Max handed Crysta her bag and said, "That's it."

"Good." Crysta said, stifling a yawn. It was too damn early for them to be awake; the only people who should be awake now are morning DJs and talk show hosts. But if they didn't want to get caught in morning rush-hour traffic they had to leave by 5:30 am. "Where's Lydia?"

Max looked around and sighed, "Still sleeping. I'll wake her up."

"No water," Alex warned, coming out of the kitchen with thermoses of coffee. "remember what happened last time."

"Don't I." Max replied, heading towards the door. Walking in to the darkened room, Max unceremoniously flipped on the light and paused; looking for any signs of life coming from Lydia.

She was still.

Max moved closer to her geeky friend and said, "Lydia." while gently shaking her shoulder.

Lydia shifted around and muttered, "Five more minutes mom...I swear."

Max sighed; they didn't have time for this. "Time to bring out the big guns." She thought. Get up close to Lydia, Max said loudly, "Leaving already Mister Shatner?"

Lydia's eyes shot open and she bolted up saying, "The Shat? Where!?"

"Not here." Max said, grabbing one of Lydia's hands and yanking her out of bed. "C'mon, we have to get going."

"Where to?" Lydia asked, confused. Five a.m. was not the optimal time for Lydia's brain to be functioning.

"New York remember?" Max said, continuing to propel Lydia forwards towards the dresser. "Get dressed."

"Fine fine." Lydia grumbled as she opened a drawer. Soon she was dressed and walked out to find everyone else waiting for her. Inhaling deeply, she smiled and said, "I smell coffee."

"Yes, there's coffee. You can have some in the car." Crysta said, pushing Lydia towards the door. "Now let's go."

"We're not forgetting anything are we?" Max asked, picking up her keys.

Alex did a once over around the apartment and said, "Nope, we got everything."

"Great." Max replied, walking towards the door. After Alex entered the hallway Max shut the door, locked it, and joined the others by the elevator.

Once they reached the ground floor of the apartment building they walked over to the car and got in with Max in the driver seat while Alex took shotgun and Crysta and Lydia got into the back.

As they got in Alex said, "Someone remind me why Lydia doesn't have to drive."

Lydia smiled and said, "I'm just the evil mastermind behind this plan...I don't have to drive. I let my minions do it for me."

"Fine," Alex huffed. "but if something goes wrong..."

"Nothing's going to go wrong...I think."

"If something does, I'm blaming you." Max said, looking at Lydia across the car hood.

"Whose idea was it for me to check the BC website, hmm?" Lydia asked, looking back at Max and raising an eyebrow.

"I was being sarcastic. I didn't think you'd actually find something..."

"Leave the sarcasm to those of us with the ability to master it, huh?"

"Oh shut up and get in the car." Max retorted, her lips twitching in a smile.

Since it was early morning there was little traffic so they made good time getting out of Colorado Springs itself and wasn't long until they were in the suburbs.

Crysta and Lydia had fallen asleep in the back and Alex was starting to nod off every once in a while. Max smiled to herself and turned on the radio to a local station, keeping the volume low but loud enough that she could hear it.

Driving along Max saw up ahead someone jogging on the right side of the road. As she drove past him, Max couldn't help but look.

He was wearing black jogging shorts and a grey shirt with 'ARMY' in big black letters on the front so Max assumed that he must be from Peterson or the SGC. He was well-toned and the front of his shirt was soaked with sweat so she could tell that he had been running for awhile. Smiling she thought to herself, "He's hot."

"MAX!" Alex yelled, bringing Max out of her thoughts. She saw that the car up in front of them had stepped on the brakes and that they where still heading towards it. Max let up on the gas and jammed on the brake, quickly checking to see if the other lane was empty. It was so Max quickly signaled and swerved around the slowing car, going onto the shoulder as she did.

"Agh!" Lydia yelled, waking with a start. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"Pull over now." Alex demanded.

"Ok…ok." Max said, moving over to the shoulder.

As the car rolled to a stop Alex said, " Get out, I'm driving."

"Why?"

"'Cause while you were drooling over some guy you almost rear-ended a car and ran us off the road."

"No I didn't. I almost ran off the road because you shouted at me." Max replied. "I can drive just fine, thank you very much."

Alex snorted, "Yea…if there are no guys running on the side of the road."

Max put the car back into gear while saying, "Let's just get going, ok?"

"Only if you promise not to destroy the car by leering at the other sex." Lydia mumbled already half-asleep.

"I promise."

"Good."

Max just rolled her eyes and pulled back onto the street.