A/n: Firstly, thanks for your reviews, everyone.

Secondly, I'm very, very sorry for the delay on this chapter. RL has come back to bite me in the arse. My updating on all my current stories is going to be appalling for the next month at least, probably two. Please, bear with me.

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Chapter 5:

Zack checked his voice mailbox from Max's apartment, while Kendra snored softly in her sleep.

"You have one new message," came the familiar recording.

"It's Richardson," said the terrified voice of his Manticore informant. "Listen, what you did has got Renfro seriously pissed. She's got the whole staff looking for some guy called Logan in Seattle. If she doesn't find him they're going to shut down the project and we're all toast. Please, you gotta help me! I found 656 for you, doesn't that count for anything? Just… call me back, soon, please?"

Thoughtfully, Zack hung up. So Manticore had somehow found out about Logan. That was dangerous. It meant he had the same set of choices with Logan as he had with Lydecker; send him away, keep him around… or kill him.

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Logan stood on a clifftop, watching with unseeing eyes as the waves broke on the beach below. He'd always loved the sounds and sight of the ocean; the briny smell seemed to cut through all the polluted city air he'd been breathing so long. The soothing rhythm of the mighty Pacific helped him think, even as the lazy wind seemed to blow right through him.

He loved Max. He loved her so much that every second they were apart he felt a continual ache in his chest. Logan had never felt so powerfully about anyone in his life; he'd thought he knew what love was before he met her, but now…

He knew instinctively that this emotion would be with him as long as he lived; and being separate from her would simply cause the ache to get worse and worse. This bond was unbreakable; it was like they were two halves of the same being.

I never believed I had a soul mate, until I met her, he thought. I'd do anything for her. Fight, die, kill, anything. Whatever it took to keep her safe.

Would I give up Eyes Only, if she asked me to? My life's work, helping thousands of people? Would I give up the Informant Net to protect her? Knowing how many lives it would cost?

Yes, came an insistent whisper from deep inside. Anything.

How can I let that happen? These people have put their lives in my hands; how can I even contemplate killing them all because of my own selfish desires?

Logan stood there for a long time, watching the spectacular sunset over the restless ocean. Finally, as true night fell, he moved his stiff limbs, realising suddenly how cold he was. The great Eyes Only stumbled to his car, numb fingers fumbling to unlock it and chilled limbs struggling to climb inside. He managed to start the car after several attempts and turned the heating right up.

Just my luck, he thought, a slight smile curving his lips at the irony. I come here to sort my head out and end up scrambling it with hypothermia. Probably come down with pneumonia next…

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Max let herself back into her apartment soundlessly, creeping through until she came to her own room. Kendra was fast asleep in her bed, still fully dressed and smearing makeup on the pillows. Zack was standing over her, arms folded sternly, as if on guard duty. Max suppressed a grin as her normally stoical older brother unbent a little to pull the blanket further up her unconscious form.

"Ever think of taking a job as a nurse, Zack?" She whispered.

"Max. I was expecting you hours ago. Been with Miracle Boy again?"

"No, actually; I've been catching up with Krit and Syl. And would you stop calling him that?"

"Would have thought you'd want to save all that for the reunion," he said, offhandedly.

"You're letting us have one?" Max was astonished.

"We leave for New York at noon," Zack confirmed. "I've already notified the others."

Max hugged him fiercely, tears pricking at her eyes. "Thank you, Zack," she said.

"Hey," slurred Kendra, "either shut up or get a room."

"Kendra, one, this is my room, and two, don't be gross, he's my brother. Go back to sleep."

A groan was her only reply as Max led Zack back out into the living area.

"I can't believe you're actually letting us have a reunion," said Max, still shocked. "Whatever happened to phoney sentimentality?"

"Like Krit said, the last thing Manticore will be worrying about right now is us. We might as well take the opportunity while we can. You have gas?"

"Yeah, filled up and a can spare. Should be plenty to get the Aztec somewhere we can refill, even if Logan's on empty, which he never is…"

"What's Logan got to do with anything? This is an X5 reunion, Max; family only."

"You're not serious?" Said Max, incredulously. "Logan's as much my family as you are."

"He's not one of us, Max. He can't understand half of what we've been through; he wasn't there."

"He understands a hell of a lot more than you think. He may have had money, but believe me his life's been anything but easy."

"Yeah well how many people can say they've been tortured every day for ten years? Watched the people they love die right in front of them? Spent half their lives on the run with the whole world after their ass?"

"Not many," said Max quietly. "But Logan comes close." Zack eyed her with scepticism.

"It's your choice, Maxie," he said simply. "You can come with us, alone, or you can stay here, with him. But he is not welcome; there's only nine people on the planet who are."

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"Report," said Renfro eagerly, standing over the same tech and examining the set of photographs in front of her with far more enthusiasm than he was comfortable with.

"The X7s picked out six possibilities, ma'am, only five of which could actually be our target," he told her nervously.

"Why, what discounts the other one?" She asked.

"Logan Cale was paralysed in a shooting around a year ago, ma'am. Unless you believe in miracles, there's no way he could have been running around in our forest the other night."

"Very well. Have the others brought in, fingerprinted and interrogated. I want to know which of them it was, and I want to know yesterday. Good work, Robertson."

"It's Richardson, ma'am," the luckless tech corrected, but Renfro was already out the door. "Although it could be worse," he added under his breath. "I'm just glad my name's not Logan…"

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Max picked the lock on the penthouse with the ease of long practice and slipped inside. There was no way she could turn down the offer of a reunion with the family she'd missed so long; but she was damned if she was going to leave Logan without at least letting him know where she was going. And a reassurance that she'd be back, no matter what.

The apartment was in silence; Max wondered if Logan was still sitting by the window, staring out at the view. She moved to check, but found the expanse of glass deserted.

Maybe he went to sleep, or he's sitting in his office, she thought. Both bedroom and computer were abandoned, but there was a note taped to the darkened monitor. She pulled it off and read Logan's elegant but near indecipherable scrawl with an increasing sense of dread.

Max,

Gone away for a few days to clear my head. Hard drives are all at Sebastian's if you need anything.

Logan.

PS, help yourself to whatever's in the fridge.

Max clutched the note tightly, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. He left me, she thought. I can't believe he just left me like that; not even a phone call... A damn note...

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Tell me what you thought.