A/N: Finally got something written! Woohoo! Hm…seems to be a lot of commas in this one..Oh well. This was written in an extraordinary fit of laziness (a.k.a. in between games of freecell), so sorry if it sucks.

Chapter Whatever

From the clock on the wall, Max knew that it was 2:30 AM immediately when he woke up, but where he was and how he'd gotten there wasn't so clear. Looking around and blinking, he slowly discovered that he was in the medbay…again. Sighing heavily, he brought himself into a sitting position and closed his eyes to stop the room from spinning. Coming to the correct conclusion that he had probably smacked his head on something, he blinked a few more times, then slowly got to his feet. He vowed to kill Kat if he found out she had anything to do with this.

Deciding to get out of there and into the bed he kept in his room on base, he quickly but unsteadily, crossed the room and let himself out. Dr. Yevshenko, most likely asleep, had obviously expected him to want to leave, as no alarms had announced his passage into the hallway. Pleading with the floor to stop moving, a bad feeling in his stomach told Max something had been wrong before everything had gone black. He remembered being called into his dad's office, but couldn't remember much after that. As the floor lurched again he had the feeling that maybe he didn't exactly want to remember what had happened.

Relieved that his journey down the ever-moving hallway was finally at an end, Max arrived at his room and entered his access code into the key panel. The area of the building was already in a secure section of the complex, so Jefferson Smith hadn't really seen the need to install retinal scanners or other additional security checks in each individual room. Upon entering the room, Max was surprised by a low grumbling sound. Immediately taking the defensive, he jumped back against the wall and got ready to respond. However, upon a moment's observation, it became obvious that Max wasn't in any danger at all…Berto had just fallen asleep on the former's cot.

Rolling his eyes, Max carefully picked up his "bro" and left the room, carrying him out the door, and unfortunately, back into the hallway. Max mumbled to himself as he carried his unconscious coworker four doors down to his own room. "You see, Bro?" He said, addressing the seemingly lifeless figure in his arms, "This is what happens when you stay up all night playing computer games. You end up going to sleep in my room. What if you'd ended up in Kat's room, hm?" But Berto, still asleep, made no movement to protest Max's teasing.

Oddly enough, when Max got to Berto's room, he saw the door was slightly ajar. Shaking his head at the sleeping form that was Berto, he said "Now that's not good. What would Rachel say?" Still talking as he edged the door farther open with the toe of his boot, Max thought about the possibility of someone who was paid to design things to keep the rest of them safe being so lax about his own personal security.

Once inside the room, Max moved against the wall and used his shoulder to flick the light switch into the 'on' position. Recognizing the shape of yet another sleeping person in Berto's bed made him realize nothing was going to go easily tonight. "Kat? Is that you?" He demanded. The shape under the covers looked about Kat's size, he guessed. "Kat? Come on, the genius needs his sleep. See, unlike you he actually needs to use his brain during the day." Still getting no response, he raised one foot and prodded the sleeping form with it. "KAT!"

"I WAS SLEEPING YOU MORON!" The voice and flash of red hair that accompanied it identified the no-longer-sleeping form as a person who was definitely not Kat.

Getting what was very possibly the nastiest shock of his week, Max yelped, dropped Berto, and stumbled backwards.

"Problem?" Dread's granddaughter asked, narrowing her eyes and sitting up in bed.

"What are you doing here!"

In response, Abigail rolled her eyes and addressed Berto, who was also now awake, instead. "He doesn't remember, does he?"

Berto glanced at Max as he got to his feet and winced. "Guess not…Did you drop me!"

At this time, Max decided that getting out of bed, medlab or not, was a bad idea. "Tell me what? Why were you in my room, and why is she in yours? " he asked hesitantly.

Berto sighed. "Um…remember the whole thing in Jeff's office…you know with um…"

Dread took this moment to pop his head in through the doorway. "Anything wrong?" he drawled lazily.

"…With him…" Berto finished, then glanced around the room nervously.

"Ohhhhh, I get it! I'm dreaming! All right. Hope you don't mind if I wake up now."

Abigail smiled sweetly and threw the alarm clock at him, hitting Max square in the forehead.

"OW!"

"I would say not dreaming," Dread said decisively. "Now, I'm going back to bed. Abigail, play nice?"

"Always."

"Hm." Dread seemed to know he had raised no angel.

After Dread's exit, Max first rubbed at his forehead where the clock had struck him, then went rigid.

"He remembered!" Abigail crowed gleefully, noting the shocked look on his face.

"Hermano? You okay?" Berto asked slowly.

Without another word to either of them, Max left the room and closed the door quietly behind him, leaving Berto and Abigail alone. A few seconds later, Berto heard what he was pretty sure to be the sound of someone punching holes in the wall as they walked down the corridor.

Berto looked nervously at Abigail, and edged towards the door, being careful not to turn his back on her. "I'm…uh…gonna go work on some stuff now."

"More exploding dogs?"

"…No."

"All right! Bye!" Abigail called after him as the door swung shut. Alone in the dark, she smiled. "This is going to be fun."