A/N: My forgetfulness has reached a whole new level of pathetic. See, when
I write a chapter, I always write it through, but then go back and extend
the scenes to build up on the story- it's how I edit. So I go to work on
this here little story, and the last thing I find on my floppy disk is Ch.
19. Now of course I don't remember what I ended on the last time I worked
on this. So I open it, I start extending the scenes, I write about 4 more
pages, and- wow! - I'm ready to post. So I go online, get signed in here,
and what do I see? That I have already posted Ch. 19. It was finished. And
mother of shit, did I feel stupid. Lol.
**So listen up**- The two 'big, important' scenes in Ch. 19 have been extended by quite a bit. Should you do desire, there's something else for you to read.
Other than that- I know this took so long, yada yada yada; I'm sorry, so on and so on; I'm lazy, etc. and all other excuses/apologies.
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 20: What Could Have Been
Terminal City Monday, November 10th 9:40 p.m.
"That still eatin' you?" Tera nudged Lex with her footing as she bit at her pen cap. As much as Tera loved sciences classes, she loathed to no end the math courses she was required to take along with them.
"What? The fact that I am, in fact, transgenic, but the sight of a dog-man and a six foot tall lizard still weirds me out me out in a major way," Lex answered flatly as she stared blankly at the command post, where Joshua and Mole were talking about something on one of the computer screens.
"Well, that's because you grew up with normal humans and two X5s- who look totally human," Tera shrugged as she looked up from her textbook. "But that's not what I meant."
"Then what are you getting at?" Lex tried to keep the dance around the bush going.
"It's that engagement deal getting you down isn't it?"
"Let's drop it," Lex turned her eyes to Tera.
"What, you don't wanna go hand out over there," she gestured to the squealing group of X-series that had formed around Max, including Gem, to see the ring for themselves. "Or are we not feeling very squealy right now?"
"Why is everyone so worried about me?" Lex threw her head against the back of the couch. "Believe me, if I was pissed or sad about this I'd be holed up in my room skulking and bitching, not here," she let out a wry laugh.
"Hey, 'few say so," Tera shrugged.
"Don't you have homework you should be doing?"
"Well, yeah. I started drawing the unit circle, but then I got side tracked and turned it into a doodle of a sheep."
"A sheep?" Lex leaned forward curiously.
Tera shrugged, "Last week one of my sine curves somehow turned itself into a birthday cake."
"You do realize you could just memorize what you have to put where in less than a minute, right?"
"Sure, but since I'm never gonna need any of this crap, why bother? Anything useful will stick around in the back of my mind anyway, I might as well draw some of these high-class works of art while I'm at it," Tera winked.
Meanwhile, Max climbed the steps leading to the command post where Joshua and Dix were arguing with Mole about something or other.
"Hey, Max!" Dix jumped up excitedly when he saw her approach. "Congratulations, I heard the news about you and Logan."
"Yeah, I, uh think it's sweet," Mole gave her a slight nod and brief pat on the shoulder, which for him was a rather large display of affection.
"Little Fella!" Joshua scooped Max into a giant bear hug. While the total concept of marriage was still a little lost him, all he needed to see was the smile in Max's eyes to know it was something to get excited about.
"Hey there, Big Fella," Max smiled and choked out. "Lighten up, you're gonna break a few ribs," she laughed.
"Sorry," Joshua gently put her back on the ground. "Max and Logan, getting' married, in the summer?" He asked, in his way of seeing if what he'd heard was true.
"Yeah," Max nodded, but was a little confused. "How'd you know that?"
"Cindy was down here yesterday," Dix smiled. "And Tera told Gem."
"I should have figured as much."
"Well I hate run off, but we have to get something checked out on one of the cameras," Dix gestured to himself and Mole. "Maybe we'll see you again later," he waved, grabbing a few supplies as he headed out.
"Where's Logan," Joshua looked around, expecting to find him.
"He had some work he had to finish. An article, his deadline's coming up," Max said, noticing a look of confusion come across Joshua's face. "Why?"
"Joshua thought married people stay together. Cindy said," Joshua shook his head.
"Well, yeah, married people live together and do a lot of thing with each other, but that doesn't mean they have to go everywhere together all the time," Max tried to clear the idea up.
"But, Little Fella already does that?" Joshua asked, not seeing any difference.
"Yes, but now it'll just be official."
"Official," Joshua repeated, liking the sound of that.
"You get it now?" Max smiled up at the towering canine.
"Yeah, Joshua gets it."
"Ah, Max, always so helpful," Alec joked as he came up behind them. "So I hear you have this ring that'd bring in a rather nice supply of dead presidents," Alec picked up her wrist to get a closer look.
"That an invitation for me to laugh or break your jaw?"
"Aw, c'mon, Maxie. Don't I deserve a little credit here?"
"Not when you call me 'Maxie', you don't," Max pulled her wrist away.
"Well there's the last time I try and extend some friendly congratulations," Alec laughed.
"Oh, that's what that was?" Max smiled.
"You know what comes now, right?" Alec hinted, a sly expression snaking across his face.
"No, but what reason would it give you to get excited?" Max unsure this was going in a good direction.
"The bachelor party," Alec waggled his eyebrows. One thing he would frown about was the prospect of strippers and beer, especially when they came together, Alec mused, laughing to himself as he tacked on the inward thought, "no pun intended."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tuesday, November 11th 12:25 p.m.
"You were up and out early this morning," Logan turned around to see Lex coming in through the penthouse's double doors.
"Yeah, well, I had something to take care of," Lex brushed past him briskly, disappearing down the hall without taking her eyes off the floorboards. She was holding onto the straps of her backpack rather tightly, which, unusually, as Logan were on both of her shoulders, instead of slung over just the left one. While Lex still wasn't usually much of a conversationalist, it was obvious to Logan that she up to something and didn't want him to know what. She hadn't said anything about his birthday, either, which bothered him in the back of his mind. When Max had had her birthday back in July, Lex playfully teased her for a week before then about how old she was getting. Logan surely didn't need to be reminded of his age, but Lex's resurfacing aloofness made him feel once again like the outcast.
Down the hall, Lex closed the door to her room behind her and locked it, out of habit. Turning on her TV for background noise, she opened her backpack and pulled out what she had been hiding- a picture frame. She had been worried it would be too big to fit in there, but with a fair amount of tugging at the zippers she had finally succeeded. The frame itself was beautiful in its simplicity, cherry wood to match the walls of the penthouse with a thin gold trim forming an ivy-like pattern around the edges. Walking over to her closet, she moved aside a few boxes of odds and ends she hadn't unpacked or found a place for yet, Lex pulled out an 11" x 13" canvas she had set to dry in the back, her birthday present for Logan. She scrutinized to painting for a minute before a hint of a smile flashed across her face. She was quite pleased with herself for having thought up something like this. Sentimental gifts weren't normally something she specialized in.
Looking through some old photo albums, she had found a picture of Logan marked "2025" on the back, when she would have been four. Then her great idea hit her. Slipping the photo out of the plastic slot, she had taken it back to her desk and rummaged out a picture of herself from the same year. Placing them under the light next to her, she went to work.
Now she sat eyeing the finished product. A young Logan and four-year-old Lex sat on what had been her favorite red swing in the park. Pushing off the ground, Logan had a protective arm wrapped around her waist she held on the coated chains with her small hands. The changing fall leaves lined the background of a cloudless blue sky and matched the orange hue of Lex's jacket, her bouncy curls settling down after the breeze they had just encountered. Both faces looked frontward with bright smiles, as if they had done this a million times before.
Framing the painting and cutting out the right amount of wrapping paper, Lex jotted something down a small card and placed it in the frame's corner before turning her attention back to the cartoon she still had on the TV.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
6:35 p.m.
"It may not be where I shine, but I can still do something to help," Max watched Logan move about the kitchen.
"Ah, says the woman who screws up instant oatmeal," Lex held up a finger to make light of her point.
"I'm not always that helpless, thank you," Max crossed her arms, though Lex's joke was not at all far from the truth.
"Max, I like cooking, even on my birthday," Logan laughed.
"Yeah, I hear that whole edible-food thing is pretty nice," Lex examined her fingertips, onto which she had put black olives. Making the monster claw gesture most kids do, she snickered under her breath as she ate the one on her thumb.
"Aren't you getting a little old for that?" Max took the bowl away from Lex's free hand before she ate them all.
"Nah, food still makes for neat toys," she laughed, popping the rest of them into her mouth.
"Mm-hmm. Well, rinse off your hand and go set the table," Max pushed a set of dishes Lex's way.
Her mouth being full, she took the pile and headed into the dinging room rather than try to make trouble.
"You act like you've never made olive claws before," Logan drew up a mental image of Max making a monster face and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat.
"Manticore kinda had this anti-fun fetish going," Max rolled her eyes, knowing Logan had been well aware of that.
Sticking his own finger into the olive bowl, he brought it back up to run his new fingertip along Max's lips, "C'mon, you know you wanna try it," he waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh really?" Max leaned in, teasing him on. Opening her mouth slightly, she grinned at the last second and leaned back, "And just how old are you today?"
"38," Logan answered automatically, cutting his loses and eating the olive himself.
"Mm-hmm," Max laughed and gave him a quick kiss, "Well, happy 10th anniversary of your 38th birthday."
"Before you two go off on a tangent about your expanding waistlines and graying hair, how about you feed the one of us that can still eat a gallon of ice cream a day?" Lex stuck her head around the corner. "Or do you wish to continue ruining olives for me?"
"Fun as that second one sounds, dinner's ready," Logan tossed Lex an oven mitt. "You can get the chicken, we'll get the rest."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
8:00 p.m.
Settling back on the couch, Logan stretched out his arms and smiled. This had definitely been a birthday to remember. Tough there was no wild party involved, like there'd been when he turned 21, or no shiny new Mustang like on his 16th, finally felt as if his life fit together, and that was more than enough.
"Mom goes first," Lex broke through his contented train of thought as she motioned to the present Max held in her lap.
"Ok," Max eyed her daughter for a moment before handing her present to Logan. Lex had answered just a second too quickly, suggesting that she was on edge for some reason.
Lex nervously ran her fingers along the wrapped frame, willing herself not to have any second thoughts about this, "Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's bad," she chanted in her head as she watched Logan tear the paper of Max's present to reveal a tan leather journal.
Leaning over to lay a lingering kiss on Max's temple, Logan whispered, "Thank you," in her ear.
The meaning behind the notebook suddenly crept forward in Lex's mind, as she remembered what Max had told her about the old poem in the shoebox. "Well," she thought to herself, "At least I'm not taking the sappy route alone."
"Alright, your turn," Logan curiously watched Lex toy with the present in her lap.
Wordlessly handing the present across the coffee table, Lex quickly added, "Uh, happy birthday," as she sat back down, finding eye contact harder than she had expected.
"What exactly are you up to?" Max searched her mind for what could suddenly put Lex in such a disconnected kind of mood.
"Nothing, no sneaky ulterior motives," Lex shook her head. "Just, uh, open it. I hope you like it," she shrugged towards Logan.
Carefully tearing the paper away, Logan's eyes widened at the sight that met them. Picking the card out of the corner, he silently read Lex's choppy handwriting, "Even though I couldn't see you, I thought about you all the time." On the verge of tears, he flipped the card over, "If you're gonna cry, can I leave now?" he read aloud with a laugh. "I'll suck it up then," Logan smiled, reaching over to give Lex a hug.
Leaning in half way, Lex returned the embrace, "I hope you like it."
"I love it," Logan gave her a brief kiss on her head. "It's incredible."
Looking up to meet his eyes, Lex nodded, "Happy birthday, Dad."
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Well, there you go. My belated New Year's present to you. It is early for a Ground Hog's Day present, though. And some good news- I have ideas for Ch. 21 fresh and nagging in my head, which means that I will actually start writing it. I finished Out Of The Dark and it had renewed (most of) my faith in DA. And believe me, I never thought that would happen. So maybe things could speed up.. with a helluva lotta help from TPTB, of course. Please, please, please drop me a line to let me know you guys remember this story is out there and does, in fact, still exist. Or my heart will be broken.
**So listen up**- The two 'big, important' scenes in Ch. 19 have been extended by quite a bit. Should you do desire, there's something else for you to read.
Other than that- I know this took so long, yada yada yada; I'm sorry, so on and so on; I'm lazy, etc. and all other excuses/apologies.
________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 20: What Could Have Been
Terminal City Monday, November 10th 9:40 p.m.
"That still eatin' you?" Tera nudged Lex with her footing as she bit at her pen cap. As much as Tera loved sciences classes, she loathed to no end the math courses she was required to take along with them.
"What? The fact that I am, in fact, transgenic, but the sight of a dog-man and a six foot tall lizard still weirds me out me out in a major way," Lex answered flatly as she stared blankly at the command post, where Joshua and Mole were talking about something on one of the computer screens.
"Well, that's because you grew up with normal humans and two X5s- who look totally human," Tera shrugged as she looked up from her textbook. "But that's not what I meant."
"Then what are you getting at?" Lex tried to keep the dance around the bush going.
"It's that engagement deal getting you down isn't it?"
"Let's drop it," Lex turned her eyes to Tera.
"What, you don't wanna go hand out over there," she gestured to the squealing group of X-series that had formed around Max, including Gem, to see the ring for themselves. "Or are we not feeling very squealy right now?"
"Why is everyone so worried about me?" Lex threw her head against the back of the couch. "Believe me, if I was pissed or sad about this I'd be holed up in my room skulking and bitching, not here," she let out a wry laugh.
"Hey, 'few say so," Tera shrugged.
"Don't you have homework you should be doing?"
"Well, yeah. I started drawing the unit circle, but then I got side tracked and turned it into a doodle of a sheep."
"A sheep?" Lex leaned forward curiously.
Tera shrugged, "Last week one of my sine curves somehow turned itself into a birthday cake."
"You do realize you could just memorize what you have to put where in less than a minute, right?"
"Sure, but since I'm never gonna need any of this crap, why bother? Anything useful will stick around in the back of my mind anyway, I might as well draw some of these high-class works of art while I'm at it," Tera winked.
Meanwhile, Max climbed the steps leading to the command post where Joshua and Dix were arguing with Mole about something or other.
"Hey, Max!" Dix jumped up excitedly when he saw her approach. "Congratulations, I heard the news about you and Logan."
"Yeah, I, uh think it's sweet," Mole gave her a slight nod and brief pat on the shoulder, which for him was a rather large display of affection.
"Little Fella!" Joshua scooped Max into a giant bear hug. While the total concept of marriage was still a little lost him, all he needed to see was the smile in Max's eyes to know it was something to get excited about.
"Hey there, Big Fella," Max smiled and choked out. "Lighten up, you're gonna break a few ribs," she laughed.
"Sorry," Joshua gently put her back on the ground. "Max and Logan, getting' married, in the summer?" He asked, in his way of seeing if what he'd heard was true.
"Yeah," Max nodded, but was a little confused. "How'd you know that?"
"Cindy was down here yesterday," Dix smiled. "And Tera told Gem."
"I should have figured as much."
"Well I hate run off, but we have to get something checked out on one of the cameras," Dix gestured to himself and Mole. "Maybe we'll see you again later," he waved, grabbing a few supplies as he headed out.
"Where's Logan," Joshua looked around, expecting to find him.
"He had some work he had to finish. An article, his deadline's coming up," Max said, noticing a look of confusion come across Joshua's face. "Why?"
"Joshua thought married people stay together. Cindy said," Joshua shook his head.
"Well, yeah, married people live together and do a lot of thing with each other, but that doesn't mean they have to go everywhere together all the time," Max tried to clear the idea up.
"But, Little Fella already does that?" Joshua asked, not seeing any difference.
"Yes, but now it'll just be official."
"Official," Joshua repeated, liking the sound of that.
"You get it now?" Max smiled up at the towering canine.
"Yeah, Joshua gets it."
"Ah, Max, always so helpful," Alec joked as he came up behind them. "So I hear you have this ring that'd bring in a rather nice supply of dead presidents," Alec picked up her wrist to get a closer look.
"That an invitation for me to laugh or break your jaw?"
"Aw, c'mon, Maxie. Don't I deserve a little credit here?"
"Not when you call me 'Maxie', you don't," Max pulled her wrist away.
"Well there's the last time I try and extend some friendly congratulations," Alec laughed.
"Oh, that's what that was?" Max smiled.
"You know what comes now, right?" Alec hinted, a sly expression snaking across his face.
"No, but what reason would it give you to get excited?" Max unsure this was going in a good direction.
"The bachelor party," Alec waggled his eyebrows. One thing he would frown about was the prospect of strippers and beer, especially when they came together, Alec mused, laughing to himself as he tacked on the inward thought, "no pun intended."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tuesday, November 11th 12:25 p.m.
"You were up and out early this morning," Logan turned around to see Lex coming in through the penthouse's double doors.
"Yeah, well, I had something to take care of," Lex brushed past him briskly, disappearing down the hall without taking her eyes off the floorboards. She was holding onto the straps of her backpack rather tightly, which, unusually, as Logan were on both of her shoulders, instead of slung over just the left one. While Lex still wasn't usually much of a conversationalist, it was obvious to Logan that she up to something and didn't want him to know what. She hadn't said anything about his birthday, either, which bothered him in the back of his mind. When Max had had her birthday back in July, Lex playfully teased her for a week before then about how old she was getting. Logan surely didn't need to be reminded of his age, but Lex's resurfacing aloofness made him feel once again like the outcast.
Down the hall, Lex closed the door to her room behind her and locked it, out of habit. Turning on her TV for background noise, she opened her backpack and pulled out what she had been hiding- a picture frame. She had been worried it would be too big to fit in there, but with a fair amount of tugging at the zippers she had finally succeeded. The frame itself was beautiful in its simplicity, cherry wood to match the walls of the penthouse with a thin gold trim forming an ivy-like pattern around the edges. Walking over to her closet, she moved aside a few boxes of odds and ends she hadn't unpacked or found a place for yet, Lex pulled out an 11" x 13" canvas she had set to dry in the back, her birthday present for Logan. She scrutinized to painting for a minute before a hint of a smile flashed across her face. She was quite pleased with herself for having thought up something like this. Sentimental gifts weren't normally something she specialized in.
Looking through some old photo albums, she had found a picture of Logan marked "2025" on the back, when she would have been four. Then her great idea hit her. Slipping the photo out of the plastic slot, she had taken it back to her desk and rummaged out a picture of herself from the same year. Placing them under the light next to her, she went to work.
Now she sat eyeing the finished product. A young Logan and four-year-old Lex sat on what had been her favorite red swing in the park. Pushing off the ground, Logan had a protective arm wrapped around her waist she held on the coated chains with her small hands. The changing fall leaves lined the background of a cloudless blue sky and matched the orange hue of Lex's jacket, her bouncy curls settling down after the breeze they had just encountered. Both faces looked frontward with bright smiles, as if they had done this a million times before.
Framing the painting and cutting out the right amount of wrapping paper, Lex jotted something down a small card and placed it in the frame's corner before turning her attention back to the cartoon she still had on the TV.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
6:35 p.m.
"It may not be where I shine, but I can still do something to help," Max watched Logan move about the kitchen.
"Ah, says the woman who screws up instant oatmeal," Lex held up a finger to make light of her point.
"I'm not always that helpless, thank you," Max crossed her arms, though Lex's joke was not at all far from the truth.
"Max, I like cooking, even on my birthday," Logan laughed.
"Yeah, I hear that whole edible-food thing is pretty nice," Lex examined her fingertips, onto which she had put black olives. Making the monster claw gesture most kids do, she snickered under her breath as she ate the one on her thumb.
"Aren't you getting a little old for that?" Max took the bowl away from Lex's free hand before she ate them all.
"Nah, food still makes for neat toys," she laughed, popping the rest of them into her mouth.
"Mm-hmm. Well, rinse off your hand and go set the table," Max pushed a set of dishes Lex's way.
Her mouth being full, she took the pile and headed into the dinging room rather than try to make trouble.
"You act like you've never made olive claws before," Logan drew up a mental image of Max making a monster face and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat.
"Manticore kinda had this anti-fun fetish going," Max rolled her eyes, knowing Logan had been well aware of that.
Sticking his own finger into the olive bowl, he brought it back up to run his new fingertip along Max's lips, "C'mon, you know you wanna try it," he waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh really?" Max leaned in, teasing him on. Opening her mouth slightly, she grinned at the last second and leaned back, "And just how old are you today?"
"38," Logan answered automatically, cutting his loses and eating the olive himself.
"Mm-hmm," Max laughed and gave him a quick kiss, "Well, happy 10th anniversary of your 38th birthday."
"Before you two go off on a tangent about your expanding waistlines and graying hair, how about you feed the one of us that can still eat a gallon of ice cream a day?" Lex stuck her head around the corner. "Or do you wish to continue ruining olives for me?"
"Fun as that second one sounds, dinner's ready," Logan tossed Lex an oven mitt. "You can get the chicken, we'll get the rest."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
8:00 p.m.
Settling back on the couch, Logan stretched out his arms and smiled. This had definitely been a birthday to remember. Tough there was no wild party involved, like there'd been when he turned 21, or no shiny new Mustang like on his 16th, finally felt as if his life fit together, and that was more than enough.
"Mom goes first," Lex broke through his contented train of thought as she motioned to the present Max held in her lap.
"Ok," Max eyed her daughter for a moment before handing her present to Logan. Lex had answered just a second too quickly, suggesting that she was on edge for some reason.
Lex nervously ran her fingers along the wrapped frame, willing herself not to have any second thoughts about this, "Just because it's weird doesn't mean it's bad," she chanted in her head as she watched Logan tear the paper of Max's present to reveal a tan leather journal.
Leaning over to lay a lingering kiss on Max's temple, Logan whispered, "Thank you," in her ear.
The meaning behind the notebook suddenly crept forward in Lex's mind, as she remembered what Max had told her about the old poem in the shoebox. "Well," she thought to herself, "At least I'm not taking the sappy route alone."
"Alright, your turn," Logan curiously watched Lex toy with the present in her lap.
Wordlessly handing the present across the coffee table, Lex quickly added, "Uh, happy birthday," as she sat back down, finding eye contact harder than she had expected.
"What exactly are you up to?" Max searched her mind for what could suddenly put Lex in such a disconnected kind of mood.
"Nothing, no sneaky ulterior motives," Lex shook her head. "Just, uh, open it. I hope you like it," she shrugged towards Logan.
Carefully tearing the paper away, Logan's eyes widened at the sight that met them. Picking the card out of the corner, he silently read Lex's choppy handwriting, "Even though I couldn't see you, I thought about you all the time." On the verge of tears, he flipped the card over, "If you're gonna cry, can I leave now?" he read aloud with a laugh. "I'll suck it up then," Logan smiled, reaching over to give Lex a hug.
Leaning in half way, Lex returned the embrace, "I hope you like it."
"I love it," Logan gave her a brief kiss on her head. "It's incredible."
Looking up to meet his eyes, Lex nodded, "Happy birthday, Dad."
________________________________________________________________________
A/N: Well, there you go. My belated New Year's present to you. It is early for a Ground Hog's Day present, though. And some good news- I have ideas for Ch. 21 fresh and nagging in my head, which means that I will actually start writing it. I finished Out Of The Dark and it had renewed (most of) my faith in DA. And believe me, I never thought that would happen. So maybe things could speed up.. with a helluva lotta help from TPTB, of course. Please, please, please drop me a line to let me know you guys remember this story is out there and does, in fact, still exist. Or my heart will be broken.