Choices

by Mystic25

UPDATE CHAPTER 28 SUMMARY: Jessie finally asks Max about her past

14. Deep Woods Scrabble

TITLE: Choices 15 "Deep Woods Scrabble"
AUTHOR: Mystic25
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.

SUMMARY: Zack convinces Max to join him on a "skills" retreat while she and Logan are vacationing at his parents cabin. But 12 hours in the Washington woods draws out longer then they expected.

DISCLAIMER: Cameron. FOX. Mystic. Suing not included in the deal.

A/N: This came to me after watching an ep of "John Doe" Turning out to be a good show. My other idea for this chap was getting about as far along as yanking a chain that's attached to the wall, so I gipped it.

A/N #2: I had this scene in my head one night about Logan, Zack and Max in the some sort of forest, and stuff happened to them (not gonna tell what, that would give the plot away) But it was so clear, and detailed, and now I FINALLY found a way to incorporate it into a story line. Short deal..enjoy.

*****

ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON

The water slid over her body like a thousand knives gliding over her skin. Her eyes remained open under the frigid water. Above her head, she could still hear them, talking.

"Any signs?"

"No sir, we covered most of the tree line"

"What about the other one?"

"Nothing."

"There can't be nothing soldier, otherwise we wouldn't be out here."

"I know sir" the soldier responded "I just meant-"

"You think I give a damn about what you meant?" Ames White cut the man off.

(cut to: shot of Max under the river water, grasping at stones to keep herself submerged. White and soldier are seen through her view under the water. Shot returns to profile view of White and sergeant a few seconds later)

The sergeant went silent, feeling the sting of White's remark. "Noted sir"

"Good" White continued "Obviously they didn't come through here, but they're somewhere in the surrounding area." he looked out over the tree line of pine and maple, some going into their golden hues with the impending fall weather.

White turned back to the young military man in green fatigues "Start checking northwest, northeast, and due north. Mark my words soldier, we will stay out all the live long day until we find'em"

"Yes Sir" the sergeant answered back crisply, barking the command in his radio.

White scanned the gaggle of trees again, looking, listening for the sound of startled animals, birds, waiting for nature to give away their location. Nothing happened. White turned sharply, pissed there was no find. The sweep of his trench coat created small ripples in the shallow water of the river. He stepped over the rocks and water reeds, glancing over his shoulder again before leaving the clearing.

The water remained still for minutes after White left with the soldier, but soon it erupted from something rising to the surface at a high speed. Max's head bobbed in the water, her hair sticking to the sides of her face, the cold making her shake as she watched, waited until White pulled out in the black car, until it vanished from her vision completely.

After she was sure he was gone, she swam to the shore, long strenuous movements because of how long she had been under 68 degree water.

"Max" the voice belonged to Zack, who came out from the undergrowth he had been hiding at and now stood at the shoreline. "Did they see you?"

Max didn't answer him with words, but shook her head 'no' "They've gone-" her voice trembled as she struggled to stand up on the soft shore.

Zack grabbed her hand, and pulled her up the embankment. The hand being used was wrapped twice in a makeshift bandage with slight traces of blood seeping out.

"He's going to check up river," Max hissed and sat down in exhaustion. She checked a piece of white fabric tied around her calf muscle. Like Zack's hand it was leaking blood, but in a much larger amount. The cloth was now stained in blood and soaking wet from the water.

"You're loosing too much blood" Zack examined her wound with his eyes "Shouldn't have dragged you into this"

"Last time I checked I had a mind of my own Zack" Max reprimanded him gently
"Like you asked for all of this crap to happen"

"Probably gonna comeback here for a final sweep" Zack began to analyze "Need to get out of this clearing"

"What about the blood in the water?" Max hissed as Zack tied off her bandage.

"Osprey and Hawks drop fish all the time after they kill them" Zack informed "White won't know its human unless he has a genetics lab with him"

"With our luck he probably does" Max informed, "Where's your phone?"

Zack pointed to the woods behind him "Back there. Couldn't risk the chance it would reflect on something and blow my cover"

Max didn't respond to that statement, instead she held out her hand "Pull me up and let's get the hell outta here" she balanced herself on the muddy embankment after she was completely upright.

"Sir!" the loud shout of a soldier caught their attention "I think I found something!"

Zack scanned the tree line like a hawk, putting a finger to his lips.

Max nodded, motioning back to the woods with her hand.

Zack gave another command with his hands, telling her to first move to a tree fifty or so odd feet before the real woods. He then gave the command to move out.

Before Max moved she took off a diamond ring from her finger and tied it around her neck with a section of loose cloth ripped from Zack's shirt, and tucked it under her army green long sleeved cotton shirt so that the shine wouldn't attract anyone they didn't want to find them.

With inhumanly fast movements the brother and sister duo moved to a 200 year old maple tree bordering what use to be an Issaquah national forest.

"Sir!" the voice seemed to be getting louder when they stopped at the tree. Max glanced beyond it's boundaries, still seeing no one, but looking for a unnatural color or form for the forest. Leaves blew, birds still sang, nature going on as it should.

From behind their heads a caw arose. Both turned and saw a raven perched on a high branch of the tree. The bird cawed again. Zack scanned the tree line, not seeing anything moving, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He spotted the cave where he had been before in the brush and branches.

"Move!" he whispered these words to Max. They ran at the same speed it took them to reach the tree, not looking back.

"Stop!" the man, the soldier called out.

Zack looked over his shoulder, he saw him with a M16 rifle, aiming it them "Stop or I'll open fire!"

Zack reached into his jacket, pulling out a gun, Asha's silver colt with a silencer.

Shots rang out from both directions

*****

10 HOURS EARLIER
ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON

"Mommy, daddy it's morning!" something soft warm and son-like landed on Max's stomach

Max opened her eyes to see Jess sitting on her stomach in his camo pj's.

"I'm up babe" Max roughed up his hair. She looked over at Logan who was either still asleep or faking it. "Don't think daddy is though."

Jess smiled at the opportunity Max presented to him. He slid over the king size bed and got right up in Logan's face. "Hey daddy!" he hit him with small fists.

"Okay okay" Logan opened his eyes, pulling his son's hands away from his face "You got me" he pushed himself into an upright position as Jess crawled back and sat more near the middle of the bed.

"Vacations mean you get to sleep in Jess" Logan informed him, looking towards Max "He's getting more like you every day"

"That a problem?" Max threw back

"Never said it was baby," Logan answered back

"What's that?" Jess looked away from his parents, pointing to something on the end table.

Logan turned to see what he was talking about "That-" he began after he knew what it was "is something for mommy."

"What for?" Jess asked with all the curiosity of an almost four year old child.

"The anniversary of me and daddy bein' hooked up for three years." Max answered his question. Today was their third wedding anniversary. As a pre-anniversary present Logan had decided to take Max and the kids up to his parents cabin for the weekend.

Jess didn't look that confused, being his mother's son he picked up the meaning under Max's street slang. "Happy anniversary momma"

Max smiled "Thanks sweetie" she kissed him on the head.

Jess looked to Logan "Are ya gonna give it to her?"

Logan laughed lightly at his son's persistence "I will, but can I have time alone with mommy before I give it to her?"

"Will you make pancakes?" Jess had his mother's habits down for bribery.

Logan laughed quietly again "Deal"

Jess climbed down off the bed in a state of happiness then, padding back through the bedroom in bare feet.

Logan watched him go, looking so much himself coming in here at five years old when the king size bed was occupied by his parents Robert and Sara Cale. His mom would always ask how he slept, what he wanted for breakfast, if Marie was up yet.

It was coming around to full circle now. He was the one sitting here with his wife, watching their son leave with the promise of food, and the knowledge he would probably soon wake up a sister asleep in the room they shared.

He turned towards his wife "My turn to say it" He leaned closer to kiss her "Happy anniversary momma"

"That's a new one" Max told him after they broke apart. "But happy anniversary to you too" they kissed again. "So about this thing you have for me-"

"Why do I suddenly have the strangest feeling of déjà vu?" Logan referenced back to the time he was able to stand for the first time without his wheel chair. She had been impatient about what her "surprise" was. He grabbed a red velvet box from off the night table.

"Thought I didn't wear jewelry" Max took the box he handed to her. Déjà vu all around. She pulled back the lid to see three diamonds set in a band of white gold. Now Max was not a "girly girl" so she didn't squeal and cry, but the sight of the ring did get a genuine smile to spread across her face. "It's beautiful"

"Figured it's a perfect match" Logan took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger above her purple jade wedding band. The white gold and square cut diamonds matched well with the other band. "Beautiful ring on a beautiful woman" never mind his Eyes Only Brigade or the fact that he was married to a super solider, he was forever a romantic.

Max looked at the sparkle of the diamonds "How much did you drop?"

"300" Logan told her "The diamonds were mom's, well actually they were from Aunt Margo's hideous diamond studded chocker. The thing had a loose clasp that she never got fixed. Margo had this black tie gala one day, and a servant or someone I can't remember bumped into her and broke it off so it fell into a fountain and broke off four diamonds. Mom and Margo had this huge fight that night about dad and money, old argument about mom not being a "step up" on dad's economic road to the top of the payroll. So mom just kept them to stick it to her. She had one made into a solitaire necklace for Marie, and she loved it, she was the envy of all the seven year olds on the block-" this made him smile in remembrance of his older sister. "And the rest, she gave them to me, told me to give it to someone special. I took it to the jewelers and had them attach it to a band. Total cost $300.21" he paused and looked at her "So I take it that means you like it?"

"Defiantly" Max agreed, "Kinda makes what I have for you look like stick figures next to a Van Goth"

"I wouldn't say that" Logan disagreed with her remark "I'm sure it's something worthwhile, money doesn't equal value"

Max took this as her cue and climbed off the bed, reaching for something on the pine dresser that sat against the opposite wall the bed was against.

She came back a few seconds later with a small glass jar, the kind used for herbs and homemade medicines that closed with a cork lid. Inside the jar were three obsidian black slate stones. The neck of the jar was tied with a simple red ribbon.

"Manticore never gave us birthdays, so none of us really knew how old we were" Max started to explain the significance of her gift "Zack came up with this system. He figured our age by adding onto the first time he saw us in his unit. Usually we were placed in a squadron when we were two. We collected some old tin cans, beer cans, whatever we could find. The new year for us always began with a complete, prodding physical exam, so the night before we'd put a pebble or a rock in the can and count the others there, tell us our age."

"Three" Logan counted the number of stones in the jar "for three years of marriage"

Max nodded "Could've gotten you something sweet and hot off the Black Market, but when I saw some jars in this chinaware store window it made me remember this." She smiled a bit "It wasn't much, but it connected us to more then just our designation, kinda was our family time."

"It's great" Logan told her "Has a lot of significance" he smiled at her "Thanks for sharing this with me"

"Thanks for giving me your mom's diamonds" she returned.

He touched her face with his hand, pulling her in for another, more passionate kiss.

"Daddy, you promised" Jess's form appeared through the doorway, a reprimanding look inherited from Max on his young face.

Logan and Max broke apart. "Be right there"

"Don't forget your word daddy" Max told him "Still be here after breakfast"

"Oh I'm counting on it" Logan told her, kissing her once more before climbing off the bed "Okay" he walked over to where his son was standing in the doorway "Blueberry pancakes coming up."

Max got out of bed, and got dressed. In about five minutes she joined the rest of her family out in the dining/breakfast area.

"Look momma" that voice belonged to Lexi who was sitting on the kitchen counter top, watching Logan cook breakfast. She pointed to a plate with a pancake already on it. "Smile" Logan had taken butter pats and used the syrup to create a smiley face on the surface of the pancake.

"Makin' you smile" Max returned, stepping over to her daughter and kissed her. She held out her hand "See what daddy gave me?"

Lexi stopped looking at the food and gazed at the sparkling ring on her mother's hand. "Sparkles"

"No I think that's just the sparkle shining off your eyes princess" Logan stopped in his cooking and kissed Lexi right on her nose.

She laughed, "That tickles daddy"

"I know" Logan set down the spatula He grabbed the girl off the counter "This tickles too" he started to tickle his daughter's sides. She squealed with laughter, trying to get away, but not that hard, because she liked the game. He quit after a minute and put his face to hers "Okay tickle girl time to eat" he kissed her and grabbed one of the four plates of food, carrying it and her to the table.

"Here babe" Max handed Jess a plate "follow daddy" she snagged the other two off the counter.

"Why are you going away today?" Jess asked around a mouthful of pancakes

"I won't be gone that long sweetie" Jess's question was directed at Max. "Uncle Zack just wants me to do some stuff with him"

Zack had asked Max a week ago to stay overnight in one of the forest areas of Washington. The intent wasn't for camping. Back at Manticore each X unit would spend four or five days in the Gillette Woods, dropped off at a location blindfolded and with very minimal supplies, water only. They weren't allowed to return to base until they found their way back from the thirty-mile drop away from the main Manticore facility. It was to test their endurance in combat situations. If they failed to reach the base checkpoint before the sunset of the fourth day, they would be locked out of Manticore, forced to spend another week more then fifty miles away and try to reach the complex again.

Zack's overnight retreat wouldn't be as near as intense, it would only be one day and night, but they still would have only bare necessities food rations, water, no compass but the stars. The only exception was that Zack was bringing one cell phone, his, and only in case someone tried to reach him at his contact number.

"You'll come back tomorrow?" Jess asked, hoping for the right answer from his mom.

"Bright and early" Max reassured him.

After breakfast and a few dishes were done Max packed up a few items in a small back pack, a canteen, matches, the trees were wet in Washington now and finding dry sticks to start a fire would be impossible. Manticore training be dammed, she wasn't about to freeze. Dried fruit and nuts she had scored off the Black Market were the last items to go inside.

"I'm set" she came out of the bedroom with the pack on her shoulder, dressed in black cargo pants, a long sleeved boat necked army green shirt underneath a chocolate brown suede jacket. She opted for this instead of her leather jacket because the colors blended in more with the woods, she was always cautious. She stepped over to Logan seated at one of the two couches in the living room in black cross trainer clad feet.

"Leave it to Zack to do this on our anniversary" Logan sipped from the coffee mug he was holding.

"Don't think it was underminin'" Max pointed out steeping around to the front of the couch so that she was facing him.

"At least not intentionally" Logan returned.

"You gonna give me a kiss good bye or do I have to live off your beautiful pleasantries until I see ya tommorow?"

As an answer to her question Logan yanked her down by her arm to sit beside him on the couch. He pulled her into a long, breath-stopping kiss that lasted around fifteen seconds.

"See that's what I'm talkin' bout" she smiled, her lower lip swollen from the kiss.

"Be good for daddy guys" Max hugged each of her children separately.

"Don't be gone too long momma" Jess told her

"Yeah not forever" that was Lexi

"Promise" Max reassured with a smile, pulling the pack back on her shoulders. "Love ya guys" she blew them another kiss.

"Be careful" there was Logan's familiar line

"I'm on it," she told him

"Love you" her husband threw at her.

She smiled "Love you too baby"

*****

BORDER OF FORMER ISSAQUAH NATIONAL FOREST
ISSAQUAH, WASHINGTON

Zack walked alone, stepping on and over the undergrowth of small plants and mosses on the forest floor. He checked his watch again. It had been about an hour since he started walkin' from where he ditched his Vulcan in the woods. Max was out here already with Logan, but Zack had to drive out here. He had covered the cycle with large canopy leaves and fallen branches and had left a small marker so it could be found again.

He had mapped out the area a few days before hand and knew of a natural cave that was hidden in the trees. He had given Max the coordinates, and told her to meet him there.

This would be the first "skills test" he would do with her since she was nine. A couple years back he had tried to convince Zane to go with him, but he had tickets at some Metalica concert. And he almost asked Max to come one time too; in fact he had broken into the high rise she and Logan lived in. But he found his baby sister eight and half months pregnant with his niece, and in no condition to trapes all over the forests. So he lied about why he had come, told her he was just stopping by. She told him he was full of shit, but after he spent a few minutes massaging her back she fell asleep, and he left a short time later.

Now they were finally doing it. Him and Maxie, like when they were kids back at Manticore. He loved Asha, enjoyed her company, and the change she had brought into his weird life, but Max was always his girl, and they had this connection when they were with each other. Nothing incest involving about it, just something strong.

He veered off to the left after spotting the cave embedded in the old remains of some mountain.

Max was waiting by the edge of the small clearing before the cave. She turned when she heard him coming.
"If I'd a known it would've taken you this long I'd a washed my hair."

"Cut the crap Maxie" Zack walked behind her, peering into the cave he had chosen as their makeshift home.

"Home sweet home had few deer markings I had to clear out" Max completed her task of clearing away the dead leaves and branches in a small section of the ground to keep the fire that would be burning there from setting the woods ablaze.

She came over to Zack and looked with him "What if whatever lived here gets pissed off we crashed his crib?"

Zack showed her a gun he had tucked in a side holster "Just scare the shit out of him"

Max looked at the weapon "Thought we agreed on bare supplies"

"It's Asha's" Zack told her "Told her I'd bring it-"

"You told her or she convinced you?" Max returned with amusement.

The look on Zack's face was her answer. "You build a fire yet?" he went for a change in subject.

"Don't think we need one now, got hotter in here all of a sudden" Max teased. "So what are the rules, we live like barbarians short of roasting each other on spits?"

"You know the rules Max" Zack started piling small branches in the clearing Max had made. "Except, and Deck can kiss my ass on this, I'm not going caveman on fire making" he looked over at her "you got any matches?"

To answer his question she held up a pack of red tipped matches "Confiscated them off the Black Market, the guy who was sellin' them was messed up with his asking price"

Zack caught the matches when she threw them to him and dried off his hands before breaking off one of the matchsticks and striking it on the back. The spark ignited and he threw the whole match into the pile of wood.

Max threw some larger branches into the small fire and soon had it grown to a large healthy mass of orange heat.

Zack added one more fallen branch to the fire to keep it from going out. "There's a small lake in a clearing bout half a mile or so from here-"

"For water or food?" Max interrupted him

"Both" he told her "Plenty of herring in the water, and it beats the hell outta magnesium sulfate ration bags." He stood up from his crouched position over the fire.

"So much for going by the Manticore handbook" she dusted some dirt off her pants.

Zack noticed something shining and picked up her left hand to examine it "You know the handbook says no jewelry" he examined the ring above her wedding band.

"You'll get it when you pry it out of my cold dead hands" she informed

"Nice rock though" he dropped her hand "Was it like an 'I love you present' or something?"

Max shook her head "Anniversary"

Zack did a double take at that "Bet he got pissed that I decided to do this now" Logan was his brother-in-law, but that slight aggressiveness from when they first met was still there. He had a fair amount of respect to the man who had married his baby sister, but old habits were hard to break.

"A little" she admitted "But we still got the rest of the time to celebrate" she paused "Sides I wanted to come"

"Who are you and what have you done with Maxie? You hated this back at Manticore"

"Zack EVERYONE hated this back at Manticore" Max reminded, "Kids out here fought for their pseudo lives in X Boxes, we were really fightin' for ours" she spoke with experience in her voice, remembering all those missions, all those times. Breaking her hip, lacerating her legs, falling through the ice-that last one was a killer. If Jondy hadn't been there-

A screech cut through the air. Both looked up to see a raven fly overhead.

Zack raised the gun he had to shoot it. He hated those damn birds.

"No-" Max grabbed his arm "It's just a bird, C'mon show me this lake"

*****

INTERIOR OF A BUICK SKYLARK

"Sir" the driver of the car turned to face the man in the black trench coat. "There's been a sighting"

"A sighting of what soldier?" Ames White looked up from the manila folder of papers lying across his lap. "A UFO?"

"No Sir" the driver responded "A man, blonde, young-"

"You mean an X5?" White cut in.

"Yes Sir" he confirmed "Hover Cam photos in Seattle Sector 17 show him leaving the checkpoint out of the city driving a black motorcycle, most likely a Kawasaki Vulcan model number J4-"

"A, B, C, D-" White snapped "I don't care what the hell it is soldier, where was he headed?"

"He was seen getting on the State Road to Issaquah-"

"Do we know where in Issaquah?"

"Negative Sir" he told him

"How far away are we from there?"

"About four hours Sir"

"Good," White finished "Keep heading towards it, we'll do a preliminary search when we get there"

"Yes Sir"

White got on his wireless phone, hitting the button to raise the tinted divider glass between him and his driver.

"Good morning Sir" White spoke into his phone "This is Agent White. I have good news, we're in pursuit of a possible X5 sighting." "Yes Sir, I know possible isn't one hundred percent, but it will be when I get done. Yes Sir. I promise I'll deliver. Have a good day Sir" he disconnected the call

*****

Logan watched his children who were chasing each other outside in the front of the cabin. The air was chilly outside, about forty-two degrees, not enough to have any snow on the ground, but cold just the same. He had gotten them both into the warmest clothes they had brought with them, a little bit of debate for Jess, who was starting to have more of his mother's attitude and his bull headedness.

"No fair!" Jess shouted above the bark of Kaja, who had tackled the boy onto the ground. Not hard mind you, but more like the roughhousing she would do if they were her own babies. Jess laughed as she tickled his face with her wet nose.

From behind the dog Lexi ran up to them, "Here" in her small hand she held a stick, and Kaja became rapt at the limb. "Go doggy" she threw it as hard as her small force could hurl it, which was surprisingly far, about fifteen feet ahead of the dog.

Kaja ran after the toy and Lexi ran after him. She beat the dog to the stick, picking it up in her small hands, seeing a stranger standing there.

It was a woman, about in her late thirties, blonde hair that was still rich, without a hint of gray.

Lexi smiled at her "Hi"

"Hi" the woman responded in kind, her voice pleasant, but surprised at finding a child here.

"Who you?" Lexi asked in what could be described as her 'interrogation voice' when she grew up.

"My name is Allison-" the woman responded, "What's your name-"

It was around that time that Logan stepped out from the kitchen where he was watching the kids and came out on the small porch. "Guys, come on in its cold"

The woman turned her head at the sound of the noise, looking up to the porch "Logan?" her voice sounded unsure for a moment

Logan heard his name, and looked to its source, shocked at who it belonged too "Allie?" he came down the stairs that were connected to the porch.

"Hey" Allison's face broke out with a smile when her hunch was confirmed "I didn't recognized you at first" she took in his adult features, crystal blue eyes, and sandy brown hair. "Damn boy you grew up" she didn't say it like she was coming onto him but like a sibling would to another, like Marie use to say to him. And in a sense Allie was almost like Marie. In fact she had been one of Marie's best friends growing up, and the Cales would sometimes entrust Allison to baby sit ten year old Logan when he didn't want to go to his sister's piano recitals or school drama functions.

"So did you" Logan agreed to his former baby sitter, her hair was in pigtails, a style he remembered she wore a lot during his youth. Except now her hair was longer, and streaked with bits of mud brown and tiny lines of red.

Allison seized the opportunity to hug him when he didn't

"What the heck are you doing here?" Logan broke apart from his old friend

"Me?" Allie returned "I got into town yesterday for an exhibit-" Allison was a landscape artist with quite a widespread popularity in California. "And I ran into your Aunt Margo-"

Logan cringed at the mention of his aunt's name.

"Yeah" Allie agreed, seeing the look on his face "My feelings exactly, she looks like she hasn't changed much in twenty years, still tight lipped and glass doll-ish, anyway Margo INSISTED that I join her for lunch to catch up, so I got sucker punched into spending the afternoon with her-"

"Ouch" Logan stated

This time Allie gave him the look "So anyways Margo said that you were still living here, apparently someone told her servant who told HER you were up here-" Allie laughed dryly "She practically forced me up here to see you-"

"Daddy" a small hand tugged at Logan's leg.

Logan looked down at his daughter, who was rubbing one eye with her free hand "What's wrong?"

"Jesse pushed me!" now they were old enough to begin the age-old tradition of sibling rivalry. She showed Logan the small bit of mud on her clothes from where she apparently fell.

"I did not!" Jess argued, "You were running too slow!"

"Jesse Trevon Cale" Logan looked at his son sternly, picking up his daughter at the same time "You don't make your sister fall even if she's running too slow" he looked at him "Got it?"

Jess didn't answer with words, but nodded his head in agreement

"Good" Logan told him "Now get Kaja and come inside to warm up"

"And now I know why" Ally finished her remark from earlier

"Margo's tried everything short shoving annulment papers in my face" Logan agreed "Come in for a while"

"Am I safe?" Allie asked, she didn't want to make his significant other uncomfortable. That was so strange, little Logan Cale, a married man.

"She's not here now" Logan told her "And if she was she wouldn't care, c'mon" Logan didn't wait for her response and started walking inside.

"Feels like I'm in a time warp" Allie looked around the living room, taking off her blue scarf. "Rob and Sara had good taste" she waited for a moment, hoping it wasn't offending Logan to talk about his parents using their first names, or mention them at all considering what happened.

"Defiantly" Logan agreed, he set Lexi down on her feet in the living room, and started to remove her outerwear.

"I'm sorry about what happened Logan" Allie spoke up. She had been at her after school art class the day it happened. Her mom came to pick her up early and told her. Allie cried for days, Marie had been one of her closet friends. She begged her mother to let her go to the funeral, but her mom had to tell her that Margo and Jonas had only invited family. She saw Logan only for a brief while after that when he was in the middle school where she did her tutoring at. She had run up to him and hugged him; he was like her little brother, even though she was the oldest and only girl out of three boys. Poor Logan looked so shell shocked, and tortured. He was even wearing his mothers old locket, with the pendant tucked into his shirt, because he was young and insecure, and as emotional and artistic as he was, he was a growing teenage boy and couldn't deal with the names people called him for wearing women's jewelry.

He stayed at that school for only three weeks, then after legal guardianship had been fully transferred to Margo and Jonas they had sent him to a private school, and she lost contact with him.

Logan finished undoing the buttons on Lexi's jacket and told her to go play until lunch. The look in his eyes about killed Allie again. He was grown now, a man with his own family, a damn handsome man at that. But his eyes still had that haunted sad look in them when she said that.

"Want some coffee?" he broke the thick mood with that, using a tactic he had perfected during his early days Max, the emotionless thing. He was glad for her absence now because she would be able to read right through him.

"Yeah" Allie sensed his walls coming up, something he seemed good at doing. She followed him into the kitchen, watching him pour out the black liquid into two green stoneware cups.

"Wish I could've been at your wedding" Allie took the cup he handed to her, sipping from it.

Logan smiled a bit at her remark "Would've helped if you left a forwarding address"

Allie looked at him sheepishly "Sorry" she paused "Would've been interesting to see you decked out in tails"

Logan took a drink from his mug "I didn't wear a tux" he corrected her "Just a suit"

Allie looked surprise "And-"

"Max wore a silk slip dress" Logan finished for her "About the same color as this mug"

"Max huh?" Allie tested out the name. "Your family didn't pick her out for you I bet"

He nodded in agreement "She came to my door with a sales pitch, use to some odd jobs for me"

"What kind of jobs?" Allie was always curious

/FLASH: "Be in and out in ten minutes," Logan told Max sitting beside him in his Aztec

Max looked at the building "Piece of cake" she climbed out of the car/

/FLASH: Max came back inside the car, covered in mud from head to toe. She slammed the door shut.
"Not one word" she warned to him with a low growl/

"It varied" he finally answered her

"Was this mutual?" Allie asked, "I mean, did you ever return this woman's favors?"

/FLASH: "Hey this is Linda Eastman, I'm looking for my husband.." Max tied her shoelaces sitting on the concrete floor./

/FLASH: "I believe you Logan, if you say she didn't do it, then she didn't"/

"Without getting too much into it, yeah I did" he agreed, leaning against the counter top.

"So you got a photo of her?" Allie asked, "Would be nice to put a face with a name"

"Yeah-" Logan hesitated for a moment while he thought about it. He found his wallet lying on the counter, and took out a photo that had originally been a three by five, but one that he had shrunk down to a wallet. It had been taken during that trip to San Francisco that night at the beach. Jondy just happened to bring her camera and snapped a photo right after the couple had finished kissing. Since the photo was candid, neither one of them was really looking at the camera, but Max's face was clearly visible. Jondy had sent it to them via a Pentagon-esque DSL security connection, thinking that "Maxie looked cute" She had kept one copy for herself and had destroyed the negatives.

"Taken a few months back-" Logan handed her the photo, describing it at the same time "In San Fransciso where her sister lives"

Allie examined the picture "She's hot Logan" she turned to look at him "Pictures say a thousand words, but really this one only says that one to me" she gave it back to him "what she like?"

"She's-" Logan tried to think of an accurate description for her "smart, strong, stubborn-"

"What about sweet?"

"You don't know Max," Logan told her "She's not- "he didn't want to sound like he was insulting her "she'd do anything for the people she cares about, but as far as sweet, she's not that kind of girl"

"Woman after your own heart" Allie gave him a knowing look "Sounds like you love her a lot"

"I do" Logan agreed

"How long you guys been together?"

"Three years today"

"Oh" Allie noted the announcement "Congratulations"

"Thanks"

"Daddy" that was Jess, who had taken off his own coat and mittens and now stood in the kitchen with them "I'm hungry"

Logan looked down at him "You're hungry? Well I can take care of that. Why don't you say hi to my friend Allison" he walked over to the fridge to get lunch started

"Hi there" Allie started the conversation to the boy

"Hi" Jess answered back

"You're Jesse right?"

He nodded

"I'm Allie" Allie told him with a smile "I'm a friend of your daddy's. I knew him when he was only a bit bigger then you"

"What was he like?" Jess was curious just like Max

"Loud" Allie answered back, smiling at the memories it brought back. Logan was indeed artistic and intellectual, but put that boy on a half court with a ball and he turned into Charles Barkley Jr. Allie sometimes let him win when they played one-on-one, just to keep it fair since she was captain of her girls team in middle and high school. But as the years went on he started taking her game for a ride.

Jess laughed at the adjective Allie used "Loud like he does at night?"

Logan nearly dropped the plates he was getting down out of the cabinet at Jess's remark, but he managed to maintain at least some of his cool "Jess why don't you go play with Lexi until I call you to eat?"

Jess simply turned then, without uttering another word.

Allie watched him go before turning her gaze back up "For God Sakes Logan, you're a grown man, you're married, you have the right to shake things up. Quit acting like you got caught fooling around with the girl who sits next to you at lunchtime" her voice sounded almost exactly like it did when she use to watch him. She spoke the words, but it was kind of hard to believe that the tall, skinny high toned voice boy who use to ask her about her own dates would grow up so nice. She had pictures of him in her mind driving up here, but the end result was nothing like them. He had more rough edges, his eyes were harder now, but they also held the wisdom and experience of a man, not the kid she remembered.

"So your son is named Jesse Trevon?"

"His middle name was a contribution from one of Max's closest friends"

"What about your daughter?"

"Alexis Marie" he looked at her when he said this

She went silent, thinking remembering. Marie loved Logan, she teased him, and tormented him like any other older sister, and there was that transition when she became a teenager and became "too cool" to hang with her little brother. But, she would always try to watch out for him.

"What about Jess?" she tried to break the mood "Any contributions there that are special?"

"Name of one of Max's sisters" Logan told her "She died when Max was nine"

"God Logan" Allie gave him a hard look, which he gave back, understanding what she meant. "One of her sisters? So she has two?"

"Not exactly" Logan corrected "Six" he watched Allie's eyes get bigger "And three brothers" he left out Ben because he had already explained that Jesse died, it would a much deeper issue with Ben

"Da-am" she drew out the word "So you had to get in with three brothers?"

"Hey whoever's gonna get with you has the same thing with your three" Logan reminded

"Logan have you ever seen Ian try to act tough and macho? It's like Joan Rivers in Fight Club"

"Wish it was all bark and no bite for me"

"They have something to back it up?"

"I guess" Logan stated

"Any of them single?"

"Well Krit and Zane are, but Zack-" just at that moment Logan's cell phone that was lying on the coffee table rang. He headed over to it and answered the call

"Yeah?"

"Hey Logan" Asha's voice was on the other line "Listen I'm sorry to catch you on your vacation, but I just wondered if Zack has any way of connecting with the rest of us-"

"I think he has his phone" Logan told her "I don't know, he didn't stop by here before or anything"

"You're a big help"

"Hey you're dating him not me"

"Fair enough" Asha agreed "I shouldn't be like this, its just a little antsy when you have someone who's got a good reason to be paranoid most of the time"

"Hey I know the feeling" Logan returned "Don't worry about it, he'd let you know if something major was going on, he's not that paranoid"

"Alright, I'll take your advice, but I'm holding you responsible if the evil space minions come down to earth and decide to take only those people with barcodes"

"Asha if that was true, I'd be right there with you blasting the crap out of them" he paused for a moment "I gotta go now, bye" he hung up, turning to face Allie again "Sorry, THAT was a friend of mine, Asha Moore, who happens to be dating my wife's oldest brother Zack."

"Is that where you're wife is?" Allie asked "With her brother?"

"They're camping out together, kind of a test of your metal stuff"

"Was he in the service or something?"

"They-" here he had to lie a bit "both use to be in the army"

"Both?" Allie didn't sound that convinced "How old is Max?"

"She's twenty-one" Logan informed, "She did the basic plus two for school stuff"

"Oh" Allie finally understood how it could work "So their close?"

"Yeah" Logan admitted, saying it with all the experience of a man who was certain that Zack had once tried to win over Max in more then just a brotherly way. Deep in his gut, he couldn't really blame the guy for it. They were isolated from the world, and expected to "breed" with each other. Their only close bonded relationships were with their units. But Manticore wasn't dictating their life anymore, and out here it was incest no matter how you sliced it. Zack must've realized it too, because he started backing off. He still looked at Logan like something he stepped in for a while, but he was Max's brother, and that's what big brothers did. After Zack spent enough time outside he saw his other options, not like Max would allow anything anyway, he was her brother, and she loved him as such.

*****

"Got anything?" Max stood on the bank of the lake, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand

"Would I let you down?" Zack held up an improvised spear made out of a branch sharpened with his switchblade. A silver herring clung to it, stabbed through its middle.

"Get off your "Hunter provider guy moment" before you loose feeling where it counts"

Zack came out of the water with his prize, the water soaking his skin and his black boxers. He grabbed his white undershirt off the rocks and used it to dry himself off.

"Lucky for you we're transgenic" Max noted, holding out his jacket.

Zack finished slipping back into his black sweater and black jeans and took the leather jacket she gave him, pulling it back on his body. "You feel like sushi, or southern blackened?" he looked at the Herring still on the spear.

"Burnt is good," she told him "I'm not too fond of sea food, so if it tastes less like itself and more like charcoal, I'm good"

"Head back then" Zack stood back on his feet after re-tying his boots. He grabbed his find, and went to catch up with Max who had gotten ahead of him. It was now early afternoon. The sun shone high in the sky, the forest foliage casting very little shadows on the ground.

Zack caught up to Max "This isn't the path we took-"

"It's shorter" she interrupted, pointing to a old dead tree, resting on its side "We passed this going to the first path, we just can cut around it" she jumped up and over the dead tree and back onto solid ground. But when she made the small jump she didn't notice that the ground was on a slight incline. The slope wasn't anything monumental, just a small rise in the packed earth of the forest floor. But it was still enough to make her loose her footing, and before she could catch herself, she pitched forward, hearing the solid snap of an steel animal trap close before she felt it.

"Maxie!" Zack was beside her in three seconds. "Dammit! Hold still" his cursing was not directed at her but at seeing the jagged jaws of the fur trap locked on her thigh. Blood was seeping through in patches on her cargo pants.

"Max you have to turn over" Zack told her after a minute of trying to pull the jaws off her leg. Without waiting for her response, he grabbed the trap with one of his hands and shifted her body at the same time to keep the metal trap from ripping her flesh even more.

Zack searched for the trigger to unlock the trap, but after a minute he cursed again "One of those fuckin' new traps-" he referenced to the new kind of animal traps, a new line introduced in 2015. These kinds weren't spring-loaded; they had a bolt system that would only be unlocked by a key.

But Zack didn't have a key, or that kind of time. He held Max's leg down to the ground with one hand, and pulled with his other at the jaws, his super human strength wining the battle. When he got the trap up enough he grabbed underneath the blade with his hand to get a better grip. He was on too much adrenaline right now to feel the effects of the tempered steel blades cutting into his hand, but he could feel the small trickles of blood sliding down his palm.

After around fifteen seconds of struggling, Max's leg was freed from the trap. Both her and Zack now were heavily panting, Zack from all the energy it took to pull the steel jaws apart, and Max from the pain shooting up her leg and from the shock.

After a minute of looking at her brother, Max's head dropped back to the ground.

"Max!" Zack shouted at her "Don't you fade out on me now dammit!" while he was speaking he tore off his jacket and sweater and all but ripped off the under shirt he had beneath them.

"Still here" Max finally responded, her voice low and weak "Don't you give me CPR, I don't need to have my key memory on my anniversary being having my brother on my mouth-"

"Get out of your pants" Zack told her, strict, and completely non sexual. He helped her pull the legs of her pants down, carefully peeling it away from the injury. Zack then pulled off his jacket and draped it over Max's lower body as far as he could without covering up the jagged wound. Part of this action was done to help ward off shock, but most of the reason for this was to give her back some dignity. It's not like Max was a very prudish and uptight person about these things. None of them were from being brought up at Manticore where unisex was the norm everywhere. Zack had seen all his sisters at some point in time over there, in the exams, in the showers, but this was different. Max wasn't nine anymore, she was a woman, and she deserved a certain amount of decency in times like this.

Zack bent closer and examined the point of impact made by the steel trap. Two set of neat puncture marks oozed blood down her leg, some smaller trickles dripping onto the ground.

Max placed both her hands on top of the wound, keeping direct pressure on it, feeling her own blood sliding down her hand, and she tried to remember her Manticore training to separate herself from the injury so she wouldn't wind up heaving all over the forest floor.

A few seconds later Zack removed her hands and replaced it with his white undershirt he had taken off. He wound it around her leg tightly, causing her to hiss, but he needed to keep firm pressure on her calf to stop the bleeding.

Max examined the makeshift bandage, before grabbing her cargos from where Zack threw them beside her. With some help from Zack she managed to pull the article of clothing over her body. The blood from the wound, her blood, was still on her hands. She grabbed some large fallen leaves from the ground and wiped away the stain on them.

After she stood back on her feet, somewhat shaky, she noticed the blood on Zack's hand. "Looks like a deep slash Zack"

Zack didn't even look at his injury "It's like a paper cut Max"

"Let's just hope no little furry animal carrying a bio warfare disease got caught up in this or we're both gonna be in a lot of shit" she looked around for something to tie off Zack's wound. He claimed it was like a paper cut, but it was still bleeding, he most likely nicked a capillary in his hand. She finally gave up on finding anything on the ground, and instead ripped off a top section of the cloth covering her calf.

She handed him the torn cloth "Paper cuts don't bleed like that-" she broke off for a second, loosing her mind over injury battle, and proceeded to vomited on the forest floor.

Zack took the fabric from her and proceeded to wrap the cloth around his hand in an over and over fashion, securing it at the end by tucking the loose corner inside the wrap. Once his task was completed, he turned to Max who was still kneeling on her haunches. "More concerned about you Maxie" he stated to her earlier remark.

Max spit a few times to get the after taste of vomit out of her mouth "Appreciate it bro, but I can handle a lot worse remember? It was me who fell through the ice that night-"

"I remember Max" Zack cut in. He defiantly remembered that, watching as Jondy tore out over the ice to get to Max, who despite her Manticore genetics and soldier training, was thrashing around in the freezing water. He thought she was gonna die that night. If Jondy had come out a second too soon or too late, they would've both gone under the ice.

Max took a moment to regain her bearings before pulling back up on her feet. "Grab those leaves," she indicated the stained foliage that she had wiped her blood off on. "We'll throw it in the fire" she didn't really suspect someone was tailing them. It was just with who they are EVERYONE was tailing them, and it was better to be cautious.

Zack grabbed the leaves with one hand, and the fish he had caught earlier, shifting it to his good hand. He stepped in front of Max, almost protectively, scanning the trees for a moment "Bout a one mile trek back to camp" he turned back to look critically at his little sister "Can you make it that far?"

"We'll just have to see" Max returned

"I'll lead" Zack said in a take-charge voice. He didn't wait for a smart mouth response from her and started down the trail Max had been leading him on before her accident.

*****

The driver glanced out his window at the green sign that was erected on the side of the road

Welcome to Issaquah
"The Majesty of Washington all in one Place"

"Sir" the driver spoke into the intercom that connected to the back "We just passed into Issaquah city limits"

"Is that all?" White inquired, expecting something more out of his driver

"I was wondering on your plan of action Sir" the driver returned "It would take more then a day to search out one individual in a place with as much acreage as this. Like a needle in a haystack"

"Stop in the populated area soldier" White informed, "We'll question some of the citizens. All the X5's were created to be good looking. I'm sure this one caught the attention of some slutty women in town"

"Slutty women Sir?"

"You're in the service," White snapped back "Don't tell me you don't know about slutty women"

"Yes Sir" the driver answered back in the way of a solider, even regarding a question like this. "Do you have a photo for ID?"

"That's the thing soldier" White returned "You see all these X5's tend to be a little camera shy, they usually don't keep Polaroids of themselves lying around for us to find"

"So that's a 'no' Sir?"

"I didn't say that" White interrupted "He was spotted leaving Seattle by a Hover Cam. All that's needed to be done is to run it through an enhancer and he's a poster boy for the 'Find-A-Freak' campaign." As he spoke White uploaded the feed from that particular Hover Cam, bringing up the shots of Zack driving on his motorcycle. He cropped the image to a headshot and ran it through the enhancer program, finally printing it out on the small portable printer laying beside him

Soon the driver pulled the Skylark into the parking lot of a local bar. Even though it was mid afternoon, there was a fair amount of cars already in the lot.

"This seems like a good a place as any Sir"

White didn't answer, and opened his non descript black briefcase, revealing about ten different phony badges from government agencies, such as the National Security Association, Food and Drug Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Central Intelligence Agency. He pulled out one from under the pile, an ID badge for the FBI, and tucked it into his black trench coat.

"Wait in back" White climbed out of the car, giving these instructions to his driver

"Yes Sir" the driver responded, pulling away after the back door was shut.

White pushed through the glass entrance door to the bar. Dozens of people were inside, some seated at the long bar on one side of the room, and others either spread around the rest of the modern decorated bar, or around two red and black pool tables located in the opposite corner of the bar.

"So what can I get you?" the bartender, a young twenty something woman with very long red hair curled in a funky feathery upsweep on her head, and dressed in a black polo shirt addressed White when he approached her.

White immediately showed her his phony badge "I'm Agent Ames White with the FBI"

The woman looked a little shocked at the sudden shift in the situation.

White took this opportunity to show her the image he had just printed out in his car. "Do you recognize this individual?"

The bartender took a moment to look at the photo of Zack "Him? Yeah. He came through here about five hours ago-"

"Did he say where he was headed?"

"No" she answered, "He ordered a shot of tequila with lime, slammed it down, paid for it and left"

"Did you see where he went?"

"I didn't" the woman returned, pointing at herself with a hand to her chest "But a coworker of mine sorta-" he she broke of to stifle a small laugh "Kinda followed his every move until he was outta her sight. Said she saw him taking off east"

"What's down there?"

"Not much" the bartender answered White "I mean not much in the way of people, it's a whole lot of woods. Mostly the former Issaquah National Forest-" She broke off to look at White "Is he wanted for something?"

"I'm not at liberty to give away top priority government information to a civilian" White told her straight out. "Now I suggest you go on with your business and forget this conversation." He turned and left.

The woman looked like she just got slapped, watching the retreating figure in black.

The Skylark pulled up to meet White in the front of the bar.

"Anything Sir?"

White lowered the tinted divider window "Head east solider. To the Issaquah National Forest"

"That's been disbanded Sir" the soldier informed in a crisp military manner "The US Wildlife Federation ran out of funds ten years ago-"

"It would be in your best interest to shut your trap soldier" White barked back "I am aware of the politics involved, but the land is still there. The little martins didn't come down and snatch after Federal funds got sucked up"

"Yes Sir" the soldier answered

"Now as per my LAST order, head east, to the Issaquah National Forest. Any part of that you'd like to question some more soldier?"

"No Sir." the car pulled back out on the main road.

*****

6: 15 PM

Allie took one last bite of the lemon mint risotto on her plate "Damn Logan" she put down her fork "Where the hell did you get such good culinary skills? Last time I saw you managed to scorch pots boiling water"

"I had some practice since then" he informed her, sipping the red Merlot he picked to go with the meal.

"I'll say you have" Allie agreed, taking a swig from her own wine glass. She turned her head a moment to look at Jess and Lexi now romping around on the floor with Kaja. They had been fed earlier by Logan because they tended to get hungrier earlier then him. This was partially due to the growing stage they were in like most children their ages, but more of it came from being Max's children. She constantly ate to keep up with the high metabolism Manticore saddled her with.

Jess stopped in his wrestling with the dog for a moment and looked up at Allie looking at him. He grinned only the way a little boy can and waved at her.

Allie waved back with a smile "He's gonna be just like you when he gets older"

Logan looked at his son "No I think he'll be more like his mom, he's already getting there"

Allie looked down at her red faced Casio watch "Getting late."

"You don't have to leave yet" Logan reassured her.

"Thanks Logan" she responded, "It's been great, actually wonderful's a better word to describe seeing you again. But I really should head back into Seattle. I have this exhibition at 9:00 tomorrow morning. So-" she got up from her chair, and Logan stood up too. She looked at Logan and laughed briefly, not knowing what to do next "It was nice" she finally settled on that and offered him a friendly hug.

Logan returned the gesture "It was great to see you again Allie"

"Ditto" Allie agreed, pulling back to look at him "You grew up real nice Logan Robert Cale"

"Thanks Allison Ladealia Mancaster" Logan threw back

"Ah Logan-" Allie's tone was half wounded, half disapproving "You know how I feel about 'Ladealia' -"
she made a face.

"That's the fun it in" he threw back.

Allie shoved him back a moment "Shut the hell up" there wasn't a trace of anger in her voice, and she was smiling. "I got your cell number, so I'll call you-" she paused "maybe day after next. When that wife of yours comes back I'm sure you'll be-" she cleared her throat "occupied" she slipped on her coat, walking through the living room, saying one last goodbye before she was out the door.


*****

FENTEL AVE
SEATTLE

Asha absent-mindedly flipped through channels with the silver remote to the Phillips 23 inch TV. She wasn't' really watching what was on the screen, she had just gotten remote control trigger finger. Finally after going through all seventy-five channels three separate times she gave up and cut of the television entirely. With a sigh she leaned her head against the back of the couch she was sitting at. She rubbed her tired eyes with both hands, stretching a moment later.

The small clock on the metal end table ticked away in the now quiet room. Asha sat up from her earlier position and stood up to go find a drink in her small kitchen. She stepped over the pristine white tile floor and snagged a clean cup from out of the rack in the dishwasher. She opened her fridge to the cool air and bright light that always greeted people, searching for something to drink. She wasn't really thirsty, if she were she would've chosen the bottled water she stocked up on. She was looking more for a "drink" drink. She looked past the bottled Sam Adams and Heineken she kept for herself and grabbed the medium sized white bottle of Barcadi Gold Rum that Zack had showed up with one night. She took that along with a can of Coke from the fridge and closed the door. The coke fizzed in her glass, and she added a healthy amount of ice and Barcadi, not enough to get her wasted, but enough that showed she wasn't a lightweight.

She closed the door to the fridge, and picked up her glass, intending to leave, but her eye caught something that was clipped to her fridge with a magnet. It was a photo, 3 x 5 of her and Zack, the only one she had of them together, hell the only photo she had of Zack. It had been taken by Zane the last time they all met up at Crash. Zack had leaned in to kiss her, and Zane had snapped the photo then. He sent it to her, getting her email address from his underground list of all the information of citizens in Seattle. There was also a small note written to her in the body of the email that read:

From: Master_of_Puppets lookdownmyM16andsaythatagain@trinet.com
CC: Iron_Clad_Chick vanityisnotanoption@xpmweb.net
Subject: see the pretty puppies

*To Asha,

The only other person besides Deck who got to help Zack blow the hell outta things*
Rock on girl.

This message can't be traced

Zane.*

The subject line was Zane's hook. He had it set up where his addy or email screen name would not show up on the front page of email accounts he was mailing them to. It could be too easy that way to back track and find out his account. The email given at the front was listed as any one of a number of things. He would always type in this subject as something starting with the words "see the" ("see the puppies, "see the savings at Radio Shack..") letting his sibs know that it was him. It would prompt them for a passcode, which was 102346464345, and would change every time they opened it with each last number replacing the first (i.e. 1023464345 would become 5102346434 the second time they would get mail from him) THEN after all that, and the code was right Zane's real email addy and alias would appear normally, but it was locked out from ANY form of trace. He was a through man.

Asha looked at the picture a moment longer. Zack never was a carefree person because of all that he was burdened with, and the amount of hard ass-ness he had, but in that moment he actually looked-happy. She smiled; glad that she could have that affect on him. Like Logan to Max she was his "moment of weakness" He made her happy, pissed, bitchy, all the things a man does to a woman who's in love with him. Her past relationships had more stability in the fact that she KNEW where they would be, and what they did when they weren't with her. But in spite of all of it, she would take the chance of exposure, death, and capture by the government her boyfriend presented with now then all the stability and normalcy she had with the others.

A few seconds later she came around to her small iron legged dinning table and sat in one of its matching chairs. She took another swig of the rum and coke, playing with a piece of ice in her mouth, letting it slide over her tongue before crunching it in her teeth.

Rain pelted against the closed window beside her sofa, and she looked up to this for a moment. Not because it was something so spectacular to see rain in Seattle, but she remembered that Zack would be outside all night, and had the sudden rush of emotions on his safety. It was very sudden however. /He's a freakin' solider for cryin' out loud..a little rain won't hurt him, "Not the fuckin' Witch of the West"../ She smiled at that remark Zack had dropped on her, the day Max had been shot at Southside Market. It sounded so..domestic? no, Zack wasn't some guy she roped in to have a million babies with and dry the dishes while she washed them. It was like a relationship, just not that way. She didn't think any X5 would fit into that domestic thing one hundred percent. Tinga, Zack told her, kept a gun hidden in her wall, and Max's way of doing the dishes was to shove them all in the dishwasher and turn it to "on" Having children and husbands didn't change who they were first. Now they were just transgenic female soldiers who have families. There was no "settling down" involved. White and the others didn't leave them alone after the rings were exchanged and the babies were born.

On that train of thought, Asha suddenly was struck with another. Only the X5 women in this "squadron" besides Zack had committed relationships. Marriage for Logan and Max and Charlie to Tinga, which left Syl with her elusive boyfriend and Zack the only male in with his sisters. Krit, honestly it would surprise her if he decided to go relationship searching, he was more of a live wire single guy, and Zane, he had that whole "solitary, last angry man" thing going on to be anything but a brother, in law and uncle to his niece and nephews.

Maybe it was a sign?

Her drink was finished during her contemplation. She left the glass where it was and went to grab her cordless phone. She stood in the middle of her living room and dialed the number. It picked up, giving her that famous message:

"If you dialed this number, you know who this is, leave a message"

"beep"

"Zack it's me. What the hell's the point of having a cell if you don't use it?" she pushed some hair behind her ears. "Just calling to check things. But you're not around, so I'll hit you again, be careful. Bye" she hung up, not realizing until the last moment that she sounded like Logan.

The rain continued to drip on her window. /Yeah, maybe it was a sign/

*****

ISSAQUAH
2323 HOURS (11:23 PM)

The fire flickered in the growing darkness, embers, falling onto the wood below. A few scattered fish bones were thrown beside it. The light from the flames illuminated the small clearing, the fire not going out because of a cleverly crafted tarp made of fallen leaves and branches to keep the rain off it.

Max was leaned up against the outside of the cave, covered by the leafed roof. She was busy cleaning her wound with salt from mini packets she found at the bottom of her canvas bag left in there by Cindy after grabbing a bite to eat on their lunch break.

The wound was caked around the edges in dried blood, and fresh blood was seeping out over it. She ground salt above it all, gritting her teeth at the sting, but taking it because the salt would help keep the wound clean. A piece of cloth hovered over her face, and she looked up to see Zack topless, holding another remnant of his torn shirt for her to use as a fresh dressing.

Max took it from him, tossing her the soiled cloth that had been wrapped around the wound earlier into the flames. "You not just trying to see my reaction on this?"

"Max your disgusting" Zack complained, grabbing his sweater from where he had it drying by the fire because of it getting soaked in the rain. He pulled it on and soon sat beside her.

"Hand bleeding still?" Max shifted to him after he got settled.

Zack looked at his palm with small blotches of blood leaking out of the cloth "Yep" he looked back to her re-wrapping her leg "But I'd stake my reputation on the fact that yours is worse then mine"

"Zack you don't HAVE a reputation" Max reminded him jokingly, a quiet hiss coming out at what she was doing, finishing a short time later.

Zack let the remark slide, and looked up to the small amount of stars that were peaking out through the clouds "Rain's finally letting up"

"So no ark?" Max complained

There was a pause before Zack spoke again "There's the north star"

This time Max gazed to at the familiar spot where Zack was looking. "Surprised any stars are out at all"

"You know things aren't always easy to predict" he spoke in the way of a CO. "Remind you of our nights on the watchtower?" this time his tone dropped, more like a brother then a soldier.

"Best social event going at Manticore" she said with a small smile, remembering like him. From as far back as three Zack use to sneak her up on the tower to look at the constellations. Sometimes it was Jondy, when she found out and complained about it, but mostly it was him and her.

"Except for that time you didn't make it"

Max looked at him, wondering what he meant.

"I saw you that night-" he paused to clarify "When you went into Sgt. Mayder's quarters. I was asked to deliver a 'urgent package' to Mayder."

She was alert then "How come you never dropped this on me before?" her voice rose

"Oh come on Maxie, when the hell would think there would be a "right time?" When they were doing it to you and the others, or after Jesse got taken away?"

"I deserved to know the truth!" she spat back at him.

"Not when you're better off without it" his voice as a low growl.

"I'm sorry, I guess I AM a better woman since I didn't know my brother was watching me commit self-abortion even though it didn't erase the fact that HE was the uncle and the father. Maybe I should've gone into a dance instead of seizures after it was done." Her eyes shot daggers at him.

"You think it was a picnic for me Maxie? I knew about that weeks, fuckin' WEEKS before any of you did! And I couldn't do a damn thing except watch as each one of my baby sisters get dragged off and inseminated by my shit "for the good of the project" After I tried to buzz myself they took me back to fix it, but they did a hell of a lot more then that. They pumped me full of more testosterone to shoot up my sperm count and make me larger and more "efficient" I had to jack off into a fuckin' catheter that would measure the amount of sperm I was making. Three hours they strapped me to that for ten days, until I hit it somewhere around the billion mark." His eyes were on fire with rage. This was something they never really talked about before, only hitting on it occasionally.

Max was stunned, she never knew about that. Like with hers, he never told her. He was a private man, that's what Manticore taught all of them. Their shit was nobodies business but their own. She touched his shoulder. "I could tell, would've been a boy-"

"That suppose to make me hand out cigars?"

"All I'm saying is that it's MY shit too. What happens when Jess asks where his name came from? 'Oh honey it was your aunt, but she died having mommy's brother Zack's baby's. And while we're on the subject-" she drifted off, getting her point across. "Manticore just screwed us with some things Zack, and I don't know how the hell else to deal with it"

Her anger was reflected in Zack's eyes. "Same way we always deal with it"

"When has that ever worked?" she spoke this softer, and looked back at the stars "Light is billions of years old before we see it, oldest thing in the universe-"

"What about the date of Zane's last hair cut?"

Max laughed quietly at the joke. He had effectively changed the subject, and for now she was going to let it slide. For now.

Zack stretched for a moment, at least that's what it looked like to Max. But she was proven wrong when she saw that he was actually pulling something off the ground. She saw what it was a moment later when he handed her a long necked glass bottle of Coronas.

"Is there an occasion?" she took the bottle from him.

"Does there have to be?" he returned, breaking the cap off with his teeth "Stole them from Zane, not like he's gonna miss'em" he spit the bottle cap on the dirt, holding up the bottle a moment later "Here's to the kids who are fucked up-" he quoted a changed line from an old poem, 'Here's to the kids who are different'

"May they quit bein' screwed over as adults" Max finished the toast and clinked her bottle against Zack's before taking a swig of the tan colored beer.

Zack did the same, slamming almost half of his down in less than five seconds.

"Suppose to have your wicked way with me now-" Max joked lightly

"Sorry I don't incest on the first date" he took another swig his beer.

"Wow, chivalry's still alive," she informed as Zack stood up.

"Turning in?" she herself wasn't tired, she didn't have to sleep. She had slept regularly now since she and Logan got married but it wasn't necessary, it was more out of comfort and pleasure to share a bed with the man.

"Starting to remember what happened the last I drank a Coronas too fast-" he trailed off as he went to go mark some territory.

Max twirled her anniversary present on her finger. The diamonds sparkled in the firelight. She took off the ring for a moment, and there was something on it she hadn't seen before. It was an inscription written on the inside of the band:

"Somebody's Angel"

She smiled quietly to herself and slipped the band back on her finger.

"You miss him don't you?" Zack's voice reached her before she saw him coming back from his 'retreat'

Max had déjà vu at his words, remembering that time when Logan almost died, before she even knew it. Zack had offered a drink then to, and said that same thing.

"It's only been one day-"

"But you DO miss him soldier" he stepped closer to her

"Sir, yes Sir" she said this lightly, not at all like a CO would expect from a soldier, but defiantly the way brother would expect from his baby sister.

"Leg hurting much?"

"Positive Sir" Max answered back

"Cut the crap Maxie"

"Hand hurting much?" she threw back

"Stings like a bitch" he answered back

"Stings like a bitch-" she was waiting for something

"Ma'am" Zack played into her game

"Straight up" she returned "So you gonna sleep or what?"

"Not tired" Zack informed

"You're a sucky liar Zack"

"Fine, then make Max"

"You don't want it to come to that"

He arched an eyebrow at her "Really?"

"Want me to spill out the history? Who kicked who's ass more?"

A beat

"I'm sitting, but I'm not sleeping"

"Fine"

Zack took a moment to settle back down in a sitting position on the forest floor.

Max watched him in the half-light "You value yourself too much"

"Max that's my flashlight" Zack showed the item in his hand "Does Logan know you have this much of a dirty mind?"

"Cut the crap Zack" this time she was the one that said it.

*****

2415 HOURS (12:15 AM)

The Skylark came to a halt in front of an old hunting lodge on the outskirts of the forest.

"Suggest we regroup in the morning Sir" the soldier/driver looked at White in his rearview mirror "Darkness will impair the search"

"Did you know that X5's were spliced with feline DNA so they can see in the dark?" White threw back from his seat in the back.

"No I didn't Sir" the soldier answered back "But our capabilities are not that advanced. Setting up base at this lodge tonight will give prime advantage for a full scale search in the morning"

"You've made your sales pitch soldier" White spoke out "Set up house for the night here and reconvene at 0600 hours"

"Yes Sir" the engine soon cut off and both White and his driver came up to the abandoned lodge. The place was dark. A small single table lamp was soon switched on, but provided minimal light to the large room. The interior walls were made from the stacked logs that built the entire structure. The air inside was musty and trash and fallen leaves littered the corners on the concrete floor.

White headed over to the tiny folding card table standing in the center of the room by one of the two small square windows. His black briefcase hit the plastic tabletop with an unreasoning smack, and the snap of the hinges and the creaking of the case being opened followed it soon after.

"Set up more lights" White opened up his Dell Notebook and flicked it on, the screen illuminating the darker areas of the lodge

"Yes Sir" the soldier responded, and went to get the portable halogen lamps packed in the trunk of the Skylark.

White's fingers clicked away on the computer keys. He mapped out the portion of the Issaquah forests that were still standing after the fires of 2011, dividing this portion into five separate sectors each spanning six miles.

Light soon flooded the room as the nameless soldier set up four portable halogen lamps at strategic places around the room.

"Permission to ask what your doing Sir" the soldier was now beside White looking on with him on his computer screen

"Well you see THIS is a map of the Issaquah Forest soldier showing all the portions that are still livable to a human being, animal or transgenic. It's divided into five sectors that we will cover starting at 6:00. Think you can wrap your head around that soldier?"

"Yes Sir" he responded

"Good" White still didn't look at him when he talked "What are our weapon options?"

"Sig Sauer P230, Glock 9 MM, the new line of Smith and Wesson-"

"State of the art military weapon there as well?"

"Yes Sir, M16 semi-automatic with laser sights"

"Ammo?"

"They're locked and loaded Sir." He paused for a moment "Will these weapons be enough to take them down? It's my understanding that Manticore made some pretty strong shit"

"There's a deterrent made for everything soldier," White reminded "And I'm theirs"

*****

Logan stepped out into the night, pulling on his leather jacket as he went out. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led from the porch to the ground and gave a sharp whistle.

A few seconds later Kaja came running out of the surrounding trees, heading over to him

"Come one girl, lets go inside" Logan spoke to her as the dog climbed the stairs and came to stand beside him. He opened the front door to the cabin and let her walk in first.

Kaja immediately headed over to the burning fire in the fireplace and sat down on the floor beside it. The sight of it made Logan smile. "Guess Max isn't the only girl I know who has that much of a thing with curling in front of a fire" He deposited his jacket back on the hook by the door and headed over to the couch that was closest to the fireplace. The clock above the mantle read 1:12. Both Jess and Lexi had been tucked in hours ago, leaving Logan to his own devices. It seemed so quiet without Max around. It WAS quiet without Max around. It felt so weird not having her here to bounce ideas and quips and those hot and steamy things that sometimes came as a result of the others.

Kaja was beside him now on the floor by the couch, her head resting beside Logan's elbow on the arm rest.

He reached his arm around to pet her "You missing her to?" he scratched her between the ears and they lay back from the contact. "Some anniversary huh girl?"

Kaja's ears pricked up again.

"The things I could be doing with mommy on this couch right now-" he smiled wickedly to himself at the thought. He was sure that Max was "enjoying" for lack of a better word, her time campin' with Zack, but he still wanted her here. He was a selfish man, and he was the first to admit it. He wanted her right here right now, "contemplating" their anniversary on the hearth by the fire. It sure was a hell of a better way to keep warm then the furnace that had that job at present. Talking about her to Allie all afternoon only helped cement the fact that he missed her. 'Couples need to take separate vacations' his ass. He didn't want her to hang around him 24/7, they both needed their own time, but he was at his best when she was with him.

It almost took him loosing her to figure that out. His proposal was not done under a storybook setting. If she hadn't gotten pregnant on their first encounter-he would've defiantly admitted his feelings to her, and would have most likely asked her to marry him, but it wouldn't have been the whole package deal like it had been. No doubt they would've kept dancing around each other if Max had confronted him that night, and made him listen to her, to what they had done, and exactly what kind of consequences it brought.

But he was glad that fate crashed their world like that. He admitted his feelings to the woman he loved, proposed, got married and became a father all in the course of under a year. Max had been his associate, became his friend, then lover, then fiancé, then wife and then mother of his children. That last one, it was the most awe inspiring, and challenging. Max went through the pregnancy, but he also did too, having to tell off more then a number of relatives who wanted to know why they weren't invited to the wedding and why Logan married a slut from a one-night stand. Margo had even claimed Max solicitated herself to him in order to pay her rent and now was "saddling" him with a baby.

Logan basically told her the only thing that needed a saddle, and she was the back off one, also that Max was his wife and she did not deserve the crap of the Cale snooty upper society. He took another sip of his coffee, contemplating these thoughts swirling around in his head. He then made a quick decision and got up from the couch.

Kaja lifted her head from the rest, confused from the movements. She watched Logan walk across the expanse of the living room, following him a moment later.

A set of French doors stood next to the fireplace. Logan twisted the chrome colored handle and the right door opened, squeaking from years of misuse. The room was dark, but he quickly fixed that by flipping on the light switch that was just to the right of the door.

The room he was in now was almost completely white. Light was supplied by an inlaid track lighting fixture set in the across the ceiling. The white of the walls was broken by several colorful framed modern art paintings. There was no furniture in the entire room except for a small square backed navy blue chaste lounge against one of the two rectangular windows covered by sheer gray drapes.

The room's main focal point was the solid black baby grand piano dead center in the middle of the white marble tiled floor with a matching black cushioned bench. With slow movements Logan made his way to the piano. The top was opened and it and the inside were covered with dust. He sat at the bench and lifted the wooden drop cover off the keys. The tiny music stand on the piano held only two songs from a children's piano book. He looked at them, remembering, they were his and Marie's. Mostly Marie's, he never took to "Hot Cross Buns" He was always challenging his piano teacher to give him something hard. He barely touched the keys with his hands, but soon he was playing a snatch from "A Fifth of Beethoven" He stopped minutes later because he was afraid the loud banging notes would wake up the kids. A moment later he played again, a softer composition "My Funny Valentine" The slow, sad sounding melody filled the room that had marvelous acoustics.

He soon became engrossed in the song, a tune he had picked up from his mother, and had asked his piano teacher to find in a piano piece. He had played it once to Val on their honeymoon, but that was it. He had to sell their small Baldwin piano to pay for the twenty cases of 200-dollar bottle chardonnay Val had decided to buy on "credit", but at that time her credit was shot. After they divorced, he never picked up the piano again, he focused on his other talent-computers. He started doing regular Eyes Only investigations as opposed to it being a side job beforehand. Then through his "crusade" he caught Max skulking into his living room to lift the statue of Bast, and after that Eyes Only and Max became his world, a world that didn't have time for his piano playing.

He turned his head to one of the windows when he thought he heard something. At first he thought he imagined it. But then he heard it again, a steady tapping noise on the glass, soon followed by a voice.

"Hey Liberache, you available?"

For one insane moment he thought it was Max, but the voice didn't belong to her.

He stood up and walked over to the window where he heard the noise, drawing up the roman blinds.

"Asha" he spotted the familiar figure of the blonde and opened window "What are you doing here?"

"Mind if I come in before I go into my story?" she asked from outside the window "It's freezing"

"Come in" Logan opened the window all the way so she could step through it, which she did after a moment.
"But keep it down, you'll wake up the kids"

"What's up that you would come out here now?" he shut the window while he asked her this.

"I just have this feeling" she pulled the hood off her red hoodie and turned to face him, her short semi curly blonde hair slightly damp from the air outside

"Woman's intuition?"

"No" she set him straight "Something just doesn't feel right" she looked to the piano briefly "Nice chops"

"Thanks" he answered simply "Care to explain what you mean?"

"Got some coffee?"

"I could make some, so what I'm catering to you now?"

"Hey it's how you got Max" Asha reminded walking ahead of Logan out of the current room and back into the living room.

Ten minutes later Logan handed her a black cup of Columbian Supreme "You don't have any reason to worry. Zack's not exactly incompetent"

"But he has more of a threat level then others" she took a sip from the mug as Logan slid into the seat next to her. "Things just haven't felt 'right' since he left for this thing"

"You said that already" he told her "But I still don't know what you mean"

"He's got my gun Logan" she set the mug back on the tabletop. "He was at my place the night before last, and that morning I got some strange sense to give him the Colt. Don't know the hell why. I mean it's like you said Zack's not incompetent. He's handled himself since before I could eat solid food. But I had to give it to him, call it a feeling"

"What do you think's gonna happen?"

Asha looked at him for a long moment "This is gonna sound so weird and cliché, but I had this dream two nights ago. I was at a lake or something, and all I could hear was the sound of gunfire, just a succession of rounds going off one right after the other. And then for once brief second I saw Zack, but I couldn't tell if he was hurt or not, but I kept hearing those guns-"

"And?"

"And then I just woke up. It was freaky"

"Dreams aren't always insights to the future"

"Oh come off it Logan, you can't tell me you never had a dream like that? How about before your parents died?"

He shot his head up to look at her directly then, a warning look telling her she was over the line.

"How about with Max?" she changed the subject in rapid-fire time before he could say anything. "When she was taken hostage, when she was shot, didn't you have something in a dream that made you question her safety?"

"Max is never safe" Logan spat back "And neither is Zack. I worry about her, but I don't just lock her away if I think she could run into some danger"

"NO one is safe Logan." Asha informed "And your wife may be out there, but my boyfriend is out there too, and I have a damn good reason to have concerns!"

Both stopped in their heated debate when they heard the sound of the door to one of the guest bedrooms open. Jess came out in his PJ's sleepy eyed, with a stubborn frown on his face. He approached the two adults in the living room.

"Aunt Asha why are you and daddy yelling at each other?"

"We just got carried away Jess" Asha explained apologetically "Sorry about waking you up"

"Yeah sorry sweetie" Logan apologized as well "Go back to sleep we'll be more quiet"

Jess came over to Logan "Is mommy home yet?"

Logan shook his head "not yet"

"What's she doing with Uncle Zack?" he headed over to look out the window.

Logan slid out of his chair and stood behind his son who was gazing intently out the window. He picked him up from the side, and looked out the window with him.

"Uncle Zack's not a bad guy" Asha joined them at the window "They're probably having a good time"

Logan pulled Jess back for a moment and looked him in the eye "Mommy's okay" he wrapped his arms around him when Jess hugged him "Ready to go back to sleep?"

Jess gave a hesitant nod and Logan kissed him and set him back down "She'll be back in the morning" he reassured to the retreating little boy.

"Poor baby" Asha spoke up after Jess was back in the guestroom.

"He'll be okay Aunt Asha"

"Like Max will always be okay?"

"Asha enough-" he warned her

She broke a small smile at the other remark made "He's never called me that before" she referenced Jess calling her his aunt.

"You are around Zack enough, its natural for him to make that pseudo connection"

"But you draw the line at 'Uncle Alec' right?"

Logan looked at her in wholehearted agreement "Think Jess does too, he's just called him 'Alec' ever since he met him"

Asha turned to look out the window, watching the still night "You mind if Aunt Asha stays over here tonight?" she turned back to face him "In case my hunch is on the mark."

"You can take the sofa," he told her, basically saying yes.

"Wow the sofa" Asha repeated, "You are a true gentleman Logan"

Logan just shook his head and retreated off into the master bedroom to get some sleep of his own. "Goodnight Asha"

*****

0620 (6:20 AM)

"Anything?"

"Not on this grid Sir" White's soldier responded through his walkee talkee "But I think we're getting closer"

White pressed the button his portable "How do you mean?"

"I found some blood Sir"

That remark made White more alert, "What's your exact location?"

"Longitude 65 West, Latitude 35 East by Northeast"

White used the soldier's directions and was where he was standing twenty minutes later.

"Small patches around the base of this tree"

White knelt where the soldier was pointing, examining the small drops of blood scattered by the dead tree.
He also discovered an animal trap that had its springs broken. The metal was clean, but there were tiny drops of blood a few inches beside it on the forest floor.

"How much would you bet that an animal got caught in this?" White looked at the other man

"Not much Sir" the soldier responded, "Trappers clean these things with grease, this has been wiped off and the loading mechanism has been broken suggesting strong force that's not human, but there's no animal in 300 miles of here that could've done this"


"Not human and not animal" White turned back to examine the trap "You know what that leaves us with" he paused to stand back up "They were here" he wiped the blood off his hand with a wad of paper towel, tossing it to the ground a second later "Continue searching this sect. One of them is hurt, it's slowing them down"

"Yes Sir. How do we play this?"

White clicked his M16 "Anyway to bring them in"

*****

0630 HOURS (6:30 AM)

Zack came awake at the sounds of Max dousing out the fire.

"Damn, what time is it?" he sat up from his "bed" on the ground

"0630 hours commander" Max piled the last bit of dirt on the fire to snuff it out. She was balancing her weight on a piece of fallen branch used as a makeshift crutch.

As Zack became more awake he noticed more of Max's appearance "You don't look so hot"

Her skin was pale and her hair had become damp on he hairline in the middle of the night "Threw up three times last night" she pushed the tangled, filthy strands behind one ear "And this stinging is giving me a bitchin' headache-"

Zack was up to brace her three seconds later when she almost hit the ground "Think that's getting infected" he made her sit down and looked at the new amount of blood that had seeped out during the night. "Needs to be flushed out with water"

"I'll take a dip in the lake and clean it out" she told him.

"Max you're not with it enough to swim on your own"

"I'm stanky Zack, I need to get clean, and I'm not swimming in all my clothes just so you can watch me" she pulled herself back up and left without seeking his approval. She passed by the log where White and the soldier had been not ten minutes beforehand. She took no notice of the change in the piles of leaves on the ground, or the new set of footprints in the dirt, walking past them to get to the water.

Once there, she dropped the branch, balancing herself on her good leg. Her hands moved to pull off her shirt, but stopped suddenly at a sound. She whipped her head around, looking at all the trees, waiting. She tunneled her vision and saw-a car, a black Buick Skylark with government plates parking some twenty yards away. She ducked for a brief moment, but then realized that there was nothing on the shore of the lake that she could adequately conceal herself behind. She heard voices, looking again, she saw who it was, confirming her worst fears.

There was no time to get to the trees before Ames White saw her so she made a split second decision, positioning herself on the edge of the shore and dove into the water in a perfectly executed dive. She dove down into the water, swimming deep enough to not be seen. She stopped her breathing to keep air bubbles from giving away her location.


The water slid over her body like a thousand knives gliding over her skin. Her eyes remained open under the frigid water. Above her head, she could still hear them, talking.

"Any signs?"

"No sir, we covered most of the tree line"

"What about the other one?"

"Nothing."

"There can't be nothing soldier, otherwise we wouldn't be out here."

"I know sir" the soldier responded "I just meant-"

"You think I give a damn about what you meant?" Ames White cut the man off.

(cut to: shot of Max under the river water, grasping at stones to keep herself submerged. White and soldier are seen through her view under the water. Shot returns to profile view of White and sergeant a few seconds later)

The sergeant went silent, feeling the sting of White's remark. "Noted sir"

"Good" White continued "Obviously they didn't come through here, but they're somewhere in the surrounding area." he looked out over the tree line of pine and maple, some going into their golden hues with the impending fall weather.

White turned back to the young military man in green fatigues "Start checking northwest, northeast, and due north. Mark my words soldier, we will stay out all the live long day until we find'em"

"Yes Sir" the sergeant answered back crisply, barking the command in his radio.

White scanned the gaggle of trees again, looking, listening for the sound of startled animals, birds, waiting for nature to give away their location. Nothing happened. White turned sharply, pissed there was no find. The sweep of his trench coat created small ripples in the shallow water of the river. He stepped over the rocks and water reeds, glancing over his shoulder again, before leaving the clearing.

The water remained still for minutes after White left with the soldier, but soon it erupted from something rising to the surface at a high speed. Max's head bobbed in the water, her hair sticking to the sides of her face, the cold making her shake as she watched, waited until White pulled out in the black car, until it vanished from her vision completely.

After she was sure he was gone, she swam to the shore, long strenuous movements because of how long she had been under 68 degree water.

"Max" the voice belonged to Zack, who came out from the undergrowth he had been hiding at and now stood at the shoreline. "Did they see you?"

Max didn't answer him with words, but shook her head 'no' "They've gone-" her voice trembled as she struggled to stand up on the soft shore.

Zack grabbed her hand, and pulled her up the embankment. The hand being used was wrapped twice in a makeshift bandage with slight traces of blood seeping out.

"He's going to check up river," Max hissed and sat down in exhaustion. She checked a piece of white fabric tied around her calf muscle. Like Zack's hand it was leaking blood, but in a much larger amount. The cloth was now stained in blood and soaking wet from the water.

"You're loosing too much blood" Zack examined her wound with his eyes "Shouldn't have dragged you into this"

"Last time I checked I had a mind of my own Zack" Max reprimanded him gently
"Like you asked for all of this crap to happen"

"Probably gonna comeback here for a final sweep" Zack began to analyze "Need to get out of this clearing"

"What about the blood in the water?" Max hissed as Zack tied off her bandage.

"Osprey and Hawks drop fish all the time after they kill them" Zack informed "White won't know its human unless he has a genetics lab with him"

"With our luck he probably does" Max informed, "Where's your phone?"

Zack pointed to the woods behind him "Back there. Couldn't risk the chance it would reflect on something and blow my cover"

Max didn't respond to that statement, instead she held out her hand "Pull me up and let's get the hell outta here" she balanced herself on the muddy embankment after she was completely upright.

"Sir!" the loud shout of a soldier caught their attention "I think I found something!"

Zack scanned the tree line like a hawk, putting a finger to his lips.

Max nodded, motioning back to the woods with her hand.

Zack gave another command with his hands, telling her to first move to a tree fifty or so odd feet before the real woods. He then gave the command to move out.

Before Max moved she took off the diamond ring from her finger and tied it around her neck with a section of loose cloth ripped from Zack's shirt, and tucked it under her army green long sleeved cotton shirt so that the shine wouldn't attract anyone they didn't want to find them.

With inhumanly fast movements the brother and sister duo moved to a 200 year old maple tree bordering what use to be an Issaquah national forest.

"Sir!" the voice seemed to be getting louder when they stopped at the tree. Max glanced beyond it's boundaries, still seeing no one, but looking for a unnatural color or form for the forest. Leaves blew, birds still sang, nature going on as it should.

From behind their heads a caw arose. Both turned and saw a raven perched on a high branch of the tree. The bird cawed again. Zack scanned the tree line, not seeing anything moving, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He spotted the cave where he had been before in the brush and branches.

"Move!" he whispered these words to Max. They ran at the same speed it took them to reach the tree, not looking back.

"Stop!" the soldier called out.

Zack looked over his shoulder, he saw him with a M16 rifle, aiming it them "Stop or I'll open fire!"

Zack reached into his jacket, pulling out a gun, Asha's silver colt with a silencer.

Shots rang out from both directions.

The soldier's bullets missed his targets. Zack snatched the gun from him and slammed him to the ground, knocking him out with the butt of Asha's Colt two seconds later. "Go go go!" he shouted

Max ran as best she could on her leg, looking back when she didn't see Zack following her "Let's move!"

Zack grabbed his cell phone from where he left it in the cave and followed Max. Because of her leg she was making slow progress "Left, it's under those trees thirty yards ahead"

Max had just about had it, and her legs almost gave out when they finally reached Zack's motorcycle.

He threw all the leaves off it and gunned the engine, grabbing Max's hand and pulling her behind him.

He revved up the engine and pulled out of the forest, going slow at first to avoid any twigs that could shred the tires, but then blazing out as soon as they hit the paved road.

*****

"What the hell do you mean you lost them?" White stood over the soldier who Zack had knocked out

"He incapacitated me Sir. It was too late by the time I got re-established"

"Head back out on the roads!" White kicked the soldier "He's probably heading back out on his bike"

"Yes Sir"

White pointed his M16 at the man "DO NOT fuck up again soldier or I will be the one to incapacitate you next"

*****

CABIN

Asha's eyes came open at the sound of a motorcycle engine. She got off the couch and went to the window, heading out the door a second later when she saw who it was.

"Zack?" she tore down the steps when she saw him more clearly "LOGAN!" she shouted back into the cabin "GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!"

Zack cut off the engine and stashed the bike behind a tree to keep White from finding it. The door opened a few seconds later to Logan, who jumped down from the porch when he saw what was going on.

"Oh my god" his eyes immediately went to Max who was soaking wet and had blood dripping down her leg.
"Max!" he ran to her and got there three seconds before she collapsed in his arms.

"Max, baby, can you hear me?" he looked up to Zack "What the hell happened?"

"She got caught in an animal trap" Zack told him curtly "White found out where we were somehow-"
he switched gears "Take her inside"

*****

INSIDE

Logan kicked off the extra cushions on his gray sofa and set Max on the couch cushions. Her skin was an unhealthy gray color, and she was soaked through. He pulled down her pant leg , taking off the makeshift bandage coming face to face with the wicked looking wound leaking her blood out.

"It needs some kind of suturing" Logan spoke to the others in the room. He put pressure on the wound again, and Max cringed, even though at this time she was semi conscious. "Asha dial 443-4535 and put it on speaker."

"Gold Point PT" came the voice on the other line

"Bling-" Logan spoke the name of his old friend who had moved to Issaquah to start his own practice.

"Logan? That you? What's up?"

"I need you down here NOW!"

"Whoa slow down man, where are you?"

"At my parents cabin-"

"Is it something with Max?"

"Just get down here and bring a suture kit"

"I'm on it, cabin's here in Issaquah right?"

"Yeah" Logan shouted to be heard at the other end

"I'll be there Logan" the call hung up

*****

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

"Logan?" Bling entered through the front door.

"In here" Logan called out.

Bling entered the living room, feeling the eyes of the others on him "What we got?" he cut to the chase and stepped over to where he saw Max lying on the couch.

"Animal trap" Logan answered.

"Is she conscious?" Bling set his kit on the coffee table and looked at Max's still form

"Barely" this reply came from Logan who was still keeping firm pressure on the bleeding with one hand and using the other to stroke the sweaty hair from her face.

Bling took out a small vial of Lidocane and a plastic syringe. He also pulled out a larger needle "Someone fill this with 50 cc's of salt water. I need to flush out the wound completely before I start stitching"

Zack took the needle from him and headed over to the kitchen.

"Sorry we have to meet up again like this girl" Bling apologized to Max while he waited for Zack "Look sweet with your hair straightened out though"

"Bling?" Max still hadn't come around to full consciousness, but her ears picked up the sounds of Bling's voice and it was confusing her.

"It's me Max" Bling told her "Relax okay, we'll take care of things for you" he took the needle Zack handed to him, looking at the other man "Did she have needles used on her a lot at Manticore?"

"We all did" Zack snapped back

Bling let the remark drop "Hold her down while I do this Zack. Judging by your answer she's not going to take this well"

Bling waited until Zack was standing next to Logan, bracing Max's arms down, gently but firmly, before he stuck the long needle of the syringe under the loose, frayed skin of the injury. He pumped the saline solution into the wound slowly, some of it trickling down her leg, and he wiped this excess off with a paper towel.

Max became active at the first contact of the needle. She screamed and tried to buck him off her leg. She came incredibly close to breaking Bling's jaw with her foot, but Zack pushed it down on above her wound and held her leg to the couch.

"Get your head in the game soldier!" he didn't shout at her harshly, just enough to prevent her from injuring anyone or herself "Take it easy-"

"Oh God Zack-" she was panting at the pain she was in

"Relax Maxie, slow breaths, you'll be fine"

The procedure lasted for two agonizing minutes before Bling deemed the wound clean enough to begin suturing. He stuck another needle into her, the one filled with Lidocane, but she was too exhausted to fight back. Bling injected the Lidocane into three separate areas around the wound and waited for a minute for it to take effect before he began suturing the wound closed.

Logan held onto Max the entire time, holding her hand pressing his forehead to hers "Almost done baby-" he kissed her on her cheekbone.

Jess had woken up by then because of all the noise. When he saw the 'strange man' hurting Max he screamed
"MOMMY!"

He ran to her, but Asha stopped him and picked him up

"She'll be okay sweeite, They're trying to help her-"

"No! I wanna see mommy Aunt Asha let me go!" Jess was struggling as hard as he could to break out of Asha's grip.

"You can't right now baby-"

"Please Aunt Asha please!-" he started crying.

Asha hugged him "She's fine Jess, okay" she rubbed his back with her hand "It'll be fine"

"Almost there Max" Bling spoke out finishing his last few sutures. He tied off the end and snipped off the ends with surgical scissors. He then proceeded to wrap actual sterile gauze around Max's calf, closing off the end with first tape. "Done" Bling looked up to Max and smiled, and then he looked at Logan "I'll leave some penicillin for her to get at any infections she may have picked up-"

"You leaving?" Logan asked him, wiping the sweat off Max's face with a clean rag.

Bling shook his head "She's probably gonna be out, but if I know our girl she's only going to need about an hour. I'll stick around in the mean time, like to actually have a conversation with her"

"Thanks" Logan responded "for everything"

"Hey no sweat man" Bling reminded "Consider it payback for all the shit she's done for me"

"Logan?"

Logan looked down at Max, who had just said his name.

"Is Jess-"

"He's fine sweetheart" Logan reassured "It's good now, just rest for a while okay?" he kissed her, on the mouth this time, holding her hand, watching her fall asleep.

*****

45 MINUTES LATER

"How long you plannin' to keep that a secret?" Bling was drinking coffee at the dining table. He grabbed Zack's hand before he could say anything.

"I'm not hiding anything" Zack argued

"No?" Bling question, flipping over Zack's palm "Care to explain?" he looked at the cut on Zack's hand he got after prying the animal trap off of Max. "This is gonna need at least two or three stitches" he sighed "Ya know Zack sometimes being CO tough isn't always a good thing" he stood up "I'll get my kit"

Asha stepped over to him still holding Jess "Guess Manticore isn't made of metal"

Zack looked closer at his cut "Nothing to write home about" he gave a nod up to his nephew "How's he doin'?"

"Fell asleep twenty minutes ago" she looked at the little boy she was holding and then back out to Zack
"What happened out there?"

"You wouldn't understand" Zack told her straight out

"I would if you told me" she snapped back glaring at him

"Later okay?"

She sighed "Fine" she stepped over to him, messed with his filthy blonde hair and kissed him on top of his head. She started to pull away, but Zack grabbed her hand at the last second pulling her down for a kiss.

She pulled back five seconds later and walked back into the living room to sit down with Jess.

Bling came back with his kit and sat back down beside Zack.

"So you finally got yourself a girlfriend huh?" he took out the needles.

"Guess so" Zack answered back "You know what your doing?"

Bling took this opportunity to stab him in the palm with the Lidocane. He threaded the needle while he waited for the Lidocane to take effect.

"How's the family?" Bling started closing the laceration on Zack's hand

"Commin' up roses Bling"

"Good old cynical Zack" Bling continued working "Missed you I can tell ya that much" he looked over at Asha sitting on the couch "She puts up with you?"

"Don't understand it either sometimes," Zack returned

Bling laughed low, the tension releasing some at those words. He tied off the suturing "Done. No follow up, I know how you are about that. The sutures are biodegradable" he stood up.

Zack flexed his hand, testing the restraints of the stitches "Thanks"

"Not a problem brotha" Bling slapped his hand, and went to put away his suture kit for the second time.

"Asha right?" Bling set the kit back on the coffee table, addressing the blonde.

She turned up to face him "Yeah"

"Bling"

"Hey"

"Hey yourself" he looked back over at Zack "So your hooked up with Zack?"

Asha looked where he was looking "Yeah, how bout you? You attached to this group somehow?"

"Use to be Logan's PT" Bling told her "But I suckered him into being friends. I was best man at their wedding" he indicated Logan and Max when he said this. "And Max's friend, OC, she had on this red scarlet dress...mmMMM. I know she's a lesbian and all, but sistah looked nice"

Asha smiled at this.

The door opened again once, and a tiny figure with brown hair, blue eyes and green footie PJ's came out.

"That's the baby?" Bling watched Lexi yawn "Damn she's grown" "Excuse me Asha, gotta go greet my other girl" he headed over to the girl.

Lexi looked at him "Llo"

"Hey" Bling smiled "Remember me?"

"Unc-Bing" Lexi struggled with pronunciation, but held out her arms a second later

Bling picked her up "My god boo boo you're so BIG" he kissed her, wet and sloppy on her cheek.

Lexi laughed and kissed him back

"Thanks sweetie. Always glad to get lovin' from my number one honey" he kissed her again, with less spit.

"Thought I was your no. 1"

Bling looked back in the direction of the couch "Hey you were suppose to be out"

"Not predictable Bling you know that" Max's voice was weak, but she was smiling.

"Oh believe me I know" he walked over to her, setting Lexi down on her feet. "How ya feelin'?" he kissed her.

"Can't curse in front of my babies" she told him

Bling laughed, "Now THAT'S the Max I know. You scared the hell out of us before."

"Defiantly" Logan agreed, kissing her, which turned out to be long.

"Okay you two break it up, break it up" Bling reprimanded jokingly. His eye caught something on Max's neck. "Sweet love of God Logan, how big of a rock did you drop on your woman?"

"It's not even a karat Bling" Logan told him

"Like it matters," Bling returned "You just make the rest of us look bad" he looked at the diamonds "Three-diamonds oh shit today's your anniversary Almost forgot. Well congrats anyways" he kissed Max again.

"Didn't you have a problem kissing MY wife the last time I saw you?"

"I would congratulate you the same way Logan but I only kiss pretty boys-" he ducked when Logan to a mock swing at him

"Mommy?" Jess had come awake and immediately climbed off Asha's lap. He hugged her hard, to which Max returned the gesture.

"It's aiight baby, I told you I'd be back" she kissed him

*****

SEATTLE

"No Sir the mission was not successful" White spoke through his cell phone to his superior (the man we never meet)

"I know that Sir, but some of the 'help' you hired couldn't find a transgenic with two hands and a flashlight" pause "Yes Sir. Thank you Sir" he disconnected the call.

His phone rang again.

"White"

"Fen'ostol"

"Fen'ostol" White answered back to the woman "Was there something you needed?"

"Something miraculous came across my path today Ames"

White was now interested "What is it?"

"Not here. Meet me at the boarding house" the call disconnected

*****

ISSAQUAH
9: 00 PM

Max popped one eye open at the sound of the door creaking open.

"Feeling better?" Logan came around to the side of the chacuzzi tub where Max was submerged under water and apple scented bubbles. Her injured calf was wrapped in plastic to keep it from getting wet.

"Still sore" she opened both her eyes "But my head ache's disappearing"

"That's good" he smiled, and she saw something come into her line of sight.

"Thought you might want this" he was holding her anniversary band.

She raised her hand out of the bubbles and he slipped it back on her finger, kissing her hand above all the suds.

She smiled "Not much of an anniversary huh?"

"You didn't ask to get hurt" he came behind her and massaged her back from where it rested on the bath pillow. Max actually purred at the sensation. Logan smiled "It could get better"

"This is a little better" she told him, relaxing under his touch.

"How can I make it completely better?"

"Get in here with me" she tipped her head upside down and looked him in the eye, her eyes completely serious

"The-"

"They're asleep" her tone was low and seductive

Logan kissed her once, before standing back up.

She felt him slide back in behind her, pulling her to him" She relaxed against his bare chest, feeling his hands in her hair "Happy anniversary Logan" she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.

"Happy Anniversary Max"

*****

UNKNOWN LOCATION

The man in the lab coat looked in through the double-sided mirror. The boy inside sat motionless on the cot.

"Where did you pick it up?"

The first man turned to the second who had asked the question "He was found outside of Gillette"

"I don't get it, how's he different then any of the others?"

The first man turned to his companion "Believe me his is"

(CUT TO: file in the "first man's" hand. File reads: INTERBRED XX5 SERIES
DESIGNATION: XX5-5452599)

(FADE OUT)

*****

END

This is the biggest chap I've written so far. Sorry again for the loooong wait..damn writers block. Hope the end will entice you and get you thinking about the next chapter.

The song selection was inspired by hearing the actor Dominique Purcell play "My Funny Valentine" on "John Doe" I luv that song.

The issue of Max and Zack's -"history" of interbreeding will come up more in the next chap. The parts in here were a lead in.

R/R please.