Chapter Seven

No Escape

"Hey Max, can you take Cale?" Alec said walking over to her, looking a little harried, carrying Cale in one arm and a stack of papers in another.

Max looked down at the baby in Alec's arms "Where's Logan?"

"On his way home, I was supposed to drop the kid at the nursery. But I gotta run these over to Dix."

The next thing she knew Cale was being dropped in her arms, Max looked down at the toddler as Alec ran off, "Uh hey?" was her greeting to the little guy.

The baby looked up at her waiting to see what she'd do next.

She looked down doing the same. She examined his face, his cheeks had filled out and he'd startled babbling a lot, she could hear when she walked past him that those babblings had meanings, when this kid wanted something, he was pretty verbal in getting it. She looked into his eyes, those baby blues of his and thought of Logan's. You could never really tell what color his eyes were unless you were staring deep into them.

She sighed Why am I thinking of Logan, it's not like this is actually his kid. It was on that breath after her sigh that she realized Logan's scent lingered on the baby. She pulled him in closer and took a deeper breath. The contradiction of his warm, masculine smell being on this soft little baby. It made her miss him even more.

Everyday this little guy was growing closer and closer to Logan as she fell further away. She'd stayed away from him, from Cale for that very reason. She didn't know if she was jealous of the little guy or if she just knew she needed to keep her distance in order for them to move on.

Suddenly though, that choice had been taken away from her. "Guess I should do what Alec said and bring you to the nursery." she said speaking to the air and not risking looking at him again.

She shifted the baby onto her hip and started off to the nursery or maybe it should be called a maternity ward, she hadn't really figured that out yet. It was a group of rooms on the first floor of the main building, so the women wouldn't be isolated from the others or from work simply because they had a baby. Max hadn't been kidding when she said they weren't reacting that well to being mothers, having never been mothered themselves it was kinda difficult, especially since they had never asked for this. They weren't bad though, but they certainly liked having the support of those who would stop in throughout the day.

"Hey Max" Gem's voice called her out of her thoughts.

Max froze and turned to see the young X-5 with her daughter, Ronnie, named not only after Normal, but the man Normal told Gem was the greatest man who ever lived.

"Hey Gem" she plastered a fake smile on her face, her easy drop off was suddenly a lot harder.

"You haven't been by in awhile."

"Yea, I'm sorry. I've been really busy."

"Oh yea I know, must be pretty hard to keep this place stocked and the cops out."

Max sighed "That's a bit of an understatement. You guys have everything you need?"

Gem nodded, "Yea we're all set. Logan brings us stuff every time he comes. He's in love with that little guy." She dropped her head to gesture at Cale.

"Yea, he seems pretty attached."

"Even Alec's been helping out with him when Logan leaves, Zen and Vida have stopped by a few times too."

"Have you guys been having difficulty with Cale?" She asked unconsciously drawing the baby in closer.

"No, no" she shook her head "Not at all. You know it's just hard in the middle of the night when the babies start to cry and he wakes up…"

"Oh."

"I mean and I feel bad, I promised Dalton I'd move over by him, but I don't know about the other girls being alone with Cale. I mean…"

Max nodded "They're already having difficulty with their own kids."

"I was thinking maybe we should ask one of the trans-humans, Luna's actually pretty good with the babies."

"She's one of the cats right?" Max almost kicked herself for how she said that, but how else could she have said that?

Gem nodded, "So are you already bringing Cale in for the night?"

Max bit back a frown as she thought about the fact that she normally did see Cale being lugged around the main room or playing on the floor there as whoever was watching over him worked until at least 8, it was only 6 and all 4 of his normal caregivers were gone, since Vida and Zen had gone with Logan and wouldn't be back until he came in again tomorrow. Feeling guilty for trying to leave him with 3 already overworked mothers she shook her head, "No, just coming to grab some diapers and toys. Do I have to feed him again?"

"We normally give him a bottle right before he goes to bed. Around nine. I can give you one if you want to feed him before you bring him back." Gem replied totally unaware of the fact she had given Max such a guilt trip.

"Uh sure. I'll do my best."

Gem laughed, "He can drink his bottle himself Max, don't worry."