Select 73 on the chapter list people (that's the new one). This is a repost of the last chapter, they've just been shuffled around to include a Logan Bday chapter. Sorry about any confusion.

Short little chapter. (which reminds me how did BA convince me 1500 words means a short chapter?) Trying to get some actual movement in the story. Thanks for reading folks, as always hope you don't hate.

Chapter Seventy Four

Time Marches On

Early February:

She was dressed sitting in her window. Not staring out into the street and not staring back into her room. Just sitting and staring at the frame, not that she saw it. She wasn't lost within her mind reflecting about something, her thoughts were just wandering over nothing very important. They tended to do that, she was used to idly thinking about nothing important since most of her time was spent awake.

The shift in the bed caused her head to turn on instinct. The dark brown waves hiding the face that had buried itself in her pillow. Jeff, Jeff was in her bed on the side her son used to sleep on.

He was in her bed for the first time.

That was one of the thoughts that she kept pushing to the side as she tried to think about everything else.

She couldn't though.

She would have thought they would have made it a year…

One of those girly thoughts, after a year, she and Logan would be able to move on. But it hadn't been a year. They'd made it to December, ten months.

She hadn't really meant to move on; she wondered if he had, if he'd thought about it in depth.

She just seemed to fall into it. They were rebuilding another car for another X-5…It had started with someone returning with pizza and brew and spending the rest of the night bs-ing. Then she'd been out at a bar over by his place. There had been flirting, she didn't flirt…She knew for a fact she didn't flirt unless she was after something or it was a joke.

Okay well not with Logan, but nothing had ever been normal with Logan. Flirting had just made an appearance and most of the time she wasn't even aware of it.

She'd flirted with Jeff, knowingly flirted with him; encouraged his. Not that girly stuff, more of the cutting daring stuff.

Then one night out of nowhere it felt like, they'd left the bar as a few other X-series were getting decidedly rowdy and they'd pulled them out of there. The night was too young for it to just be over…That was all she really remembered thinking.

Then there was a kiss after his roommate went to bed leaving them alone in his living room. He'd initiated it, she'd deepened it. He hadn't questioned it, didn't ask her if she was sure…He knew for damn sure if she wasn't she'd let it be known. He just went with it and went with it meant stumbling backwards as they made their way to his room, stumbling because the X-5 couldn't see what was where on the floor.

She hadn't really questioned it until later.

It had just felt okay. It had actually felt okay so she went with it before it stopped feeling okay. That was another thing she hadn't done before Logan, she hadn't dragged her feet, she dove straight into things as she did that night.

Did she cry the next day? A little.

Did she regret it? Most of her said no, it was something she needed to do. There was that part of her that said yes, that girly part that wanted his to be the last hands to ever touch her body, his lips to be the last to ever touch hers.

Things like that were a surefire way though to speed along just how long his life lasted for.

So she'd fallen into bed with Jeff, who hadn't been pining for her. He'd had one night stands and two relationships, finding out like many others that managing a relationship with an ordinary was a difficult thing to do. Trying to keep their barcode hidden in intimate settings…Showers couldn't be taken unless the makeup was waterproof even then the matter of keeping hands away from it…Things like that, just like the lies that were a constant…More than just their back story, they always wanted childhood stories, name of first animal, first kiss, they could lie, they could keep their stories straight, Manticore had created natural players in that aspect, it was just the matter of lying day in and day out. It wore on a person.

Some came out and some relationships survived…Others had to flee town…He never cared enough to risk it.

They didn't discuss their relationship in depth. They were young, they were together for now.

Thinking, comparisons, what ifs weren't something she could allow herself to do.

Being with Jeff for the rest of her life meant one thing when she thought about it. She would never be with Logan again, her brain knew it, hell even her heart had mostly caught on, but dwelling on it…Remembering how it felt to be in his arms, to be in bed beside him…Comparing how his kisses had felt, his touch his everything, it tended to make the bile rise up in her throat. She'd feel dirty and guilty for ever leaving it behind, ignoring she had no choice.

He'd moved on she could still remember finding out he moved on…That had made her want to cry, it became so final…

She'd known he was seeing someone. Vida had told her in a sly attempt to make sure Max was fine with what she was doing with Jeff. No real details, just Logan was seeing someone he worked by.

By, not with, so she'd known it wasn't Gabbie.

Joshua had called her the Saturday right before Christmas as Cale had been frowning down at the eggs on his plate, completely ignorant and indifferent to what she had to go through to score the last fresh eggs at the market. She'd been mid coax as she picked up the phone, to Josh's frantic need. Mole and a few others were ready to launch war on the bits of media who had taken up residence at the gates, after a few had tried sneaking in.

She groaned wondering how exactly their new unofficial leader had become so popular in the ranks. Mole was constantly outraged over even the littlest of things. Max knew why, everyone that could walk the streets freely knew why. Those stuck inside Terminal City had simply traded their cells for a bigger one. No one knew what to do about it though, aside from hope that with time the rest of the country could learn to look past the physical differences.

So she'd kissed her son on the top of his head, not willing to put him in the middle of the screaming match she knew would occur once she arrived and promised Josh she'd get there as soon as she could and told him to call Alec and Logan. Alec since he had the closest thing to a relationship with Mole since he brought in the stogies Mole couldn't live without and Logan since he'd be the only one who could clear up the current issue of the media overstepping their bounds.

She'd been sitting up on a desk with her head buried in her hands listening to Alec and Mole battle it out when she looked up hearing his footsteps. Gray slacks, a light blue button down, a long winter dress coat over them…She realized wherever he'd been the night before he hadn't gone home from, that was not early Saturday morning attire.

He hadn't acknowledged it, hadn't given any guilty looks, he'd just ignored it and focused on the problem at hand as Max stayed ten feet away unable to stand the thought of another woman's smell being on Logan.

Alec had admitted it upon questioning. He wouldn't tell her who, he just confirmed her suspicions were right and anything else she had to get from Logan.

She thanked god Cale's birthday had already passed as she'd been jealous throughout Christmas. She stayed with OC over at Logan's and spent Christmas the same as they had last year, presents and breakfast there before heading over to TC. Her heart had been shattered though, she'd slept with Jeff, but knowing Logan had moved on made it even worse than she could have imagined. They had a mini blow-up after Christmas regarding New Year's Eve and they both became fully aware the other knew what they were doing as they both said they'd take care of their son in order for the other to go out. In the end Gem had put an end to it suggesting Josh and Luna, since they were taking care of Ronnie so Gem could finally celebrate a New Year's in style.

Things had been tense between her and Logan for weeks.

They had settled down now. Dinner wasn't primarily focused on their son so they wouldn't glare across the table at each other. They were relaxed once more, calm and joking and remembering they did this for a reason…to keep that…to keep each other in their lives for the next 50 years.

Jeff groaned causing Max's head to shoot around as he pulled the pillow he was sleeping with closer.

She decided to try the actually 'sleeping' with him in her bed and hopped off the windowsill and making her way around the bright yellow bulldozer bed Alec and Zen had created for Cale's third birthday proclaiming if he slept with his mother any longer he was going to end up more psychologically scarred then them.

She expected Cale to have a problem making the adjustment since he'd always slept with her when he was with her. She was sadly mistaken, the boy had immediately fallen in love with the wooden creation the two men had built complete with a working scooping mechanism, which made getting her to son to actually sleep quite a challenge at times.

She had a feeling she was going to be having that same challenge as she stripped off the layers she'd put on to ward off the cold winter air she'd allowed in and slid into the bed.

I have cranky reviewers don't I? Sorry, I did warn you in the title "Moving On" didn't I?

Okay so yell away, but please remember to be happy I didn't actually force you to read about them with others. Things that seem bad can always be worse. :-P

-o-o-o-

AliasSpyCrazy: You leave a very good review, totally inspired me to finish and post this chapter before doing anything else.

maggieann452: Haha I'm responsible for some family time. That's totally making up for my normal freakin out over all my mistakes when I see the word print along with one of my stories. :-D Don't fear this story is being finished. I just tend to get distracted at times.