Title: …Happily Ever After
Author: Roxy
Beta Reader: Rose
Category: Action, Humor and Romance. (M/L)
Rating: PG 13
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. I don't own Dark Angel, though Noah and Lou do belong to me. I am making no money out of this.
Summary: This is my hit at a 3rd season. Max and the others are trapped in TC, surrounded by White's men. A new little sister comes along. Deck reappears (isn't he just our favorite bad guy?). X5s reunion. More Familiars and how to deal with them.
Previous Chapter: Eyes Only is back in the game. With the help of X5s, Logan manages to stop a dangerous thug whose illegal empire was starting to resemble that of a real mafia. Lydecker's still not back from his little trip with Joshua.
Notes: All right you M/L shippers are going to be happy with this chapter. I took a long time updating (more than a year... yeah I know...) sorry about that… I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again but unfortunately it doesn't always depend on me. Just to let you guys know, even if it takes me ten years, I'm going to finish this fic. I'll jsut hope some of you will bare with me till then. There are 22 chapters planned and some of them are already entirely (chapter 13) or partially written (like chapter 12 and 15).
Feedback: BlackRose9: I just want you to know that I never take your dedication to this fic for granted… I'll never be able to thank you enough for reviewing every single chapter! Now, everybody seemed to have liked the dancing part… good… cuz that was one of the things that aren't just DA but are me as well… Ruben was the name of one of my salsa teachers, though he was nothing near the character. Nope, unfortunately.
Blueangel137: You're welcome and thanks again for your review… I'm getting used to reading your reviews as well lol! Glad you liked the new characters… some of them might pop out again in the coming chapters, dunno yet. I did try to put in some M/L for the purists lol!
Leo: Hey there! Thanks for the encouraging review! Hope you'll stick around for a time even though I'm often late on updating!
Suzy: I'm glad you actually took the time to read the other chapters… you didn't sound all that interested at first and some of the chapters are kinda long. Well, this chapter took a long time to come, no matter how much I dislike real life taking over fandom, it's happened a lot lately. Hope you enjoy this one… more Max and Logan here and keep telling me what it is that you don't like! Thanks.
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… Happily Ever After
Chapter IX: Not Quite What You Had in Mind
Relax Max. Things are going to be ok. It's all going to work out like it always does. You've been through much worse… much, much worse.
Oh and she had: days and months of physical and mental torture, years of being chased by her youth's antichrist, back to torture and then chasing all over again by a whacky cult member…
Max, you can definitely do this… how bad can be? Two meaningful little days…
Breathe in, breathe out… thank god the widow's open.
"You wouldn't mind closing the window Max? It's November and some of us who aren't genetically enhanced are freezing their butts here" Logan said in a light tone.
A light tone? How could he be so relax? Was he absolutely insane?
"Max?" Logan asked again, his eyes switching from the road to the passenger's seat.
This time, the brunette's head jerked in his direction, a wild panicking look on her face.
"Max, are you sure you're all right?"
"Perfect" Max said hurriedly in an unconvincing jolly voice. She nodded vigorously to prove her point and turned her head back to the window.
Breathe in, breathe out…. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe-
"Hey what d'you think you're doing?" Max snapped; Logan had just pushed the button pulling her window up.
"It's called environmental protection. Pointless to have your windows down when the heating system is on" Logan noted.
Max merely shrugged the whole thing off and turned back to focusing on the wonderful post pulse rural landscape. Fascinating grass… it just looked so… green and um… yeah green was the word.
"Max, what's wrong? You've been acting all jittery ever since we left the facility" Logan asked in a worried voice.
Max's eyes turned away from the oh-so green grass to face Logan. The key to a durable relationship was honesty right? So…
"I'm sorry. I don't want you to think that I'm not happy for us to be spending a couple of days together for your birthday, but um… I'm just a little concerned about leaving the whole facility in the hands of Zack. I mean, I know he can do this but with Lydecker not back yet, it seems wrong to be leaving everybody now"
Honesty… what-ever…
"I'm sure everything's going to be all right. And if it doesn't, we really won't be that far away. You've had so much pressure and so many responsibilities for so long, I can understand relaxing feels a bit… odd"
Oooh that felt bad too… Truth was, Max had fullconfidence in Zack and in his ability to run the facility… she was just having trouble having full confidence in herself.
God Max, you are just such an emotional retard! Two days alone with Logan and instead of being absolutely delighted, you're about as comfortable and apprehensive as if you were meeting… his deceased parents!
This was silly and childish but Max couldn't help it nonetheless. Logan and her had known each other very well for what, three years? They had had feelings for one another for just as long, and the virus had been out of the way for a few months now… everything was smooth sailing and Logan was the one thing stable and solid in her life she shouldn't have to worry about. That's how it was in movies right? The couple gets together at the end and you just as much assume that they live happily ever after…
Then why?
Why was she lying to Logan about her feelings concerning this two day trip out of the facility?
Oh, Max knew why… Right after, Logan had suggested the love escape and Max had agreed, she had come to realize that she had never spent two days straight with Logan, only Logan… for forty-eight hours… at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, in between, in the bathroom, everywhere, all the time!
Sure they now shared a room back at the facility and they had most of their meals together as well, but he was more like the comfort she came to after training, fighting, solving ethical problems and taking delicate decisions regarding her brothers and sisters' safety, when she was near physical and mental exhaustion. She had her own activities and he had his… but for two full days, their only activity would be each other… and even sex has its limits. What if they realized that they had nothing to tell each other, nothing to talk about, that everything had already been said?
This had never happened at the facility because well, they barely had the time to finish a conversation… there was always an interruption: X7s and X8s fighting during training, location of transgenics held hostage by White, the government's committee wanting an audience, Lou begging for someone to get her cherry gum… just about anything.
But not this time… funny enough, Max had never seen these interruptions as a 'save by the bell' thing, more like annoying parasites. But she had learned to deal with them and they were part of her life and therefore also shaped her relationship with Logan. How was she to do without them? It felt like loosing all her references? Like jumping without a safety net…
Oh my God, two days… that's like enough for Logan to realize that he doesn't want me anymore… that I'm not what he thought I would be… there's been so many hurdles to our relationship that at one point we both had doubts whether or not this was meant to be… we weren't sure if it was worth it all or if we were just wasting our time. But that however tiny part of us that still believed had its own idea on the matter and kept us dreaming, fantasizing on how it could be. What if I'm not up to his expectations? What if I'm not everything he's been dreaming for these past two years?
It's funny how a few days vacation can torture your mind on questions and matters you wouldn't have the time to deal with otherwise...
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The car came to a halt as Lydecker parked in Powell Institute's parking usually reserved to employees or important figures… and Lydecker considered himself just that: an important figure.
He glanced at Joshua, making sure the giant dog-man had placed both the cap on his head and the handkerchief on top of his mouth and nose. Lydecker hadn't stepped foot in Powell Institute in twenty years; his unexpected visit would attract enough attention as it was without the employees and his old friend Bernard Callaway, head of the institute, having to face a real live dog-man.
Callaway knew little about Lydecker's assignment at project Manticore. He knew it had something to do with genes but besides that, Deck might as well have been slicing tomatoes it would have been all the same to him, though Callaway had in mind that Lydecker was rather slicing people than fruits but then… Callaway's ignorance of Lydecker's exact occupation reflected the colonel's when it came to Callaway's.
Powell Institute was a mental institute; no doubt that delicate neurological research and experiments were taking place there. Nothing that Lydecker actually knew about but nothing that would surprise him if he did ever find out. His only concern was that the people he sent there remained there, whatever became of them and their minds was the least of his concerns.
His presence had been announced at the gate and Lydecker knew Callaway was aware of it otherwise, the guard would never have let Joshua and him drive in. As he was heading towards the elevator, Lydecker suspected that one of Callaway's assistant would be waiting for him on the first floor. And he was right, as soon as the elevator's doors opened:
"Colonel Lydecker. It's a pleasure to meet you sure. My name is Sonam Sharhminda sir, I work with Dr. Callaway" said a tall tan man with a Hindi accent.
Lydecker inclined his head curtly, politely acknowledging the man. He remembered that Callaway went to extreme length in order to be surrounded by the best scientists in the world; even if that meant dragging them from forgotten countries such as India, Nepal or Indonesia. The assistant merely glanced at Joshua's strange appearance, demonstrating discretion Lydecker knew Callaway valued in his employees and went on:
"If you and your friend will follow me, I will take you to Dr. Callaway's office for I was told that it was quite some time since you've visited the institute"
And so, Sharhminda lead Lydecker and Joshua through the facility and after another elevator ride and a few corridors, they reached a door with 'Dr. Bernard Callaway' marked in shimmering letters. Sharhminda knocked once. Without waiting for an answer, he opened it and stepped back in order to let Lydecker and Joshua enter. Then, he stepped in as well and closed the door behind him.
"Deck!" said the tall skinny man who rose from behind the desk.
Bernard Callaway had not changed much since the last time Lydecker had seen him; he still looked like a man in a terminal phase of cancer. He had a zombie look about him and his tan, wrinkled face and his constant pursed lips did nothing to bring a little cheerfulness to this grim and sinister figure. His black beady eyes held something unsettling that could have valued him a definite role as an extra uncle of the Adams family. An image Callaway played with as it came close to the true creepiness of his character. Callaway could in fact be describe as a lunatic scientist always ready to cross the ethic line without the shadow of a second thought. He and Lydecker had that in common; both shared this vision that human life was negligent in the face of progress and science.
Nonetheless, a fixed smile on his angular face, Callaway walked to Lydecker with open arms. Lydecker smirked and walked towards his old 'friend' in a similar way.
How hypocritical can you be.
In Lydecker's world, the saying 'No news is good news' took on a literal meaning. Bernard Callaway knew that if Lydecker had turned up for the first time in twenty years, something fishy was going on. The two men had kept contact over the years, doing each other a favor every now and then, nothing that couldn't be settled over the phone. But this unannounced visit was certainly about to reveal something unpleasant, Callaway sensed that much.
The creepy doctor released Lydecker from his handshake and turned to the second uninvited guest that stood awkwardly in his office. The man -- Callaway guessed that it was, in fact, a man -- seemed ill eased and completely out of place with a shirt of an unidentified color and his sharp nailed hands twitching uncomfortably in front of him.
"I'd like you to meet my friend Joshua" Lydecker said as if the giant man didn't require anything else as an introduction.
The sharp nailed hands stopped twitching as one raised and waved in Callaway's direction.
"Hello" said a low, somewhat shy voice.
Callaway was visibly taken aback; amusement twinkled in Lydecker's eyes.
"You may leave us Sonam. Thank you" Bernard told his assistant absentmindedly. "Please sit down" he told his two visitors. And he designated two armchairs with a wide hand motion.
Joshua sat, not nearly as comfortable as Lydecker who acted as if he owned the place… well, he did, if you took into account that one third of the institute's 'patients' had been placed there by him.
"Well, what can I do for you Deck that necessitates you coming here in person rather than just making a phone call?" Callaway asked hardly concealing his impatience.
"Actually, it's not so much you that I needed to see as one of your patients" Lydecker said relaxing in his chair.
"Really? I suppose it would be one that you sent me because you… thought he required medical attention"
"Precisely"
"His name perhaps?"
"Sandeman"
Silence fell across the room as all that could be heard was Callaway's eager typing on his computer keyboard. The impatience stressed his bony features and made him look like an expecting vulture. Of course, only he knew the real names of his so called patients, through a series of codes and passwords held only in his computer… Hadn't it been for this, Sandeman would have been found by the Familiars long ago. This only proved that they weren't everywhere just yet.
"Oh right, that would be the enigmatic Mr. George, number 51 133"
"Excellent" Lydecker nodded with pleasure, "It is urgent that I talk to him… in private"
In private… so much meaning held in those two little words… In private meant: no security guards, no cameras, no Callaway, no Hindi assistant, no bugs… nothing… However, Lydecker knew of Bernard's curiosity too well and he wasn't about to rely only on his friend's word, not on a matter as important as this. Lydecker had brought his own equipment so as to make sure communications would be scrambledwhenever he wished to.
However, the sudden apprehensive stillness led him to raise a questioning brow in Callaway's direction. The tall man had stiffened behind his desk and was now taken to chewing his nearly non-existent lip.
"What's wrong?" Lydecker asked, bracing himself for what was coming.
-------------------
No.
No!
This couldn't be happening now!
Of all times… it had to be happening now!
Logan breathed in slowly, trying to recollect his calm. He tried starting the engine again but it annoyingly made the very same grumbling noise, clearly and loudly stating that it refused to budge.
"What's happening?" asked Max with a frown.
Logan checked the gas level… oops.
"Nothing really. I'll just get the car out of the street and... call a cab" Logan said hurriedly with a smile too wide to be sincere.
"You forgot to check the gas level, didn't you?"
"No, yes… wait… I'm really terribly sorry… I don't know what -- well actually I know what-"
"Logan it's ok. Relax"
Logan looked at her a bit taken aback. Max wasn't upset in the least. In fact, for the first time in the entire day she seemed amused and her brown eyes were lite with mischief, something that he had been missing in the past few hours.
When they had arrived in town, around noon today, Logan had it in mind to spend a perfectly romantic two day getaway with Max, while she had appeared rather distracted and uncomfortable, all along trying to avoid him or avoid talking to him. Not exactly his idea of a romantic escapade.
Still, they had dressed up and taken the car; Logan had planned a perfectly romantic evening, in a perfectly posh restaurant, followed by a perfectly moonlit walk along the coast in this perfectly charming little town… Needless to say he wanted it all to be perfect.
Max hadn't exactly responded the way he had expected her to, to all of this perfectness obsession. He felt the more he was trying to please her, the more she was shutting herself from him. At first, Logan had put this on the count that she was finding it hard to relax because she kept thinking of the facility, Lydecker and Joshua. But now, he was beginning to feel that all this had nothing to do with it.
And now of all times, when he was desperately trying to make things right, the car broke down because he had forgotten one tiny insignificant detail: gas! He had planned every single second of this two day escapade but had completely overlooked the fact that the trip from the facility would consume most of the gas.
Logan had expected Max's boiling temper and everything that she had obviously been hiding from him to burst out at that very second… on the contrary, she was stepping out of the car encouraging him to do the same with a wink.
Logan adjusted his white tuxedo and beamed at Max standing opposite the car. She was simply glowing in Lou's knee length white dress. Her hair she had recently cut, formed short dark curls and reminded him of the first time he had laid eyes on hair.
Logan stared at her a few more seconds, till he could no longer ignore the incessant and impatient klaxons of the car behind them. Max, Logan and their broken down car were after all, in the middle of the street, obstructing the whole circulation. Not that Logan even seemed to care.
"Come on, I could do this alone but probably not without raising suspicions" Max smirked.
"Right" Logan noted and reluctantly turned his eyes away from her.
Logan pulled both their windows down and while he kept a hand on the wheel, both he and Max pushed the car on the side of the street. Finally, when they were both waiting on the sidewalk looking out of place in their formal clothes, Logan pulled out his cell phone in order to call a cab. The trouble with little towns is that very few of them are covered by national mobile networks… And unfortunately for Logan, this town made no exception. Furious but still trying to conceal it, he thrust the phone back in his pocket. They were in the middle of nowhere, just about as far away from the restaurant as from the hotel!
"That's just… not perfect!" he said sighing heavily.
"Cheer up" Max said brightly, "All we have to do is find a phone"
"Right" Logan said moodily, "You've been cooped up in that facility long enough to forget that there are no boxes with working phones on the streets since the pulse"
"Then we'll just have to go ask somebody to lend us one" Max said and placing her hand in his, she led him down the street.
-------------------
"Bernard?" Lydecker said somewhat threateningly.
Finally, Dr. Callaway's eyes switched from the computer monitor to his face. He seemed to have recollected his disconcertingly neutral expression.
"Yes, I remember this. It happened a few days ago. Your patient escaped"
There was a pause, a long, extended pause… well actually, not that long; just long enough for Lydecker to replay the words in his head to make sure Bernard had said what he thought he'd said. It appeared long to Joshua who fidgeted uneasily in his chair.
"Escape?" he finally said through clenched teeth.
"Yes" was all Dr. Callaway thought wise to say.
"Why wasn't I notified?"
Lydecker's voice was rising but Callaway, far from being impressed, kept his zombie manners.
"You must understand that for both of our sakes, the origins of most patients are willingly kept unmentioned, meaning that I do not keep records of who sent me which patients. For most of them, their record starts the day they set foot at the institute. I had no way of knowing that this man was one of yours, except by memory. And then, considering the number of men you send me, you must admit that it is impossible for me to do so"
"When and how?"
Lydecker stressed every syllable in a menacing way.
"Three days ago. He killed two security guards and injured four patients"
Lydecker slowly inspired and Callaway returned to his computer, reading the rest of the file.
"You obviously hadn't mentioned that he should be kept under tight surveillance when you placed him under my care"
"Of course not!" Lydecker exploded. "At the time I thought he was a simple scientist!"
"What about now? What do you think he is?"
When Lydecker didn't answer, Callaway went on:
"He killed two of my men! You owe me an explanation Deck"
"This has nothing to do with you"
"Really? Then how come you placed this man in my hands and left him there for thirty years? Do you know what his file says? "Docile and well adapted", well he didn't seem so damn docile when he murdered two of my men!"
"Come on Bernard! Don't feign feeling sorry for your men! You're intrigued, that's all! You just want to satisfy your curiosity!"
"Even so" Dr. Callaway replied haughtily, "I deserve an explanation. You barge in here, uninvited with your weird looking fellow and demand a man who has unexpectedly turned into a murderer after spending thirty years as compliant as a sheep and you expect me not to ask any questions!"
Both men had risen up by then, and Joshua's eyes expectantly shifted from one back to the other… The news that Sandeman had disappeared came as tremendous disappointment to the dog-man but he hoped that he and Lydecker would at least be able to find some clue as to where Sandeman had escaped to.
"Ok, let's be practical here. I'll tell you what you need to know and I expect you to cooperate in return" Lydecker said finally calming down.
"Isn't that how we've always worked?" Callaway said evenly.
"I need to be sure of a few things first. Take me to the cell he used to occupy"
And Joshua jerked to his feet at the order, impatient to get a little bit closer to his Father.
-------------------
"Max, this is pointless; we're in the middle of nowhere. It's getting late and nobody's going to-" Logan started.
They had left the car behind and Logan was having doubts concerning how much of it they would find once they got back. The side of the road was muddy and the earth was too soft to offer any kind of stable support. No car had passed by in the last fifteen minutes; they really were nowhere at all.
"Think so? Wanna know where this path goes?" Max said pointing at a narrow earthen path on their left.
It led away from the main road and so Logan was rather reluctant to go there but like Max said, there just might be a house at the end of it and that meant that there just might be a phone as well. Logan looked down at his once perfectly white and freshly ironed trousers… they were nowhere near clean and fresh now. So he shrugged it off, followed Max who was already walking along the narrow path and said:
"You are soo dead once Lou sees what you've done with her pair of shoes"
Max stopped to wait for him. She winked and added:
"I'll just score her a new one. What did she say they were? Prada or Channel?"
Logan merely rolled his eyes and thought: once a thief, always a thief.
They finally arrived at the end of the little road and fortunately enough, Max had been right; there was a house… well, as much as you could call this a house. It looked more like a ruin of a hut and Logan thought that the chances for it to have a phone, let alone an inhabitant were rather… non existent.
Like she was reading his mind, Max pointed to a few flower pots and a swing rocking back and forth with the wind and she said:
"Look! Somebody lives here"
"I feel like I'm in the middle of bad horror movie. Isn't this starting to look so much like a cliché? A car breaks down, a couple looks for help and only finds -- Max, what's wrong?"
Logan was looking at her both worriedly and expectantly. She had jumped, startled by something and now her whole body was one tensed muscle. Suddenly, without a word, she blurred forward, forcing her way in through the jammed door and leaving it ajar behind her. A second later, Logan started running after her.
Once inside, Logan found himself in an empty dimly lit corridor. He remained still for a few seconds; not knowing which direction Max had taken.
"Max?" he called loudly.
Yet, it wasn't Max's voice that came as answer to indicate where she was. Logan heard a muffled groan… a fight! Worried, he ran towards the direction he thought the sounds were coming from and ended up… in a kitchen; an old pre-pulse kitchen, cozy and picturesque very much, like the rest of the house.
Max was there and she was lifting up what looked like a dark bundle of clothes. Logan was surprised to hear the bundle usher a croaked "urgh". It was as close to thank you Max ever got. Logan suddenly realized that what Max had helped up and which reached her shoulder was a woman. The wrinkled old lady felt the left side of her head; a slight line of blood was drawing from a cut there. Then her gaze turned downward, resting on the remains of a kettle that had been filled with tea; a sigh escaped her crumpled lips, followed by:
"Oh crap!"
Then she turned on Max who was still holding her arm; her wrinkled features set in a frightening severe scowl:
"Couldn't you have saved the tea as well!"
The tone left little doubt whereas this was a rhetorical question or a reproach; Max's brown eyes widened in surprise both at the words and the energy the tiny woman displayed when she wrenched her arm away from Max's grasp.
The old lady spun on her heels, leaving both Max and Logan staring at her back, slack-jawed.
"Better not be wanting any tea cuz all that's left of it, is what on the floor! Coffee any good?"
Now there was a rhetorical question, still, the lady stopped in her preparation, her back still to her two guests and Max, thinking she was waiting for an answer, felt forced to mumble:
"Um… yes, coffee's perfect"
The lady resumed her actions and Logan caught Max's gaze, waiting for an explanation. She slipped next to him and whispered:
"I heard something break and thought there might be a fight... that's why I rushed in and found her… she slipped on the wet floor and I caught her, but not before her head hit the table-"
"Sugar?" the woman interrupted Max loudly.
"Um… two" Max replied like a shy child who's done wrong.
Logan felt a prick in his ribs when Max elbowed him; the old lady was arching her deformed brow at him because he hadn't answered her previous question.
"Two as well" he said recovering quickly.
The woman went back to her task of preparing a tray with three cups and the adequate numbers of sugar in each. Logan leaned forward and spoke into Max's ear, her curls softly brushing his lips:
"Let's just ask if she has a phone and leave"
"We can stay a while; she probably doesn't get to see people very often"
"Yeah, and with reasons! She gives me the creeps"
"Come on, I doubt she's more dangerous than the Familiars"
"Maybe but-"
Max cringed as she heard the shatter of glass again. She slowly turned to witness the result of this new crash. Max could bet she was going to get an accusatory glare from the old woman.
However, when she came to a stop, Max thought she could feel astonishment mixed with fear in the old lady's frozen stance. The women's hands seemed glued in mid action as she had previously been manipulating the cups and the sugar. However, even though both of them were now spread on the floor, her arms still remained hung like a hanger begging for clothes.
Max was about to break the eerie silence but the old woman cut her off:
"Have you brought Them here?"
Her voice reached unnaturally high tones under the shaking. And as if she had suddenly recovered the use of her body, she ushered Max and Logan towards the door, nearly yelling:
"Are they here? Get out! Out! Out! Out! Tell them the house is empty!"
Logan and Max, taken aback, were speechlessly letting her push them towards the door when finally Logan came back to reality: he stood firmly on the door's threshold and covered her frantic cries by saying emphatically:
"Excuse me lady, but we haven't got the slightest idea of what you're talking about!"
That quieted her a bit but did nothing to soften the taunt expression on her face.
"Don't lie to me boy! And the name's Lydia!"
"Lydia, we can assure you that no one has been following us" Max chimed in.
"No one? Are you sure? Not even… Them?" Lydia asked, her voice a shrill as she uttered the last word.
"I don't know who Them are… but they're not following us" Logan stated.
Lydia let go a huge sigh of relief but still didn't invite them back in. She merely stared at them, her arms crossed in a gesture that would have been impressing perhaps forty years ago.
"Well, Lydia, I believe there's coffee waiting for us inside and there are many things we need to discuss"
"Fine for the coffee; not so sure about the discussion part" she grunted but once again, she turned on them and stamped back towards the kitchen.
Max and Logan followed her, understanding this as an implicit invitation. Once they were seated in the kitchen, the smell of coffee steaming from the cups in front of them, Max took the initiative to bring up the sensitive subject.
"You sure got a good hearing Lydia… to hear the F-word while we were only whispering" she said with a wan smile.
"There are some words even old ears cannot forget or pretend they haven't heard" was the crude reply.
Lydia was staring at her cup with great intensity as if it held the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything. If she leans any further, she might actually drown in it, Max noted.
"How long has it been since you last heard that word Lydia?" Logan asked diplomatically.
"'bout thirty years, since I last saw my grandchildren and my little girl"
Lydia was still not looking at either of them so Max eyed Logan meaningfully, urging him to go on with his questioning:
"Did something happen to them?"
"I dunno" said Lydia desperately, "I never saw the kids again, they took them away… saying they were never mine or my daughter's… that they had a greater destiny ahead of them"
She tried to gulp down the tears forming at the corners of the eyes.
Lydia no longer needed Logan's interrogations to go on, it seemed that she was laying down a huge burden she had been carrying around for thirty years.
"My poor, poor Natasha… and he had seemed such nice and well educated man when they had married. He'd promised he would take care of her and look where she is now!"
The cups made rattling noise as with the hidden strength and energy she had already demonstrated, Lydia slammed her fist down on the table. Then, angry tears started falling freely, following the creases of her wrinkled face.
"I hope he rots in hell!"
"Is he dead… your daughter's husband, I mean?"
"I dunno, maybe… probably… when they caught him with the youngest, they probably punished him because he had tried to take the boy away from them"
"Why did he try to do that?"
"D'you think I know what was going in the head of that nutty scientist! If he got himself killed, that was all he deserved!"
"What happened to the kid after they were caught? Did they punish him to?" Max asked carefully.
"No, I don't think so… they needed him… to swell up their ranks… They're everywhere, that's why I never go out anymore. They probably don't remember me and I'd like to keep it that way"
"Lydia. The Familiars. We're fighting them. And maybe you can help us"
"There's nothing you can do against them. They will win and take over"
"D'you know what they are planning exactly?" Max asked urgently.
"No. All that I know is that they took everything I had, everything that I cared for and left me to rot behind" Lydia spat bitterly.
A strange silence settled among them as Max and Logan were trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and Lydia sat mourning her lost family.
Maw studied Lydia's anguished face thinking: OK, so we know that her daughter was married to a Familiar and that she basically finished like Wendy White. The thing is, why would her husband want to take their youngest son away? To take him to the Familiars? Obviously not, otherwise, the Familiars wouldn't have been after him… and what about his eldest son? Why didn't he take him as well?
As if Logan was reading Max's mind, he asked:
"Lydia? What about the first son? What happened to him?"
"They took him too"
"Yes, but why didn't his father try to escape with him as well?"
Lydia was quiet for a while, thinking back, when she finally
opened her mouth, it was to let out rushed whispers Max barely heard.
"She had confided in me… Natasha… her husband had told her that the child would die, that his people wouldn't let him live because he wasn't strong enough. He knew because he had tested the child's blood in his lab… she had told me a name… Marcus… yes, that's it… Marcus wouldn't allow the child to live. The child had to be strong and pass the test like the first one had… the school they had sent their eldest to, wasn't a normal school… she had started to have suspicions before her husband had revealed it to her. They were teaching him their ways, their horrible ways, so that he would become on of them… and he used to be such a sweet little boy…"
New tears formed in her faded blue eyes and her voice shook with emotion.
"… such sweet little thing… my sweet little Ames"
-------------------
"Thank you Bernard, we'll take it from here" Lydecker said.
Callaway had led him and Joshua to what had been Sandeman's cell. They were about to enter when Callaway proposed:
"My men will gladly assist you in the search of the room"
Lydecker spun around to face his old 'friend' standing in the hallway, one gorilla on each side and a tensed smile stretched on his lips.
"I'm sure Joshua and I will be fine. Besides, haven't your men already searched the room?"
"Yes that's why they may be of some assistance" Callaway insisted.
"No really, thanks for the offer" Lydecker said opening the door.
He ushered Joshua inside and closed the door behind himself. Immediately he drew out a pen from his left vest pocket. The pen looked quite ordinary until Lydecker pulled its cap off. It emitted a noise no human ear could hear but that forced Joshua to cover his highly sensitive ears with his hands.
"Sorry Joshua but that's the only way, I'm sure nobody will be eavesdropping on our little conversation"
Joshua nodded slowly, not quite removing his hands from his ears.
"Can you hear me? Good, now listen closely because I'm only going to have the time to say this once"
Joshua nodded again and Lydecker went on:
"This device blocks communication for a limited amount of time, it was of course designed for humans. I didn't think it would affect you. So we're clear of Callaway's bugs and cameras for another sixty seconds. I want you to search this room. If you find anything, don't tell me until we're back in the car. Once we're back in the hallway, say you haven't found anything, Ok? Now start searching"
With his hands still clapped on his ears, Joshua started casting about the room: it was entirely white and the size of a studio. The sheets had been taken off the bed and the room had no window, its only lights provided by the two lamps sealed in the ceiling. Lydecker could already guess where the cameras were hidden. There was a small sink on the left side of the room and two plugs.
The sixty seconds were over now, however, Lydecker noticed that Joshua still had his hands on his ears. He went quickly to him and nudged in the ribs. Startled, Joshua took off his hands in the process but immediately put them back on. Lydecker frowned, mouthing: "It's over". Joshua shook his head violently and resumed the search.
Minutes passed but neither of them seemed to make any progress.
The room's walls were bare, as was the floor. The more he searched, the more Lydecker had the feeling that they were loosing their time: if there had been anything left behind by Sandeman, any clue at all, Callaway's men had certainly found it.
Frustrated, he went back to the door, opened it and fell face to face with Callaway and his gorillas. Apparently, they hadn't moved.
"You're right, there's nothing here. Sorry to have made you waste your time"
Bernard smiled his sadistic smile:
"Why it was my pleasure to see you Deck? Anything else we can do for you?"
"Not unless you can tell me where your patient went"
"I'm sorry"
"So am I" Lydecker turned around and called back "Joshua! What are you doing boy?"
He and Callaway staggered back inside the room as they heard a sound like several marbles hitting the floor. Joshua was on all fours, trying to grab all those little things at once. He looked like an outgrown child: and he was the first of a line of flawless soldiers, thought Lydecker.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Callaway lean down and grab something from the floor. Straightening up, he inspected the thing he was holding between his thumb and index, sniffed it and scowled.
"Candy" he spat, "Where do they come from?"
He eyed Joshua suspiciously. The dog boy stood up and putting on his hands in his shirt pocket, said:
"Joshua made a hole in his pocket"
And Callaway pursed his lips at the sight of one of the dog man's long nailed and dirty fingers passing through his pocket, showing the hole in question. He was holding his candies in his other hand and stuffed them all in another pocket.
"Where did you get those?" Lydecker asked frowning.
"Tiny fella gave it to Joshua" the dog boy mumbled.
"Lou? I might've known" the colonel sighed, "Come on boy, let's get back"
-------------------
The atmosphere in the small dingy kitchen seemed to freeze in stupor. Max heard Logan take in a short breath and even Lydia felt that something was happening. Her sobs stopped abruptly, she slowly lifted her eyes from her coffee and looked at Max from across the table. Max swallowed hard before asking:
"What was the last name of Natasha's husband?"
"Sandeman" Lydia finally said in a raspy voice.
Max sat there, dumbfounded in front of the woman who was Ames White and C.J.'s grandmother. Logan was the one who broke her daze with an unexpected joke:
"Well, sounds like you guys are almost family"
Max snorted uncharacteristically and Logan shortly explained who and what Max was, stressing the fact that if somebody could save the human world, it was her and that they needed any bit of information Lydia had to offer.
The old lady took her head in her hands and for a time, all Max could see of her was a tame of white hair covering tanned, creased fingers. She looks so fragile on the outside when she is so strong, having endured all that she has. Do we all finish old and beaten like this? Her eyes turned to Logan, he seemed thoroughly thinking all this over. Will there come a time when he looks like her and I'll still look the way I do? Who knows what Manticore has in store for us? Sandeman, how many other secrets are you keeping from us?
"Lydia, didn't the kids tell you anything? Didn't Ames ever tell you what it was he was doing in his school?"
"No, I'm sorry. I know nothing. Wait! There was a poem or a child's song he told me once. I found it terribly sad and awful for a child to be saying such words. When I asked him where he had learned it, he told me 'at school'. I should've known at the time, maybe things wouldn't have turned out as badly as they have-"
"None of it is your fault Lydia. The Familiars are responsible" Max said resting a friendly hand on the woman's arm.
"When the night comes within a day,
And the Earth bares the Great Warrior,
The Weapon is his to honor,
Then all shall bound and do his way"
Lydia recited it without a hesitation, like she was the one who had learned it in school.
"That's all I can tell you" she said, her head falling in a gesture of defeat on her chest.
"That's more than we've had in a long time. Thank you Lydia" Max said gratefully.
"I'll tell you how to contact us, if you ever remember anything else or need help for anything" Logan added resuming his Eyes Only role.
-------------------
Lydecker and Joshua were back in the car and had just exited Powell Institute. The colonel leaned back in his seat, putting more space between him and the steering wheel.
"Well, we went a long way for nothing and you can bet that if Callaway's found anything, we won't get our hands on it in this lifetime" Lydecker sighed heavily, "Yet another dead end"
Joshua had taken off his handkerchief and had started chewing on another one of Lou's candies. His mouth full and fighting against the stickiness of the chemical substance, Joshua managed to articulate:
"Crazy doctor has found nothing"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Cuz Joshua found"
Lydecker's foot pressed on the brake pedal a bit too abruptly and the dog boy was choking when the car came to a halt.
Joshua started coughing rather violently and turning a nasty green color before Lydecker could intervene. Under the fear of not being able to breathe anymore, Joshua was thrusting his arms and legs everywhere; and several times hit Lydecker in the face before the latter could help him; the mixed choking sounds, groans and screams created a strange commotion in the car.
Finally, Lydecker pulled his left arm way back and brought it down hard against Joshua's back. A pink bit of candy flew out of Joshua's mouth in a throwing up noise. Its trajectory was halted by the car's windshield and it fell back to the dog boy's huge feet, leaving a trail of saliva on the pane.
Both Lydecker and Joshua were panting for obviously different reasons.
"Thank you" Joshua managed to say.
"Some soldier you'd make" Lydecker said, expressing out loud his earlier thoughts, "What did you find?"
"This" said Joshua drawing from his pocket a device as big as one of his candies.
"What is that?" Lydecker asked taking it in his hands.
"Father left it for me"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because Joshua can hear"
"What do you mean?" Lydecker asked.
Then, he recalled the dog boy clasping his hands on his ears even after his pen device had stopped emitting and he understood.
"This thing is emitting something"
Joshua nodded.
"Is it still emitting?"
Joshua shook his head and said:
"Joshua turned it off. Headache. Bad headache. Too loud"
"But what did it say?" Lydecker urged him.
"Morse code. Always the same message. S.E.A.T.T.L.E."
"Seattle. After all these years, Sandeman is going back to Seattle. What about the Familiars? Isn't he afraid of them anymore?"
Joshua shrugged and was about to have another candy, but at the last minute he pulled it back and eyed it suspiciously.
"Candy bad in car"
"Good job Joshua. I take back what I just said. You would've made a great soldier"
Joshua blushed and seemed to glow with pride for the rest of the drive.
-------------------
Having abandoned the idea of going to the restaurant, Max and Logan were back in their hotel room.
Max had just hung up Logan's mobile. Having failed to contact Lydecker, she had kept Zack informed of the day's developments. She had mentioned the idea of her and Logan aborting their little sojourn but against all odds, Zack had objected, stating that there was nothing they could do about it right now and that this could wait another twenty four hours. This didn't resemble Zack in the least and Max rightfully had the idea that Noah was also on the other end of the phone.
She smiled weakly before walking to the bed where Logan was lying, several pillows tucked beneath his head. The sheet of paper which had been blank when she had dialed the facility's number was now filled with Logan's writing. Max regarded this habit of leaving a written trail as dangerous but she knew Logan needed it to get a more general aspect of a situation.
"Zack says we can come back tomorrow night like we had planned"
"Sounds like Noah was in the same room" Logan noted, not taking his eyes away from the paper.
Max snorted at this and sat on the bed next to him.
"When the night comes within a day,
And the Earth bares the Great Warrior,
The Weapon is his to honor,
Then all shall bound and do his way" Logan repeated.
"When the night comes within a day… When's the next sun eclipse?" Max asked.
"This summer, I believe" Logan said "I'll have to check the exact date when we get back at the facility"
"I wonder who this Great Warrior might be"
"Maybe some unique kind of Familiar"
"Kinda like the kid I met at Ray's school? The telekinesis?"
"Maybe"
"This just keeps on getting better by the minute, doesn't it?"
"Actually it does. At least, now we have a precise date and maybe if we can lay our hands on this Great Warrior before he gets his Weapon, we could stop this"
"I bet that they have him under tight surveillance"
"It was just a suggestion. I'm gonna need to do some research as soon as we get back"
"So much for the romantic escapade" Max noted, sighing.
"You didn't seem to keen on the idea at first" Logan said, tilting his head at her.
So he had noticeed. Time to be honest, Max thought. She drew in a sharp breath before letting it out slowly and saying;
"True. I was kinda… nervous… but it seems I was wrong to be. Looks like we'll never be a normal couple"
"Oh, so that was what was troubling you; a normal couple, afraid of the boring routine?"
He leaned forward and dragged her into his arms. She let herself go and concentrated on his slow, regular breathing.
"Max, didn't I tell you a while back you'd never be a regular anything?"
"Yes and I remember saying that I would try anyway"
"Yeah, well you don't really have the best track record here so you might as well stop trying"
"I just though it was what you wanted"
"You're forgetting who you're talking to. Eyes Only isn't exactly a regular hobby"
"But you sounded so excited about these two days and you seemed to want everything to be perfect. I just wasn't sure I could actually be that perfect"
She put her arms around his waist and clung to him.
"I was glad to have you to myself for once and not have to share you between training and your role as the head of the transgenic"
"But it seems that no matter where we go, we can't escape it"
"It does seem so, but I've spent two years not having you at all, I think I can go with having just a bit of you till this summer"
"You might not have me at all after this summer… Who knows?"
"I do. We'll live through this Max. We will" Logan said emphatically.
Max sighed and closed her eyes, trying to let Logan soothe her as he passed his fingers through her dark curls but she kept wondering; Sandeman has so many secrets? Maybe the only way I can save my people is to die? What of Logan after that? Have we just overcome the virus problem to make it a bit harder for us to separate?
Who knows?
Sandeman does.
-------------------
End of Chapter
I know better than just dropping on my knees and beg you guys for reviews; so, I'll just sit back, relax and count on your doubtless sense of responsibility and commitment.
snorts
Yeah right…
drops on her knees
Oh please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase review.