Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Notes: Hi, sorry it's been so long, if I still have any readers left, please let me know. I'm so sorry, but I have been crushed by schoolwork. I had heard that this year was more difficult than the previous ones, but this is ridiculous, I barely have a life! Nevertheless, this is not for me to complain, but merely to state that I will not abandon this piece. The updates won't be frequent until January at the least, but I hope to get some done over winter break. Thank you for your patience, and your reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter, hopefully the next one will be longer.

Jracklesfan77: I will definitely continue this, thanks for the review.

Mzbhve: Thank you for all your help.

Lotamoxie: Sorry, it's updated a little later than planned, but thanks for the encouragement!

Mystic Fayth, Lakergirl08, Synthera, Zuhra, Honeyx5-452, Alan84, Chance32, SequoiaUnderwood, Alec'sAngel494, and I hope I didn't leave anybody out: Thank you all! Sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoy.

A special than you to my beta Serenity Wintirs, this gal is an angel for doing this. Thank you!

X-X-X-X-X

Max woke up at five a.m. the next morning with the feeling that she should remember something. All of a sudden the events of the night before rushed into her mind in a rush. In her rush to get up the brunette practically leapt to her feet. She had no idea who could have sent the mysterious letter, but she wondered if there was any way to reply back.

In light of this new revelation, Max was fully energized. She quickly got out a piece of paper and after a couple moments worth of careful deliberation, began to write.

To my "secret admirer",

How odd it feels to write those words. Surprise leads me to honesty however, when I say I am not in any way looking for a relationship at the moment. Nevertheless if you left me that thoughtful gift perhaps you would be willing to be my friend? We could communicate through e-mail if that's acceptable to you.

If I may ask however, why a phoenix? What do you mean by it?

One last thing, before I end this letter, which I can only hope goes into the right hands… To whomever you are thank you. The letter, and the gifts…they really brightened up my mood.

Max Guevera

With that done, she folded the creamy paper, and put it in an envelope. Using one of the talents she had been born with, the fiery brunette then took an ink pen, and very deliberately drew a large phoenix on the envelope. She then placed it in her window, so the phoenix was facing outwards towards the street. With any luck, whoever had sent this would see this and reply, but for now she would head down to visit with her siblings, and her crew from Terminal City, and when it got later on in the day she would pay a special visit to her god-daughter, Gems' little girl, Liberty.

With a distinctly cat-like grin Max left her apartment feeling better than she had in ages.

X-X-X-X-X

He watched from the shadows as she left her apartment, so caught up in her euphoria she never even noticed him. Then again, he had been trained at Manticore. When he didn't want to be noticed, he generally wasn't noticed. After making sure that she was indeed gone, he went up to her apartment and removed the letter. As he read through it in the shadows of her apartment he felt a grin tug at the corners of his mouth.

He deftly removed a card filled with swirls the color of fire as the border. It was barely the size of an index card, but it would serve his purpose. He borrowed her ink pen and drew a phoenix in the corner of the card, after which he began to write.

When he was finished he surveyed his work with a critical eye, and then deciding he was satisfied, placed the ink pen exactly where he had taken it and pocketed the letter she had left him.

When he left the apartment a minute later, the only thing to testify that he had been there was the missing letter and the note propped up on a pillow rich with her unique scent of honey(? Or honeysuckle?), vanilla and something so distinctly her that it couldn't be defined.

X-X-X-X-X

Max laughed at the antics of the young children. She had agreed to baby-sit Jace's little boy Max, Gem's little girl Liberty, and Kendra/Kenya's –a technological whiz- little girl Flame. She quickly set them up in an empty room in her apartment with paint. She made sure all of them were in ratty old clothes, and that the girls had their hair tied back, before handing over the paintbrushes, the sponges, the balloons filled with paint…and the paint buckets. They then proceeded to have a merry time making a mess of the pristine white room.

Hands and faces quickly became rainbows of paint themselves. When five hours later Jace, Gem, and Kendra came to pick up their little darlings, the children hadn't wanted to leave.

"But I want to stay with Auntie Max!" little Max, who was completely covered from head to toe in paint whined, which brought choruses from the other two children.

Jace never lost a beat however, "That's great, but you have to get cleaned up now. But if you come along quietly, you can come back tomorrow for a few hours."

The little kid turned his beautiful brown eyes on her for confirmation, which she gave with a nod. He stretched out his arms for her to hug him, which she did, wrapping him up in her own multicoloured embrace as she gave his mother a sheepish smile.

"Will we paint again tomorrow Auntie Max?"

"Hmmmm. We'll see. We'll probably do something different, after all we don't want to get too bored of this huh?" she ruffled his sticky hair and gave him an affectionate kiss.

"Okay, G'night Auntie Max."

"Goodnight little Max."

X-X-X-X-X

A couple of hours later Max strode out of the bathroom in her fluffy cream coloured bathrobe after taking a long, hot shower. It had taken several attempts to get the paint completely out of her hair, and even now it still held a more pronounced reddish sheen. She was towel-drying her hair, and had just thrown her towel on the drying rack when she caught sight of the innocent looking note on her pillow that she had missed earlier that day. The inked phoenix in the corner alone was enough to mark who had sent it.

She cautiously approached it before berating herself that she was being silly, upon which she strode forward and snatched up the note. Nevertheless, she held it gently in her hands as she turned on her bedside lamp to read the beautiful calligraphic words.

Dear Max,

I'm not looking to press anything, and if friendship is all you want or are ready for that's fine by me. This is for whatever makes you happy. I would be thrilled to communicate with you in a, shall we say, a simpler manner. My e-mail address is DarkFlamesRiseTrA .com, I look forward to talking with you further. As for the phoenix, ask me another time after we get to know each other better.

Yours

Max reread it several times before getting up and starting up her computer. She typed in his e-mail address and added him to her contact list. The next move on the board was his.

X-X-X-X-X

If you want me to tell you who the secret admirer is in the next couple of chapters, or of you just want to guess at who it is please let me know in your reviews. That said, please review!