AN: Warning this is VERY long. (That also means there are a lot of boo boos bc I don't want to read it again to fix them...Sorry :-\ )
Chapter Eighty
The Moments That Change Your Life
The moments that came after those calls were the heart pounding kind.
He was left trailing behind her. Within seconds he could no longer even see her despite the fact that he'd taken to wearing the exo as a precaution. If life came in flashes the first flash would have been how her eyes widened as her mouth remained slightly open. The sight of the door swung open so quickly it should have come off the hinges. The sounds of her feet ahead of his own on the stairs, feather light as they barely touched the ground.
The flash of the young man with shaggy brown hair and a beard to hide his now known face. The body covered in khakis and a gray long sleeved shirt, blood darkening a corner by his shoulder, hands cuffed behind him to the steel chair.
More than a handful of guns trained on him, daring him to even think about moving.
The look in his eyes was unrepentant, cold, uncaring of the consequences of his actions, he showed no fear just as he'd been trained his entire life.
Alec had apparently taken the lead in interrogating him leaving Max to talk to Mole, who occasionally came out with bursts of indignant, "He's never going to talk, might as well let me finish the job," as his rifle remaining trained on him.
Vida whispering in Logan's ear, "Gem and Dalton took everyone home with them," as they continued to watch the play by play. Alec's attempt at a kind ear, while showing all the forcefulness of their instructors.
It became clearer to Logan than it ever had before that Max was no longer their leader.
He'd once thought that Mole had been slowly taking over her role, but now he realized that was wrong as well as he watched Max and Dix attempt to diffuse Mole and the situation, all while trying to egg the perp on with fear.
There were no true leaders anymore. They were a community of individuals now. All of them putting in their two cents. They were no longer soldiers looking for anyone to follow.
The Manticore influence in them was both painfully obvious in this moment as was their departure from it.
Logan realized with a mixture of interest and fear as he realized their 'perp' was cracking as anger started to appear behind his eyes. Their main threat had been eliminated. The weapon confiscated as the other man fell and taken away to be diffused. The fear however was still present as they waited for the 'why' to be revealed.
"And you fuckin wonder why anyone would want to take you out?" the young man spit out as Mole grabbed back his gun from Dix. "You're fuckin monsters."
It was amazing how a room that had suddenly seemed quiet before aside from a few individuals grew deathly still as if all air had been sucked out.
"What did you say?" Alec asked turning around in shock as he'd been pacing, the only one of the group who could actually get away with asking such a question.
"How are you defending them?" Light blue eyes looked up questioning. "They'll destroy this country. We were made for one specific reason to defend this country and you're protecting its biggest threat."
"Yea well you know…free will and all that crap," Alec was as always comical even with the darkened serious mood. He turned back to once more look at 639, "So you're one of those self-haters or what?"
The younger man's temper flared, "I'm not one of them."
"Wanna bet?"
"We are the next step in the evolutionary ladder, they are no better than Neanderthals. They have to be stopped before they turn this into a nation of freaks. It's within our grasp to return this nation to what it once was, we can't do it if they're polluting our gene pool."
There was a cough, "Can anyone say Hitler?"
Logan looked over in time to catch Zen saying it with his hand covering his mouth.
The X6 looked over with a serious face, his devotion clear, "Yea but this isn't something our country would go to war over," a quick nod, "at least not on your side." His eyes turned back to Mole, "That was a few countries before, this is an entire world."
"Let me-" Mole began and went to charge at him only to be thrown back by Max.
The young man's voice grew, "Manticore was self-centered. They didn't think about the threat to the rest of the world only their needs when they allowed you to live."
"Live?" a Nomilie questioned, "you called what they let us do live?" He shook his head, "Locked in cages without food or water for days, let out only when they needed us?"
"People treat their dogs better," someone tacked on.
"Shouldn't that have told you about your worth?" he asked.
"Where's the rest of your group?" Logan asked walking into the center of the ring that had formed.
The young man suspiciously viewed him up and down, trying to figure out how he fit into this equation.
"Hey," Max called out, "the man asked you a question. I suggest you start speaking."
"You," 639 said looking over at her with distain, "you of all people protecting Manticore."
"I'm not protecting Manticore, I'm protecting people."
"They're not people," he retorted.
"They're my family," Max adamantly retorted.
"They're freaks!"
"Yea well so am I…So are you!"
"We're the future."
"So is that what your little Nazi groups been telling you?"
"We were perfectly content to let them live," his head shook, "we foolishly assumed Manticore would have taken the proper safeguards."
"Safe-"
"Sterilized them," his eyes once more an eerie calm.
Another wave of all air being sucked out of the room.
Logan, Max, Alec, Vida and Zen all had the same thought flash through their mind, one they'd never really allowed to settle before now. There were no babies aside from those belonging to the X5s and a few X6's. No one had ever broached the subject with them before and it had never mattered to them because it hadn't affected their lives. Talk about self-centered.
"They can procreate with humans. I've seen the results; it's not something we can allow to happen."
"Where?" Logan was the only one to speak, the only who wasn't too shocked to respond. He would have heard about that was the only thing he could think of though…News like that always seemed to trickle back to him. Sebastian, someone would have heard about it and told him.
"There have been a few incidences. Last one was in Indiana about two months ago."
"How do you know this?"
"I just do," the young man said firmly and Logan didn't doubt him. Stupid was the last thing any Manticore pupil was.
"What happened to the baby?"
"Government took him," another quick answer.
"To do what with him?" Logan found himself asking a little more heatedly due to his role as a father.
"I don't think either of us want to know the answer to that," for the first time Logan saw compassion in the young man's eyes. Like Max, like the rest of them he'd suffered through more atrocities than he cared to remember as a child and he'd been one of many instead of just a few. Those that did live faced a lifetime of hell. He almost hoped the government acted rashly and euthanized them to dissect them rather than study in any other fashion.
"The Compatriots are all about the advancement of the species?" Alec asked after another moment of dead silence, hoping for more answers and clues.
"To make the US the most powerful nation again."
"How do you know that once they use you to get rid of them they aren't just going to off you? Aren't all these groups just about purity…I mean let's face it…You aren't exactly normal."
"We're about advancement. The world has always been about change. You can't adapt, you can't survive. Within a few generations, the nation as a whole will be smarter, faster and stronger." He looked up with an incredulous smile, "You didn't really think they created us to just be soldiers did you? That was only step one. They always planned more for us." He laughed, "Granted they probably didn't expect it to happen this way…Do you know the blood that ran through the president's daughter after her accident?" He looked amused by the shock in their eyes. "The stroke President Durin had in '09?"
Logan had heard rumors about that, seen what he'd assumed were copies of forged medical records…According to them the guy should have lived out the rest of his life as a vegetable, but instead returned to office within two months.
"It was supposed to have been a gradual integration of our genes into the population."
Tweaking. That word suddenly came to mind as he remembered the world pre-pulse. The mainstream science of fertility was starting to expand beyond healthy v. unhealthy, boy v. girl. There had been debates, but it had all just been science fiction; no one was ever going to actual do the things novels were written about.
He hadn't learned for years that they actually had…
This all probably would have been funny if he didn't know what was going on he realized some time later. The loudest, most opinionated individuals he'd ever met had been quickly reduced to silence.
It was a silence that would return frequently throughout the night.
ooOoo
She wondered if it was possible for her brain to explode through her skull as she sat forward with her head in her hands on the closed toilet of the safe house's cramped bathroom.
The little red pills appeared to be failing in their job as it continued to throb despite the massage at her temples in the darkened cool room.
She could still see everyone's faces. Josh's especially as it had all gone down.
Seen the wondering in those who could pass for normal. Wondering if the other guy wasn't so far off. She knew the guy was right in at least one aspect, it was an opinion that would be shared by the majority of their country and possibly even transgenics.
Her own brain had hinted at it…All she'd ever wanted was to be normal. She knew how hard it was when you weren't. That was nothing compared to what they faced. The look on Joshua's face had killed that vague whisper of agreement in her head however.
She'd looked around and seen the toughening of the men as their 'masculinity' was being called into question when that realization of there weren't any kids in TC was said aloud probably for the first time ever though she realized it had been thought of for long before. She saw the old Logan in them.
It had gone on for awhile. Back and forth questioning and statements. A larger crowd continued to form until Logan finally pointed out that maybe they should do something before he bled out and he couldn't tell them anymore.
Mole had followed as they'd hoisted the kid to his feet.
And he was just that. A kid. Seventeen tops. A kid that would live, but she didn't know how long.
He'd gotten into it with Mole again as they'd been in the large previously empty room that made up their infirmary. The kid who wasn't able to walk on his own and was struggling to remain conscious continued to hold his own against the 'mayor' of their fair city.
Mole had finally lost his temper after a few dinosaur and the ice age cracks that she could have seen coming out of Alec if they had been said with any type of humor. Zen and Vida had each taken hold of Mole's upper arms and physically lifted him out of the room.
"See man," the kid had said to Alec as his head started to drop back with sleep, "I told you. Gotta keep that out of the gene pool."
"I hate to break it to you kid, but have you actually looked around here?" he asked as Cassia continued to patch him up, the bullet having gone clean through and already clotting on its own.
Blue eyes reopened for that.
"No kids."
Puzzlement.
"That's why you do recon before a mission."
"But the…" his head shook, "there are-"
Alec cut him off, "None of theirs. You guys might have been right in your first assumption."
There was a level of guilt in her that she couldn't explain from that brief moment of relief from when she'd realized that same thing. It had been followed by indignation and pain for what they were going through. Manticore was still continuing to fuck more than just her over.
She might just be part of a large group who had the right to have a family taken away from them.
Still though, that breath of relief. Because this wasn't the type of life you'd wish on anyone…
Another divide had taken place in the city. Logan went with her as Alec, Cassia and Vida stayed with the kid, Rob, Robbie, such an unassuming name….
"He lost a lot of blood, but my guess is he'll live," Cassia said as she finished taping up the bandages.
"For how long?" the kid had asked with weary eyes.
"Well 639 that's not really up to us since we weren't the ones you were trying to take out."
"Not take out," he said wincing ever so slightly as Cassia shifted him, "just alter. Disperses chemical agents," a slight nod, "and the name's Rob."
They found all the visitors to TC in one of the rec rooms. A larger crowd than normal because of the threat, a few more had even turned up than earlier having gotten calls that they could stop monitoring the police frequencies.
"So what kind of chemical were they going to use?" Zen asked walking over to them having not returned once escorting Mole out of the room.
He and Max both froze.
"Oh man don't tell me they cooked up something perfectly targeted at transgenics, if they could come up with it, who's to say-"
Logan shook his head, "They wouldn't have needed the device for that."
Zen's voice lowered, "Okay you guys are starting to scare me. Just tell me what it was."
Max shook her head and walked away.
Logan let out a mixture of a groan and a sigh as Zen's eyes followed her for a moment before coming back to him. "Sterilize them….A chemical castration. We don't know what it was exactly; he passed out before he could tell us anything else."
"Oh man," Zen's normally calm eyes widened.
It was a view spread across the room as the women suddenly crossed their legs if they could and the men tried to contain the urge to protect themselves down there, some out rightly failed.
"So if Tanner hadn't spotted the kid, we'd all be…" his voice trailed off as his face held a horrified expression. Manticore's soldiers had become human.
Max rolled her eyes and walked back over, "You were less freaked out when you thought you should have died."
"It's a whole different level Max," Zen told her turning confirming her suspicion that all men really were as screwed in the head as she thought them to be.
That's when the whispers had started around the room. Nothing that she really heard or paid attention to, still distracted by her own thoughts. She'd left the room with Logan and Zen. The guys heading towards the computers as she headed to try to stem off any type of payback the others were coming up with.
They hadn't gathered though, they splintered off. All of them going off to lick their wounds in private.
"Hey Big Fella," she knocked on his cracked door as she pushed it open.
"Hey Little Fella," he nodded but didn't pause in his painting, a dark swirl of black, grays and blues.
"Kinda melancholy isn't it?" she asked with a nod towards the painting, "We stopped the threat at least for now." And they had, the device had offered a controlled spread of the pathogen, anything else they would risk exposing the ordinaries, which she doubted they do, at least not so quickly.
"They still hate us," he said as the brush once more connected with the canvas.
"They don't understand Josh; people are scared of things they don't understand."
He hadn't said much after that, he just continued painting and giving short responses to her questions before she finally caught on and left the room.
"We need to figure out if we want to put a message out there to them again," Logan said as Max approached him and Zen as they sat facing the screens.
"We've got time, they aren't going to make another move soon," she said sighing wearily as she leaned against the rails.
"Yea and they're not going to come looking for him, we were only trained to keep bargaining chips, they think the kid's dead by now."
"Great world we live in," Logan replied with a shake.
Yea great world indeed, she'd realized that when she walked back into the rec room.
"Hey look, I'm not saying I would have done it, but you've got to admit it makes things easier," Tanner, X-5 who'd stopped the kid was saying as she walked into the room, but then quickly silenced realizing it was her.
"What makes things easier?" she asked harshly.
"Don't look at me like that Max. You know you were thinking the same thing. The kid had a point, it's going to be hell on us for the next couple of years, but eventually we'll fade from being a threat. Kids are born without barcodes and can blend it and if we mix, we just end up with really smart kids right? That's what they were researching at Manticore before the place got shut down."
She hadn't known they'd known that much…that they'd known about Tinga and Case.
"They're always going to be outsiders Max. Outsiders with a really big chip on their shoulders. If they grow in population over the generations," he shook his head. "Max they're not the kind of enemy to have and the rest of the country, hell the rest of the world is never going to accept them. It would have only have ended badly."
"And this isn't badly?" she quickly asked.
"Hey like I said it's not something I would have done," he quickly pointed out.
"We don't even know if they did it," a redheaded X6 female pointed out. "I mean they didn't know what they were doing when they started this."
"Like a mule," the brunette next to her pointed out. "Occasionally they're fertile."
"Or it could just be they got better with each new group," the red head shrugged. "Let's face it, they just shoved whatever they could together and hoped for the best."
"Point is what's done is done," Tanner said with a shrug. "I say we let the kid go, I'll go with him. Make sure these guys know they don't need to bother them anymore."
"You want to go with him so you can join?" someone asked from across the room.
"The kid's just a kid and he was doing exactly what we were trained to do our entire lives and that's protect this country. They are the biggest threat this country's seen since the Pulse."
"I can't believe you're saying that man," another person said with a shake of his head.
"Don't deny you didn't think it," the person next to him quickly said with a pointed look.
"This is our family," he quickly defended.
"Look does it really matter?" Kera, the blond X5 asked. "What's done is done. We can't do anything to change it and we didn't do anything to cause it. We can keep them safe from the Compatriots though. Mole's never going to let the kid go. I say we have Logan send out a message, I'm sure eventually it'll get back to them."
"So you're just going to let them kill the kid?"
"It's not our place," Kera quickly said though the thought of what Mole might do to him turned her stomach as well. If we're the ones to let him go," her head nodded, "they listen to Mole. I don't know why, but they do. It'll look like we turned on them if we do anything."
"Oh," Tanner with a quick turn away and his head buried in his hands, "you've got to be kidding me." His hands quickly fell and he turned to scan the crowd. "Who's from his unit?" More looking as he figured it out, "Kristy? Rocky?"
The two individuals quickly looked away.
"Max," he turned back and just looked at her.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves," she gave a quick nod. "Nothing's happening tonight. I think we should probably give them some time to cool down. Mole's not going to listen to anything we have to say tonight…None of them are."
"Hey Max?" Logan knocked on the door snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Yea?"
"You okay?" he asked opening the door letting the light flood in from the hallway.
"What would you have done if I was going to the bathroom?" she asked looking over with amused eyes.
"The light was off," he pointed out.
She just continued to look at him.
He laughed, "Give me a break it's been a while since I've lived with an adult transgenic."
She smiled. And you never will again, she realized, at least not until Cale's a teenager.
"You okay?" he once more asked.
She nodded.
"You know you can talk to me right?" he asked leaning against the doorway worried at seeing her so utterly defeated.
Another nod.
He didn't move.
"It's just so hard on them," she replied with a tilted head and twisted herself so she was still looking at him, but now resting her head against the tilted walls.
"I know, but it's still a better life than what they had."
"Before they didn't know what they were missing," her voice was soft as she looked at him framed by the light as she remained as always in the dark.
"They can also see how much they gained though."
One cage for another…
She just sighed and turned her head away.
"Come on," he said with a nod back, "get some sleep. We can pick up Cale in three hours," he said looking at his watch.
Once more back to real life…
This is really starting to get tiresome, she thought standing.
ooOoo
It had taken Logan a whopping total of three days to revert back to how he'd been.
That tiny nagging little feeling returned to her every time they talked.
It wasn't winning though, she thought as she rode the elevator up to Logan's job.
Empty desk, she thought with a sigh and with the computer off she was guessing he wasn't somewhere else in the office.
"Max right?"
Max turned to be greeted by the warm smile of Gabby, the coworker she'd met last time. "Gabby," she nodded.
"I think you just missed Logan. Probably lunch," she nodded.
"Thanks," she smiled.
"Probably at 'Tello's, it's two buildings-"
"Yea I just walked past it."
"If he's not there I'm sure he has his cell."
Another smile and nod from Max as she said thanks.
ooOoo
Past the red and white checkered half curtain covering the bottom of the window she could see him. Her eyes had immediately gone searching him out as she walked towards the door. She stopped though just shy of it as she peered in.
Kerry was with him. Laughing as she sniffed her nose oddly as a waiter with a tray walked by. Logan had a more refined chuckle as he watched her versus the giggle and shake of her head that followed. Some more words were said as she smiled lifting her water up. He was smiling too as he followed her actions shaking his head as he took a ship of his water, still holding it he continued to talk and laugh.
That was it, she realized as she swallowed hard and turned away from, that was it. They had won.
ooOoo
"Hey," his voice greeted her on the phone. "Gabby told me you stopped by."
"Uh yea, I was in the neighborhood and it was lunch time, I must have just missed you."
"Sorry…Anything important?"
"No just lunch."
"Well, I'm sorry I missed you."
"Yea well I'll see you tomorrow," she said quickly.
ooOoo
"I'm sorry I missed you yesterday," Logan apologized again as the he scooped the carrots up from the cutting board with his knife tossing them in the pan.
"I would have called, but I didn't know I was going to be in the area," she lied sitting up the stools next to their son.
"Where were you?" Alec asked walking into the kitchen swiping a few goldfish out of the bowl in front of Cale holding off his hunger until dinner.
"Hey," Cale said swiping out, but missing Alec's hands.
"What, you got like twenty others?" he said as he threw another one in his mouth.
Cale glared across the room as Alec laughed again and pulled his bowl in closer.
"Stealing from a 3 year old, real nice Alec," Max admonished with an eyes roll.
"Three 'n' a quarter," Cale automatically corrected.
"Yea really Max, don't know your kid's own age," he acted appalled. "Hey Logan," another fish thrown in, "so does this mean you're what 34 and five sixth's? Should we just start rounding up to 40 now?" he turned and asked Max.
"Haha," Logan responded dryly.
"I'm just busting your chops man, you almost got in a few good blows the other day when you were sparing with Zen."
"Yea did I mention how much I appreciated how much I enjoyed having you all around while I was getting my a-" he froze.
"While you were being Spekkio-ed," Alec supplied.
Cale laughed.
"You were what?"
"Alec got some old video game," Logan supplied.
"Hey it's new to me and who's the champ Cale?"
"Zen?" the little boy looked up with innocent blue eyes that suddenly twinkled.
"Haha, that's my boy," Max said ruffling his hair which rewarded her with an annoyed look.
"Yea, see if I bring it over again Cale," Alec threatened.
ooOoo
"Here we go," Max said softly lifting the little boy up into her arms as Alec continued to search the paper for any new leads on a bike after his took an unfortunate fall off the side of a garage as he and Ze inefficiently calculated the probabilities as they'd been goading each other. He'd managed to come out of the situation without a scratch, his bike though….
Logan's attention had long been preoccupied with Eyes Only stuff then again, it attention seemed to focus on anything but her.
He continued to have moments where it seemed he was about to tell her something, but then froze and quickly turned away.
Guilt she knew it all too well.
The cat in her got the better of her after tucking the barely stirring Cale into bed. Into Logan's room she went.
She paused in the doorway and stared at the bed wondering how often the other woman had slept there.
Slept in the bed where she'd slept. Granted all she'd ever done was sleep, but still…
Her fingers silently slid open the drawer. Lifted up the corner she'd found it in before, under the neatly folded boxers.
She frowned and before she knew it the stack of boxers had been lifted up between her hands.
Nothing.
She shook them and made sure there was nothing hiding in them before tossing them down on the bed.
Socks started to tumble in the drawer.
Still nothing.
She just froze and stared at the empty spot of wall ahead of her.
She moved quickly tossing everything back in.
Only slightly disheveled, she thought blinking quickly and slamming it shut.
Her feet slid over the steps as she rushed downstairs.
She froze as she turned to head back into the living room.
"You've got to tell Max," she heard Alec's voice.
"I will when I get an answer," Logan's voice responded slightly ticked off as if this conversation had been going on for awhile.
"Oh yea," Alec laughed, "that's going to go over well. Just get it over with Logan."
"Get what over with?" she asked walking into the room.
"Uh," Logan suddenly shot forward in his desk chair.
"Logan?" she asked again.
His eyes closed briefly in blessed relief as Alec's cell started to ring.
"Why don't I just take this in the other room," Alec said raising it up, "let you two talk," he smiled at Logan.
"Gee thanks Alec," Logan called out as he started to walk away.
"What do you have to get over?" she repeated.
"Uh," he exhaled again, "the thing is Max."
"Okay never mind, I lied," Alec said rushing back into the room. "TC now, Robbie's escaped. I think Josh let him go. I'll hop on your bike with you Max."
"He what?" her head spun in shock.
"Josh was watching him and now he's gone," he said sliding his arms into his coat.
ooOoo
"We lost Mole about twenty minutes ago," was the greeting they received by Swift, a possibly squirrel influenced transgenic, Max had never been able to figure it out and was too embarrassed to ask.
"What do you mean you lost Mole?" Max barked.
He didn't flinch, "We turned around and the guy was gone. He and Joshua got into it for a bit and then he just disappeared…We've looked everywhere."
"So you mean he's out in the city?"
"Yea I hope that kid got enough of a head start, he doesn't have a chance if Mole catches up to him."
"Shit," Max cursed. "Alec can you-"
"Gimme your keys," he said with an outstretched hand. "Can you call Zen?"
Keys were passed and Max was once more thankful that Logan had offered to stop by and pick up Cale from her place after work so she could stop by TC afterwards with more ease than her car provided.
A knock on his door as she pushed it open.
"Hey Max," Luna's voice greeted Max first.
Followed by, "Little Fella."
Really gotta remember to knock, she thought to herself and smiled, "Hey."
"Isn't tonight date night?" he asked as he stopped in his perpetual movements around his place.
"It's family night and it was until I found out we had an escapee and rumor has it you were watching him."
He shrugged, "We were painting."
"What were you painting?" she asked.
"Happy little clouds," he smiled and nodded vigorously.
Max laughed, his recent infatuation with the very deceased public television painter. Only Josh or then again maybe it was Rita could create such a stir about them. His showing had sold out in the first night. Nostalgia or something like that.
"He liked Cale's painting," a large hand flung back to point at the rather blurry interpretation of Joshua and Cale standing next to each other. Next to each other and a large purple elephant. Creativity that kid did not lack. "Said it showed promise."
"So is that all you guys talked about?"
He shook his head, "His girlfriend, I told him about Luna, he told me about his girlfriend."
"Girlfriend have a name?"
He ignored her, "Nice kid, he understands now. He isn't scared. Just wanted to go home. He didn't want to die." He turned, "Wasn't going to let Mole hurt him."
"You've got to watch out for Mole," she cautioned.
"Joshua fine. Robbie was the one in danger."
"Josh," she began again.
"Luna's here," he quickly flung a hand back to gesture at her, "I'm fine. Go back to Logan."
"Cale's already asleep, I can stay."
Joshua gave her a teenage boy look and head bob towards Luna who was reclining on the couch.
"Oh, okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow then," she nodded.
ooOoo
"You smell," Original Cindy said as Max walked into their apartment and past the kitchen where she'd been making a sandwich before she lost her appetite.
"Sewers, gave my ride to Alec to try and track down Mole."
"Couldn't leave out the gates like a normal person?" she asked closing up the peanut butter jar.
"Japanese tourists have taken to circling the place."
"At this time?" OC looked over at the clock.
"Better safe than sorry," she shrugged and stopped herself just shy of flopping onto the couch.
"Well for future reference, I'm a big fan of a little unsafe and a lot un-smelly."
Max let out a short laugh. She shrugged, "Needed some time to think."
"You've needed a lot of that lately. What's up Boo?"
"Just life….You know it gets to you. Josh let Robbie escape."
"The guy that tried to uh…you know," she waved a hand down low.
"That would be the one. Didn't want Mole to hurt him."
"That boy's too nice for his own good. Now explain how you been for the past two weeks."
"Just stuff," she sighed and shook her head. "I'm gonna shower and crash."
"Max?" she called out after her.
She turned, "Not now OC."
"It's never freakin now," she muttered low under her breath as she ran a finger along the knife to clean up the remaining smear of peanut butter. Still sucking her finger she shook her head and wondered what the hell could be wrong with the girl now.
ooOoo
Friday Morning (2 days later):
Max had yet to figure out if she liked it when OC stayed out all night. On the one hand it was great because things seemed to be slightly less chaotic as the three of them bumbled around the apartment attempting to get ready. On the other an almost four year wasn't exactly the world's best conversationalist.
At least at the moment he was talking about where he was going to stay tonight instead of Mr. Hoppers the classroom bunny. He was confused, as was Max since Logan had called her from work saying he wouldn't be able to get off in time and asked her if she could get him. One hour had turned into two, two into three.
He finally stopped by just before eight, with just a half hour before their son's bedtime remaining. Exhausted and drained and he explained he wasn't done for the night. He had to go meet one of his contacts at ten and he didn't know when his night was going to end. So it had just been a quick kiss on his son's head and a wave of his hand and dismal as Max tried to offer food.
"Your dad's going to pick you up after school," she said as she cleared away their breakfast dishes.
"Good-"
"Hey," she turned with mock outrage as she moved to get the ringing cell off the counter. "Hey Big Fella," she smiled into the phone.
"Lil' Fella, Max gotta get down here right now," his excited voice said into the phone.
"What's wrong?" she instantly panicked that Mole had decided to seek revenge against her friend.
"No time, just come down now!"
ooOoo
With Cale perched on her hip despite his repeated demands to walk she ran into the main hall of Terminal City to be greeted by Joshua who grabbed her hand and started running. Dragging her along as her other arm tightened around Cale.
"What's wrong?" she cried out as she was pulled, but didn't bother pulling back assuming that he had a good reason for this. "Josh, where are we go going?" she asked continuing to be pulled down halls and up stairs.
"Gonna see, gonna see," was all he said despite her repeated calls of his name.
"What the?" she asked as the door flung open. The lab they'd used to find the cure to the 'shroud of death.'
Next thing she knew a stunned Cale was ripped out of her arms as she was shoved in.
"Got her, told you I'd get her," he said to the middle aged balding man in the white lab coat.
"And that you did Josh, my you got here quick," he said looking down at his watch.
"Yea great I'm here, why am I here and who the hell are you?"
"Max n' Logan," Joshua nodded and smiled. "Getting," he looked down at Cale and then back up at Max, "you know," he nodded at her.
"Wait you're a…" she simply stared at the doctor, "you think you can cure the virus?" What a weird dream was she in.
"Can and did," he nodded. "I didn't expect you here so quickly otherwise I would have prepared the injection."
She stared at him stunned as she watched glass vials being moved around as Joshua continued to bounce next to her as Cale looked up with 'what the hell's wrong with you' eyes.
"I'll still be in medical journals a hundred years from now with this. This is science's at least forty beyond what the mainstream is doing."
"You cured it?" she continued to look dumbstruck. Things like this didn't just happen overnight.
"Took many trials but I finally worked out the exact formula. Resistant little buggers," he said tapping any air bubbles out of the needle. "Four months of my life," he said holding up the syringe, "all within here. Amazing how minute things can be the most difficult."
"Four months?" she repeated his words, but walked over to him as he gestured.
"I suppose you don't actually need the alcohol," he said as he prepped her arm, "but call me old fashioned."
Footsteps moving down the hall, he walked into the room just as the needle slid into her arm guided by the unknown person, her mind too vacant, yet overwhelmed...she had no idea to question.
Bags and lines marred his beautiful eyes, stunned eyes. She wondered if he'd even gotten to sleep yet.
"Ah Logan, I was just about to tell Max that this should be through her system in about five and a half hours, better make it six just to be on the safe side."
Green and brown continued to stare in shock at each other.
"Such a pretty little thing, hard to image you'd have something so nasty in you," he said applying a bandage.
She turned and looked at him.
"No need to thank me," he boastfully smiled.
"Who are you?" she finally asked.
"Ah, sorry Dr. Laurette," he extended a hand.
She looked down at it for a moment before realizing she was supposed to shake it. "How do you know it's cured?" she asked.
"Young lady, I spent 2 months simply with my notes before I moved into the lab with my theories. Trust me, it's cured."
She continued to look at him.
"Fine," he sighed, "I still have some slides with your blood on them."
"How do you-"
"Between Shankar and here," Logan supplied.
Shankar continued to study the virus, especially because of the repeat exposures and had requested new samples from both of them after the last exposure as had the science geeks here who continued to try to figure it out.
"Look down," the doctor ordered as he stepped away from the microscope, ""I'm sure this will look familiar."
Into the microscope…Yup nothing new there.
"Now," suddenly her field of vision was flooded. "Of course you have no where near this much in you, which is why it takes a few hours. Don't worry my calculations are correct; I spent half the night with them double checking."
She blinked to see if what she was seeing was actually real. It was being devoured it seemed.
"The virus is absorbed and then excreted, everything should break down completely in a matter of a week, but it won't be of any threat to Mr. Cale."
Mr. Cale right, she looked at him. Completely and utterly stunned, he'd barely spoken.
"Let me down," Cale finally had enough of simply squirming against Joshua since it was futile.
The kid slid down to the floor.
How had he behaved for so long? She wondered until her eye caught sight of the clock, they had entered Terminal City less than ten minutes ago.
She looked back at Logan.
"Max, I-"
"Four months?" she asked.
"He," Logan raised a hand at the doctor.
"You know what Cale's going to be late for school. We gotta blaze. Say bye to Daddy and Josh," she said scooping their son into her arms suddenly fuming.
He didn't speak just looked annoyed with his mother for yet again treating him like a rag doll.
"No Max," Logan shook his head.
"Whatever Logan, doesn't matter. Go home burn the gloves, like I said late."
"Max," he said turning his eyes staying connected with his son's confused blue as Max kept hers diverted and quickly made her way out of the room.
"Why isn't Max happy?" Joshua asked the stunned Logan who was too confused to chase after her.
"I don't know," he honestly answered.
"Aren't you and Max supposed to be getting busy now?"
He turned and looked at his large friend with a peculiar look before shaking his head. "I need to catch up to Max," he finally said and turned to leave.
"Uh hum….Mr. Cale," Dr. Laurette called out after him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What? Oh," he nodded and patted his pocket trying to remember where he'd shoved his wallet with the single waiting check, "right."
ooOoo
"Girlie girl is going to rip the end of the table off if she tries that again," she said watching the six ball slam into the end of the table.
"Girlie girl gets to if she wants to tonight," she fiercely replied as she lined up her next shot. She'd been missing more than a few, the anger getting in the way of everything else.
"What the hell happened now?" she asked leaning on her cue, "Tried to get it out of Logan while he was waiting for you, but the boy wouldn't give it up."
"Hmm yea," another angry shot, "that seems like Logan."
Logan had stopped by Jam Pony and waited for her for a half an hour earlier that morning. She knew he couldn't wait all day because of the deadline for his story, so she'd simply waited him out. That and ignored all of her pages and calls. She even skipped going home after work. All she could remember was the look of that ring. How comfortable and happy Logan had seemed with Kerry the other day. How perfect they looked in the pictures tucked into his top drawer at work.
"Speak of the devil," Original Cindy said with a nod.
Max turned.
"So, this guy walks into the bar and says…" Logan said approaching them.
"Ooh that's my cue to split" Original Cindy said taking off for the bar.
"Where's Cale?" her voice hard
"He's with Joshua but that's not the line. We didn't get to finish our conversation."
"I'm sorry I thought we did."
"We didn't and you haven't returned a single page or call."
"What's left to say Logan?"
"Marry me," he said stepping in closer, "Don't ever run from me like this again."
More An:
Okay so it's past midnight. My deadline did not happen. :-( (I blame stupid little computer games that distract me every single time I'm on this thing).
I wrote a little more for this last part, but I didn't really like it so I've decided to leave it there.
This is the last real chapter of this story. I'm assuming people want an epilogue though (or then again you could just be sick of this story and go 'No thank you, this is quite enough').
I'm going to put a big old complaint/explanation for these last few chapters after the epilogue so I won't force you to see it twice (but trust me they're coming). :-P
Oh and honestly not cure the virus? Who really fell for that one:-P
Thanks for reading!