid goodbye to three remaining in the kitchen and head out the door behind Max.
Lex breathed in the crisp night air as she tried to gather her nerve and say something to her mother. The temperature had dipped quite a bit lower than usual, she noted as she watched her breath form white clouds in front of her face. Not that it bothered her, though, with her transgenic DNA to help along her physical indifference to the winter-esq weather.
"Well, you're being eerily quiet," Max tried to read what was going on in her daughter's mind. She'd expect Lex to be a little uneasy about the idea of she and Logan getting married, but she had hoped for something other than a total shutout.
"I. I'm really happy for you, Mom. For both of you- you know that," Lex stumbled slightly over her words. "You just know I'm not really too good at this. whole. kinda thing," she tried to indicate what she was referring to with a hand gesture. "You know --big things, like this." Lex let a smile spread across her lips, hoping Max wouldn't be able to see its forced nature.
"You're not just trying to tell me what I want to hear?" Max asked, even though she knew she'd an affirmative answer.
"I'm not- I mean, this was gonna happen sooner or later, right?"
"Right," Max gave a brief nod, reaching out to rub Lex's shoulders.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Penthouse 11:34 p.m.
Logan leaned back against the headboard of the bed and smiled to himself as he watched the sight in front of him. Max stood at the sink in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and tapping her finger on the counter to whatever song was stuck in her head at that particular moment. He had known for several months now that moments such as these weren't in a limited quantity anymore, but knowing that they'd legally be his forever just put a new, and oddly pleasing, twist on the thought, he mused.
"You know," Max halted her movements without even turning to look at him, "unless you've recently developed some sort of telekinetic super powers and failed to tell me, no matter how hard you stare, my shirt is staying on," she made a gesture with her toothbrush on the last word.
"Darn it," Logan laughed as he snapped his fingers.
Max gave him one of her 'I'm-trying-my-damndest-not-to-be-amused-by-you' looks as she climbed into bed side him and clicked off the light, grabbing the covers and wrapping them around her shoulder as she yawned.
"Max?" Logan asked after a few minutes, laying the backs of his fingers on the exposed skin of neck.
"Unummm," Max groaned. "How can you not be tired?" she mumbled, turning over to face him, but not opening her eyes.
"No, not that," Logan grinned and shook his head. His face straightening, he changed the subject, "What I was actually going to ask was whether or not you though Lex was acting. differently tonight."
"Yup," Max nodded sleepily.
"Well, care to elaborate?"
Seeing she wasn't to be getting any sleep, she sighed and looked up into Logan's genuinely confused eyes, "She's just being stand-off-ish because this whole idea is strange to her. But don't go asking her what she thinks about it or if she's ok, that'll only annoy her."
"So, in other words, she's being enigmatic like you and just not talking about something that's bothering her," Logan summed up.
"You know, you're not exactly Mr. Heart-On-Your-Sleeve, either," Max reminded him.
"But you don't think she's mad, at me, or anything like that do you," Logan skipped over Max's comment.
"I know she's not," Max assured him with a lingering kiss to the temple, stroking his cheek. "Now can I go to sleep?"
"Tired from last night?" Logan waggled his eyebrows.
Max yawned, and mumbled, "Ooo, yeah. You 'da man."
"Hey, what ever happened to not damaging my "delicate male ego"?" Logan laughed as Max laid her head on his shoulder and smiled. "I'm going to pretend there wasn't any sarcasm in your voice there," he tightened an arm around her waist and closed his eyes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sunday, November 9th 12:40 p.m.
Lex walked in the kitchen from retrieving the mail with a scowl on her face.
"Might I ask what the face is for?" Logan looked up from the article he was reading in the paper.
"Seeing as how your family doesn't even know I exist, they technically wouldn't miss me," she tossed the dreaded debutant ball invitation in Logan direction.
"About time this came," Logan picked up the intricately decorated parchment, reading it over.
"Yay," Lex made no attempt to hide her lack of excitement.
"You wouldn't even wanna just stick it out for one night?" Logan asked.
Her expression staying steadfast, Lex extended her right hand, "Hi, I'm Lex, I don't believe we've met. No, of course I wouldn't," she used her hand to give Logan a sarcastic smack on the side of the head.
"Well, too bad, because you're going to go and suffer with the rest of us," in a tone so parent-like it almost sounded strange to him. Putting a foot down in an argument was still a role virtually always left to Max.
"But that thing says "Logan Cale and Guest"," Lex pointed out, obviously pleased with herself for making that observation. "Mom's obviously gonna be your guest, so that leaves me here."
"Who do you think Brittany's guest is gonna be?" Logan matched her indulgent grin as Lex's face fell immediately.
"Fine," Lex spit out between clenched teeth, putting an end to their staring contest. "But nothing pink!"
"Pink isn't a 'winter color' anyway."
"And you would know that because."
"Because those are the important thins you learn growing up in the blur- collar world," Logan laughed. "If I remember correctly, I think you can pick between red, green, black, dark blue, or something like those. But I had it easier- all I needed to decide was tux or designer suit."
"You're sure I couldn't just wear a pantsuit?" Lex whined in a last-ditch effort.
"Sorry," Logan shrugged. "Rules are rules."
"What exactly are the behavior rules? Stricter than usual I'm guessing."
"Just don't do or say anything Max suggests. Rule of thumb," Logan joked, pleased to see that it brought a smile to Lex's face.
Nodding, Lex backed out of the kitchen to finish up some homework she had yet to get to. Unzipping her backpack, Lex laughed to herself as she wondered how Logan's supposedly snobby family, especially Margo, would react to seeing her and Max. Part of her was looking forward to a good show, but she couldn't help that a small part of her wanted to make a good impression.
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Well, I finally finished it! After I read through Skin Game, all the way, I sat my ass down and got to work. For those of you who don't visit either the DA board at FF or DAR, I'll reiterate again what I've decided to do regarding the rest of this story: I will finish COF. I can promise you all that much. But I plan to end it with this story- no third installment to make it a series. I don't know exactly how far I'll be taking this story, exactly how many chapters there will be, or what the hell I'm gonna do to bring it to a close, but given my wavering interest in DA in general, I do plan for this story to end the fic's run. And as always, I haven't proofread this chapter and am still beta-less, so please excuse all the errors there were.