A/N: Thanks for your reviews! In my S1 watching, I'm up to Haven. I hadn't really decided if this was set before or after that, but Logan makes a comment here that places this after that escapade. That turning point - Logan protecting Max - may have been enough for the two of them to embark on this journey. I tried to advance the plot in this one, but it just didn't fit yet. Here's a little more until then.

Chapter 9

"Griffith Observatory, for sure!" Marianne revisited her tour guide list for about the 15th time in the past week as the four of them relaxed on the leather seats of the Cale Industries G5.

Logan accepted the dark liquor Bennett offered him and nodded in Marianne's direction as she shifted her focus to Max. "You have seen Rebel Without a Cause," then turning to Logan, "She has seen Rebel Without a Cause, hasn't she?"

Max's eyes widened and flew to Logan who quickly responded. "We really haven't had too much time to devote to Max's classic film education."

"Well, maybe it will be better to see the remaining sights and decide which ones are essential," Marianne declared after an additional glance at the planner in front of her.

Max exhaled slightly, brushing Logan's shoulder as she swiveled in her seat. She pressed her face to the porthole behind them, peering through the wisps of clouds separating the sky and sea. Sebastian's report had made its way into her hands just moments before they'd boarded, but she hadn't yet had a chance to browse it. Now, with Marianne set on a three-hour tour of the remains of celebrity homes and Logan and Bennett working toward three sheets, she figured it would be the middle of the night before she'd even manage a peek.

Their meeting with Dr. Takahashi was set for 1 pm on Saturday afternoon, about 24 hours from when they were set to land in L.A. They were, at least, armed with six containers of transgenic DNA that Zack had left with Logan's doorman via Jam Pony messenger. Of all the places and ways for them to connect with one another, he had deliberately avoided direct contact between the two of them. Whatever. She didn't have time for Zack's pouting right now.

Max shifted back to the here and now long enough to intercept Logan's third Scotch, draining the glass herself in one gulp.

"You okay?" He asked, his entire demeanor more uninhibited than two glasses of wine had ever made him.

"Just a lot goin' on."

"Don't worry about Marianne," he whispered into her hair as his left hand slid its way under the back of her shirt. "We'll give them the slip when we land."

"I'm more concerned with you than her," Max hissed through pursed lips close to his ears as she feigned a kiss so Bennett and Marianne wouldn't notice what might become a mini-quarrel. "I'm thinking you need to pace yourself. We have work to do."

He blinked a couple of times as he pulled back from her, a half-amused half-annoyed look on his face. "When have I ever not been all business when I needed to be?"

She relaxed against him. "I was afraid you might slip back into your billionaire playboy ways."

"We haven't had billions, plural, since 2008," was his immediate reply.

She shoved him off of her with a roll of the eyes. How she made it here, on his family's company's private plane with his quiet but somehow substantial cousin and his anxiously well-meaning wife, she still wasn't quite sure. She'd broken into a lot of buildings, but Logan's penthouse had proven the most complicated and had the most staying power and influence over her than any one place in her life, save Manticore.

Finally, somehow knowing that her insecurities were rising, Logan's arm wrapped her snugly into his side. She rested her head against him. When she looked up again, 45 minutes had passed and the flight attendant was preparing them for landing. Logan kissed the top of her head as her movements increased.

"Good nap?"

"I guess I needed it." She stretched her arms above her head and then replaced her head on his chest. His heartbeats pounded through the cotton of his shirt at a noticeably increased rate. "You're nervous."

His right hand tapped out a staccato overture on the leather armrest. "Can't help it." He grinned, almost embarrassedly. "Three drinks didn't help it."

She twisted her body so she was almost facing him, forgetting the others so close by. "Three?"

"While you were sleeping I replaced the one you stole."

She nodded. "It's going to go be okay."

He closed his eyes briefly. "What if she says I'm a lost cause?"

She rested her hand on the side of his face where the stubble scratched against her palm. He opened his eyes at her touch. "You aren't, and she won't say that."

"I don't know if I can go through that again, losing it all over." He shook his head then, conflicted as he tried to push the negativity away. "I can't think about that now."

"Then don't." Her lips rushed forward to kiss his. "We'll think of absolutely anything else until we have to," she promised as they parted.

He managed a crooked little smile. "I'll really try." He wove his fingers between hers. "This must be odd for you," he realized. "I hadn't really thought about it again since Dr. Vertes."

"Let's not think about that either," she decided. It was odd, surreal, difficult – whatever you wanted to call it, but the weekend and the next few months to come weren't about her. "Let's just do what we came for and go from there." But she knew that would be easier said than done. For both of them.

When they landed the car took the four of them directly to The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Max marveled at the blue cloudless sky, warm air, and palm trees lining the clean streets as they drove from LAX.

"How have they managed to get things back in working order and I was squatting in an abandoned apartment building until last week?" she mused as the manicured lawns and brightly painted buildings whizzed by.

Logan shrugged. "It's just like Bennett's neighborhood or the fancy stores downtown or the penthouse. Money covers a multitude of problems. And this was traditionally one of the richest neighborhoods in the country. Obviously it still is, for the West Coast anyway." He'd decided to pull out all the stops on this trip. Sure, they were traveling with Bennett and Marianne, so that automatically classed up the ensemble, but Logan wanted to show her this side of his life, of what could be her life. He knew it didn't matter – to her or really to him, either, but she was going out on a limb by agreeing to give up her job and be accountable to him for these coming months. He knew staying in one place wasn't something she took for granted and he wasn't taking for granted that she'd agreed to do it for him. He wanted to something nice for her. At least, he hoped she'd think it was nice and not a colossal waste of money. But the more he thought about it as he followed the bellman and their luggage to their bungalow, the more he worried he'd totally missed the mark. She might have preferred a new carburetor.

Max's eyes grew wide as they entered the door. She shot Logan a look behind the bellman's shoulder. He grinned and motioned to the French doors. She crossed the room as he took care of the tip. As soon as the bellman left, Logan retraced her route to find her.

"Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed from the patio leading from the door to the private pool and spa in the garden area.

He smiled. "I thought it would be good to have a little vacation on our work trip. You know, the other way around for once? No Eyes Only wilderness retreat this time."

She shook her head, looking longingly back over her shoulder toward the pool but torn by her need to rail against the opulence. "It's too expensive."

"It's okay."

"Things are going to get even more expensive. I know you don't know about budgets and having to choose what to spend your money on and all that, but I do." She took a seat on a lounge chair beside where he'd stopped. "Just being here and out of Seattle for a couple of days is enough. We could sleep on the beach."

Logan laughed and reached for her hand. "We're not sleeping on the beach. And I'll try to rein in the spending after this."

She moved from her seat into his lap. "It is gorgeous, and I'm almost ashamed of how excited I am to see the rest of it."

He kissed her neck. "Ready for the grand tour?"

"You've been here before?"

"Well, no, but I think I can figure out the three rooms of the suite."

Bennett and Marianne joined them for dinner and proposed water recreation. Max wasn't sure how comfortable Logan would be with the situation, but he'd invited them, so he presumably had thought it through. After dinner, Max slipped into a red one-piece suit she'd picked up earlier in the week with the black credit card. The white one hadn't made this trip. Now she kind of wished she'd brought it for later, but really, there'd be no need for a suit then. Logan joined her in the master bedroom as the wait staff cleared dinner.

"That's pretty," he managed, distractedly as he entered the room.

"Thanks. It's new. Most everything is." She turned. "Did you leave them out there?"

He shook his head. "They aren't going to stay. Marianne wants to meet up with some friends, and they know we have a big day tomorrow. She says we should go up to the observatory tomorrow night. She has a whole thing planned."

"Oh." She looked down at her lack of clothing. "I should change then and say good night."

"Don't worry," he grinned. "They've already gone, but I'll be happy to help you out of that suit whenever you're ready."

She swatted his hand as he grabbed at her red bottom. "I'm gonna grab a bottle of wine while you change. See you in the water."

"Don't break the cork!" he yelled as she disappeared around the corner.

She'd just slipped under the water when he arrived at the edge of the pool. She'd moved a heavy chair close enough that he could use it for leverage. He set his brakes and maneuvered himself onto the ground. Max bit her lip as she popped out of the water, watching but not wanting to offer help unless he needed it. But he didn't. He perched on the edge of the pool to steady himself for a second and then slipped almost effortlessly into the water. Max came up behind him, her arms snaking beneath his as he surfaced. He relaxed back against her chest.

"Okay. I'll live like the other half for a little while," she purred. He turned in her arms and smiled before he ducked back under the water and swam around to the sunken steps just beyond her. He settled there where he watched her lithe form cutting through the water, down the length of the small pool and back. She smoothed her hair back from her face as she moved in between his legs, resting her back against his chest. She exhaled a little sigh of contentment as his arms enveloped her.

"I thought you'd eventually see things my way."

"This," she skimmed her hands across the surface of the blue water in front of them, "Was one of your best ideas yet."

He grinned into her dark curtain of hair. "I have my moments."

Logan slept about as much as Max that night. He told himself he'd gotten too used to saving the world all night, but they both knew it was his nerves. Three drinks hadn't helped. Having her beside of and then on top of him most of the night hadn't helped, either. They'd tried another swim, sans suits around 2:30, and they finally fell asleep just after four. Max tiptoed into the sitting room and ordered breakfast around 6:30 while he slept fitfully in the other room. As she waited for the food, she realized that Sebastian's report was in her bag in the bedroom. But after watching him fight sleep all night, she wasn't about to risk waking him to retrieve it. When the waiters arrived around seven, she heard him beginning to stir. He'd made it to sitting, glasses on, hair looking like he'd been recently electrocuted when she entered with a cup of coffee.

"I'd tell you to sleep more, but then I'd sound like you," she grinned.

He smirked but accepted the steaming mug. "I'll be out in a minute."

She nodded and backed toward the door. "They have more bacon than I've ever seen in my life."

Logan laughed again and slid into the chair. Once he finished in the bathroom, he joined Max on the patio for breakfast. "So this is what seven AM looks like."

"It's probably been a while since the two of you have met," she pointed out.

Logan shrugged. "I'm nocturnal now."

"You're rich enough to sleep in."

The banter seemed to relax him. He rolled his eyes as he took a big bite of eggs Benedict. When breakfast was over, they spent a considerable amount of time in the sunken tub, mostly to distract him and occupy the hours until their appointment with Dr. Takahashi. Meanwhile, the hotel staff constructed a meeting area in the sitting room, setting up the electronic equipment the doctor had requested for her presentation. Once they'd dressed, Logan oversaw the rest of the preparations as well as delivery of lunch. There was nothing more he could do but wait.

Max couldn't help but note how desperately he was attempting not to come across as desperate, but he was failing. She wished above anything right now that she could make this better for him, that she could fix this. But then again, it was her blood that had started them down this road in the first place. She figured she'd best steer way clear of her strongest instincts to interfere further and hoped this doctor was up to the challenge.

TBC