DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters

- thanks to all reviews, sorry the wait for the next chapters. i'm working on another story.

Chapter 12: Phone Tag

Logan heard his phone ringing again. Would it finally be Max? He was worried about her. He didn't like to push her too much, but she never just ignored his pager. By now surely she could have easily found her way to a phone to let him know how she was. He wondered if she was mad at him. He hated making Max angry, but sometimes it seemed that was out of his control.

Logan felt some hope noticing the call was coming from a pay phone. He had Max's cell phone, so she would have to use a pay phone to get a hold of him. "Hello?" he answered.

"Yea. What's goin on?" came a male voice from the other end. Logan slouched, disappointed. "Who is this?" he demanded. He wasn't one for games.

"A friend of Max."

"That doesn't answer my question." Logan kept to the point.

There was a pause from the other end. Buying time to make something up, Logan thought. He wouldn't let that happen. "Listen, either you tell me who you are, or I'm hanging up."

"My name is Ben," came the reply.

Logan racked his brain… the name was familiar. Max had told him a little bit about her days back at Manticore, and Ben seemed to be ringing a bell. He couldn't place it though. "Am I supposed to know who that is?" he asked, needing more information.

"Listen, I know Max from back in the day. Right now I think she might be in trouble. I met up with her last night, and she was pretty stressed about something, but she didn't want to talk about it. She gave me this number and told me it was someone I could trust. Can I come over so we can talk about this somewhere private?"

Logan didn't want to make another mistake by just going with it. But this time it would be him, and not Max. And he owed it to Max to figure something out for her and help her after he led her into a trap last night, so he went ahead and took the risk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max woke up in a fury- he'd skipped out on her. What if he was still working for Manticore and now they had her address? She felt like the whole time she'd spent off work was a waste. She didn't even get to kick any ass the whole time, and it was driving her nuts! Usually after a peaceful sleep, because it was rare, she felt great, but today she felt like crap.

She picked up the pillows and blanket he'd left crumpled up on the floor. Slob!, she thought in disgust. Just the fact that she had to tidy up because some jerk had been there made her more upset. She wanted some answers. Right then she'd give anything to hop on her bike and chase down this new X5 jerk. But for now she had to get to work. She'd surely get fired if she didn't come in today.

"Max!" Normal exclaimed when she arrived. "You're alive! In that case, here- you better get going, I've got 6 packages to get done by lunch." He shoved an envelope in her face.

Max wanted to kill him, "Shove something else in my face and you won't have one anymore. And are you crazy, six packages! Before lunch! I just got here, and I'm already late!" She was staring daggers at him.

Normal slowly pulled the envelope away. "Well, I'll just have someone else deliver this."

Max didn't give him the chance to shove something else in her face.

"Hey now, Max, I still have one for you, though!" Normal called after her.

Everyone there got quiet. They all liked Max, but really, she scared the hell out of them sometimes. They were waiting to see what she'd do to Normal. She spun around, "Can't I even go to my locker and drop off my things first!" She wasn't asking, she headed to her lockers.

Original Cindy was standing by her locker. "So what's up, boo- looks like you had a rough night after Crash- didn't find your man, huh?"

Max sighed. "No, I didn't." Zack was another matter she would rather be attending to than running packages right now.

"Too bad."

Max brushed it off, "It's fine. I just want to get this stuff over with so I can get out of here. I've got a lot goin' on right now." She turned to Cindy, "So where were you last night? That must mean you had a good night, right?"

Her friend smiled, "Now you know if I'm out, I'm havin' a good time!"

Max nodded. "So where'd you end up then?"

Cindy shrugged, "Can't say, really. I met someone but we'll have to see what happens there. I guarantee you though I will be home tonight. Parties like that leave you needin' rest to recoop for the next one!"

Max smiled, "Cool. Hopefully I'll see you there."

Normal's annoying voice interrupted their casual chat. "Uh, Max! This needs to go out, pronto!"

Max rolled her eyes and sighed in disgust.

"Now be nice!" Cindy joked. Max made sure to put on a big cheesy smile as she grabbed the package from a terrified looking Normal.