Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone that reviewed! I'm still really new to Dark Angel so the support is much appreciated. So far the story is moving along fairly quickly, and by this point I mostly have it planned to the end. It might end up being shorter than I planned, but at least it looks like it might be finished sooner, as well.

xxxxx

Asha is sitting leaning against his door when he finally makes it home, and he can feel the worry radiating from her even before he steps off the elevator. "Hi," he says, pulling out his key to unlock the door as she climbs to his feet.

"Hey," she says, giving a soft smile. "I was a little worried, thought I'd drop by."

He watches her for a moment before opening the door. "I can take care of myself, you know" he says wryly. She follows him in without comment.

"I didn't trust that woman is all. What did she want, anyway?"

"I'm not sure," Logan tells her honestly. "She's from Manticore."

"Manticore?" Asha snaps. "What, like Alec?"

Logan nods contemplatively. "I wonder what she's after," he says quietly, mostly to himself.

"I've told you before," Asha says, "don't mess with this, Logan, it's too big—even for Eyes Only to handle."

"Manticore has to be stopped," Logan says, as though she hasn't spoken, "the information Alec has given me over the last year is disturbing to say the least, don't tell me you don't think so too. I owe Alec, anyway, after all the cases he's run for me."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather you didn't trust him, either," Asha says. "He's obviously out for himself—it's not like he's ever cared enough to ask you to take down Manticore, anyway."

Logan grins a little. "If he hadn't helped me with the Sonrisa case," he says, "I would probably be dead."

"And if you hadn't paid him a King's ransom, he wouldn't have helped," Asha snaps back.

Logan shrugs philosophically. "It's a broken world; we're all just trying to get by."

"You could get by fine if that's what you were after," Asha says, with exasperated fondness. "You just seem to be running in the opposite direction of everyone else."

"I've been telling him that since I met him," a new voice says wryly, and Asha and Logan spin towards the living room to see Alec falling to lie back on the couch. "Saved the world yet, Logan?"

Logan crosses his arms, and tries to hide his amusement. "Learned to use the doorbell yet, Alec?"

He grins over at them carelessly. "We need to talk," he says simply. "I saw your little dinner companion tonight, and since you hid Sam and her family away in San Francisco just a couple weeks ago, I'm guessing it wasn't her."

"No," Logan agrees. "She says her name is Max."

Alec raises his eyebrows a little. "Max," he says. "Right. Sam's clone. This is bad."

"Why?" Logan asks.

"Because she was probably sent here to kill you," Alec says, rolling his eyes as he often did at Logan's naivety.

"If she was sent here to kill me, wouldn't I be dead?" Logan asks wryly and Alec pauses, thinking that over.

"You have a point," he says, "but still, maybe she's supposed to get something out of you first. You didn't tell her anything, did you?"

Logan sighs. "Nothing she didn't already know," he says. "And don't worry, I didn't mention you."

Alec shot him a brilliant grin. "Thanks," he says. "You're still going to get yourself killed, though, if you're not careful."

"Maybe you could do something to help," Asha snaps, moving to stand beside Logan.

Alec's eyes strayed to her. "I'm not looking for any trouble," he says, and she rolls her eyes, because that's pretty much his motto and she's sick of it. He turns back to Logan. "I just came to tell you to watch your back, Logan. Hell, if we were smart, we'd both get the hell out of town right now."

"I'm going to meet her tomorrow," Logan says, because as Asha and Alec both know well, he's extremely smart book-wise, but extremely careless street-wise.

"You're a lunatic," Asha snaps, but really isn't surprised. "Did you hear a word Alec just said? If he came all the way down here with his precious time to give you a warning, then you've got to be in real trouble this time, Logan. For once in your life, just walk away."

"I can't," Logan says softly. "You're probably right, I probably should, but I can't."

Asha is again not all that surprised, but she's exasperated and worried and she places a hand on his arm with a sigh. "Just…at least take Peter."

Logan's lips twitched upwards. "I'll think about it." He doesn't say it, but he knows Max could down Peter in five seconds flat, and all things considered, he'd rather take his chances alone.

Asha gives a half-hearted wave goodbye and walks out, but Alec makes no move to leave. He waits until he hears the door shut before getting to his feet. "They don't know yet," he says.

"Know what?" Logan asks.

"That you're Eyes Only," Alec says, shooting him a cheeky grin.

Alec had broken into his apartment 13 months ago, interrupting him right in the middle of an Eyes Only broadcast and hasn't let him forget it since. Alec isn't exactly the type of guy he would normally have taken into his confidence, even Asha didn't know who he really was, but so far, Alec only really betrayed him that once.

"No thanks to you," Logan says, with just a little bitterness. "You did try to sell me to them to get them to stop looking for you, you know, and that's probably the only reason they know enough to send someone after me now."

"Hey," Alec snaps defensively. "It's not my fault you're careless—trusting a reprobate like me. And even ignoring the fact that I hadn't intended to get caught and forced to make a deal with the devil, I changed my mind last minute, anyway, didn't I?"

Logan gives him a lop-sided grin. "You were caught because you were cage-fighting under the alias Manta Cora and winning every round in under twelve seconds, and you didn't change your mind, they double-crossed you," he says wryly. "From what I remember, you said you barely escaped Lydecker's clutches—not to mention I got shot."

"Stop complaining," Alec says dismissively. "It was only a flesh wound, and I killed everyone that saw you. No one knows you're Eyes Only, so chill."

Logan sighs, having already forgiven Alec months ago and unwilling to get into it again. "If Max is working for Manticore," he says, "then wouldn't we benefit from knowing how much she knows?"

"You think you'll get anything out of her?" Alec asks disbelievingly. "Logan, buddy, it's gonna be the other way around."

Logan glances over at him, not disagreeing. "I'll be careful, but I still think I need to meet with her."

Alec holds his hands out in mock surrender. "Fine, whatever, go play with fire. Just be careful. I'm not always going to be around to save your sorry ass, you know." Alec gives him a sloppy salute as a goodbye and heads back down the hall to Logan's bedroom. Logan doesn't bother to wonder how he's going to get out.

xxxxx

He's lighting a candle when he hears footsteps behind him. "Expecting company? Don't tell me you've already forgotten our date."

Logan smiles and lights the other candle. "I haven't," he says. "You're right on time." He looks up and Max is standing with her back to his window, all in black, looking half-amused and half-wary.

"You knew I wasn't going to waste time waiting around at Crash," she says, and crosses her arms.

"You didn't strike me as particularly patient," Logan admits. "I figured you would show up here eventually."

Max purses her lips again, not liking the way he seems to be keeping one step ahead of her. "I just wanted to see how someone fighting for the greater good lived. Nice place, Logan, really—you must relate so well to the struggling masses."

Logan let that slide, having long ago come to terms with the guilt he felt for being born well-off. "My friends think you're here to kill me," he says, conversationally, and then glances up at her, looking entirely unconcerned. "Do you like pasta, Max?"

"I love pasta," she tells him levelly. She's trying not to let her surprise at his first statement show, which isn't that hard—she's getting used to being surprised by him.

He grins at her and turns around to head towards the kitchen. "Good," he says. "It should be finished soon. Make yourself at home, Max."

She keeps her eyes on him but takes a seat, slouching down again, her arms staying crossed. "Do you always make dinner for people that break into your apartment?" she asks him.

He gives a sly little grin and doesn't look up to meet her eyes. "You'd be surprised," he says, and leaves it at that.

Max watches him, standing there and casually stirring the sauce with a domesticity about him she wouldn't have expected considering what she knows, and feels suddenly out of place. "Tell me about Eyes Only," she says.

Logan grins again. "I don't know anything about him, really. He's a very private person." He looks up. "Besides, I thought it was your turn to talk tonight, wasn't that the deal?"

"I didn't make any deals," Max says, and it's true enough.

"Well then," Logan says, pulling two plates from a cupboard, "let's make one, shall we?" He starts placing the pasta on the plates. "You level with me, or the dinner party is over. How's that sound?"

He walks over and sets the plate in front of her. She wonders idly if it's poisoned, but decides that doesn't seem Logan's style, if he's ever even killed anyone at all. "Thanks," she says dryly.

He sits down across from her, but neither of them is actually in the mood to eat.

She spent all last night awake and wondering what to say to him to get him to believe in her, what story he might buy, and she came up with a hundred different ones. She just couldn't convince herself that any of them would work, she's never had to try and deceive someone who knew so many of her secrets before.

"This is the part where you tell me the truth, Max," Logan tells her when the silence stretches.

The truth, she thinks, and grins. The truth might actually work. "Okay," she says. "I was sent here to find out the identity of Eyes Only, and then kill you both." She takes great pleasure in the fact his eyes widen marginally, because this is the first time she's thrown him off balance instead of the other way around.

If Lydecker were here, he'd probably put her in solitary for a month for telling him this much, but she has a feeling playing games with Logan Cale won't get her anywhere and she's never not finished a job.

"Well, that's, ah…" Logan trails off, and absent-mindedly uncorks a bottle of wine. "That's truthful."

"I just want to make sure we're on the same page," Max says. "I'm tired of playing games."

Logan gets the wine open but then pushes it away without pouring it and gets anxiously to his feet. "Why would you tell me that?" he asks abruptly.

Max raises an eyebrow. "You asked me too," she reminds him.

"That's hardly the point," Logan snaps. "Why did you tell me?"

Max shrugs a little. "Maybe I like you," she says.

"I find that hard to believe," he says, and bites his lip. He turns around, running a hand through his hair, and she wonders if its bravery or brashness that lets him turn his back on her.

She gets to her feet and walks up behind him. "Now you know where I stand," she says. "Where are you?"

"Backed in the corner?" he says, and then laughs softly—the sound is filled more with mild hysteria than amusement.

She touches his arm and he turns around. She tilts her face upwards, just inches from his. "I don't want to hurt anyone," she tells him, watching him with what she hopes looks like sincerity. "And no one has to get hurt, not if I have cooperation. If you tell me who Eyes Only is, I could protect you." Max is a little surprised when she realizes it isn't an empty offer. She really would betray Lydecker's orders and let him live.

She doesn't know why she's willing to risk so much for someone she hardly knows, and she doesn't want to think about it too much—she just tells herself it's because he's not the big fish anyway, and she doubts anyone would notice if he slips through the cracks.

He leans down, a little closer than she's comfortable with. "If I give you Eyes Only," he whispers. "I'm dead anyway." She can feel his breath on her neck as he moves his mouth closer to her ear. "Are you going to kill me now, Max?" he asks.

As she pulls away from him, Max wonders if she even could.

She leaves without answering his question. She doesn't know the answer, anyway, and there is little point in staying. He isn't going to give up Eyes Only willingly, that much was obvious, and she's already shown him all of her cards—but if she's going to get Logan out of this alive she needs to give Lydecker something to distract him. Eyes Only is the only thing that will be good enough.

She's going to have to find him and kill him—it's the only chance Logan has.