idlehands452: Oh my god I can't believe you read this all the way through, I can't do that anymore and I already know what's on the page. Wow, thanks though it might have been your longest review, but it was one of those reviews that left a smile on my face for quite some time.

Babyangel: Had to give the kid your bday since I off-ed the other kid on it.

Gingersnap: I'm sorry I tricked you on the Reflections board thinking there was a new chapter, I got distracted the night before and forgot to post it then.

Chapter 52

This is not…

Mid-January:

"No, no, no" Normal said shaking his head as he watched Max walk in with Cale perched on her hip as she pushed her bike.

"Oh come on Normal."

"No, this is not a daycare."

"He's better behaved than Sketchy."

"She's right" Sketch said nodding his head as he was pushing his bike out past them, "Morning runt." He said ruffling Cale's hair.

"Just because I had one lapse in judgment doesn't mean I'm having another."

"It's just for a few; Logan's tied up doing something." She didn't have any idea what, Logan had sounded off on the phone, rushed, distant, telling her he'd get over as soon as he could. She'd offered to be late for work and drive over and drop off Cale with Josh in the clunker Logan had passed onto her once it was safe again to drive Bessie, though with new plates that wouldn't be traced back to him. He swore it wasn't necessary and that he'd be at Jam Pony soon, TC wasn't the kind of place you could just run in and out of. Even if it didn't still take skill to get in unnoticed, everyone always seemed to stop you once you were inside and the amount of people always doubled when you were in a rush.

"I can't believe this" he muttered as Max walked around to put Cale on the floor by Normal, next to the playpen where Ronnie was sitting up and playing. "Wait why are you putting him on the floor?" he exclaimed

"He's two…You can't trap him in that thing anymore."

"Oh no, I'm not having some little kid running around here."

"Normal" she said on a sigh, forcing herself not to lose her temper.

"Insurance reasons Max."

Max stuck her head out over his counter, "Everyone promise not to run over my kid?"

A chorus of 'Sure Max, not a problem Max, and yea's' came back.

"Problem solved. Unless you want me to stick around until Logan comes to pick him up."

Normal controlled himself, not to mention things always went smoother once Max was out of the building, "1245 Willobury" he tossed her a package off the counter.

She smiled and ducked down, "Be good for Normal baby" and she pulled a truck out of her backpack for him.

"Vroom" he said making it fly through the air.

"That's what you should be doing missy." He said looking down at the scene.

"Yea yea I'm going." She kept the smile hidden; she wasn't the only one becoming a softy in their old age.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Logan was standing on the street opening his car door as she approached Jam Pony; she sped over, "Hey is everything okay?" she asked hopping off her bike.

"Yea everything's fine. I'm sorry, I just got tied up."

"No biggie. You missed a good time at Crash last night."

"Yea," he nodded, "Original Cindy was just telling me about it."

She'd tried to talk him into dropping Cale off with Josh or having Josh come over and stay with Cale at his place with no luck, he'd kept pleading work. She'd seen it in his eyes that he'd wanted to go. God, she had fun out with him, even if she wasn't talking to him, just knowing that he was across the way…Making faces, giving him looks…She was a bad parent, no doubt about it, wanting to spend time with Logan overrode the guilt of handing Cale off to Josh for an evening. Then again considering Joshua spoiled him silly every time…

"You should probably get going." He said with a nod over to the building.

"Right work." She remembered nodding, "I'll see you later?"

"6"

"Bye sweetie" she placed her hand on the back window.

He smiled and waved his hands in the air, "Buh Bye" he answered back.

"Later" she called out as she walked away, catching his smile just before her head turned.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Max's Apartment:

Logan swallowed hard once Max walked back over to the kitchen area after dropping Cale down over by his toys after greeting him hello. He had no choice he had to say the words, he'd been trying to figure out all day how to say them and he couldn't think of any, he didn't know how he was supposed to say this, so he said it simply, "He's gone Max"

She turned, completely unaware what he was talking about, "Who's gone?"

"Zutoni left this morning for Canada." The doctor was gone, despite everything he'd offered, he'd pleaded with him this morning, pleaded after a three days of trying to convince him.

The doctor was gone? "What happened? Did he want more money? We can get him more money." desperation slipped out of her voice and it tore his already battered heart in two.

"That wasn't it Max, he said he couldn't do it, he's been at for almost four months."

"No, no he can do it. He said he'd been making progress last month with the temporary cure, a way to alter that."

Logan shook his head and gave a harsh laugh, "Yea he managed to make one for 27 hours instead of 12."

Her face fell, "He made another temporary fix?"

Logan nodded and swallowed hard again.

"If he could do that, then he…"

Logan shook his head, "He said he'd continue trying to work on it, but he doubts he'll ever come up with anything. The virus was too complex for him."

"Aren't you glad we didn't stop living our lives? Because if it hurts like this now…" She'd sworn to herself, to him, to everyone that she wouldn't plan out every detail of their future, she wouldn't pin all of her hopes and dreams on it, but she had, she hadn't meant to, but she had.

"Max" he placed a hand on her shoulder, a gloved hand. She couldn't bear the touch of it.

"I'm fine Logan." She shrugged it off without thinking, without realized how far she regressed with that single movement, she saw the hurt in his eyes.

"I should probably go"

She nodded and wished she could call out to him and tell him to stop, but she couldn't open her mouth, she couldn't form the words. All she wanted was to just stop everything and just curl into his arms forever. Stop the blinding pain that was so intense she couldn't even cry. Just stand there frozen still staring at the door that had just shut behind him.

Minutes passed and she was still standing there chillingly numb and achingly in pain at the same time.

"Wanna cookie" Cale's blue eyes looked up at her hopefully.

She blinked and swallowed hard as she plastered a bright smile on her face, "You just had dinner silly, you can't be hungry already."

"Cookie peez"

The please was always her breaking point if she was going to have one. "Half a cookie?"

He smiled brightly and repeated "Cookie" as he saw her going into the jar for one.

She watched him take off leaving a trail of crumbs behind him; she had been forgotten as soon as the cookie had been placed in his hands. She looked down at the broken other half in her hand and dropped it back into the jar with disgust. She wiped the crumbs off on her jeans before it hit. She didn't fall to the floor, she just crumpled over the counter as the silent tears wracked her body.

Okay thinking you guys might hate me now. I'm sorry. Once more I'm not responsible, I am not the type of writer who has any real control over the story. I love fluff and happiness I swear, every movie I own is a chick flick.