Chapter Eighteen

Past and Present

A few weeks earlier:

"Heya Maxie," Sketch said coming up quickly around her as she was sitting on the bench at Jam Pony.

"What do you want?" she asked with a pout and the shake of her head not looking forward to what he was going to say.

"So I'm promoting-"

She cut him off before he could continue, "No."

"Max, you didn't even hear what I had to say"

"Anything that involves you trying to make money is always a no," she shook her head and grabbed her bag as she flung her other leg over the bench as she stood.

"Oh come on Original Cindy already checked it out," he said in his version of an adult whine.

She let out a long sigh and stopped striding towards Normal.

Sketch laughed and came around handing her a flyer, "New Years, like real New Years."

Max looked down at the brightly colored ad briefly before looking up at Sketchy, "How much?"

"It's 140-"

"No," she said with a shake of her head and shoved the flyer back at him.

"Max," he said following after her and grabbing a package along with her, "it's New Years. Have you ever celebrated New Years right?"

She paused at that, he had a point, which was rare enough in itself for her to stop.

"It's 140, all you can drink. Max all you can drink. Champagne toast at midnight…"

Max's attention wavered for just a moment although she heard Sketch's words in the background, "not formal formal, like that wedding, but nice stuff. Guys are gonna be wearing suits…" The champagne made her remember her anniversary and losing Tinga and Zack. Maybe once it stopped hurting she could remember Zack polishing off her glass before they went out to try to save their sister with a smile.

"Are you listening at all to me?"

"Yea yea, formal, not formal formal, champagne, finger foods, live DJ."

"DJ Twist Max, you remember that guy from Xeon," Sketchy said making his case.

Max rolled her eyes, Xeon, a club from late this summer in which Sketch swore he knew people and yet they'd waited on line.

"No no, Max I swear it's not like that," he said as he too remembered the line. "You'll be on the VIP line and you'll be getting in at thirty less than the regular public."

"And you'll be making how much off me?"

"Only ten"

"Damn, you're getting gypped."

"I get in for free if I get ten people."

"Ah," she said with a nod and swung her leg over her bike.

"So what about it Max?"

"I'll think about it and talk to Cindy later," she conceded a bit.

"Cool," he nodded, "what about Logan?"

She looked startled by that for a brief moment, trying to picture Logan in a club, not that she hadn't tried convincing him before, but Crash seemed as far as she could push him, it was a holiday however, "I'll ask."

"Great, get back to me soon," he said with a nod and pushed off in the opposite direction of her.

ooOoo

New Year's Eve:

"You know if I so much as chip a nail," Max threatened walking up behind him in the bathroom.

He chuckled seeing her reflection come up behind him, her hair straightened and the fronts secured high in the back of her head, giving the top almost a slight poof, large silver hoops in her ears, the darkened eyes seeking out his in the mirror making damn sure he knew she wasn't kidding. He smiled turning and got a shot of Max fully dressed for the first time since she'd left his bathroom to return to the guest room to dress. Why she was such a big fan of his bathroom to get ready in, he'd never know, something about it got lonely when she was all the way on the opposite side of the apartment. He didn't really know what he was expecting when he turned, but it wasn't what was before him.

It was Max as he'd first envisioned how she'd look dressed up, since that first night in the catsuit, not that she hadn't always been beautiful and breathtaking on the other occasions, but those dresses had been…Softer? Max right now was edgy, not at all soft, his original tough girl. The dress was simple, black with slight shine, a strapless…tube, tube dress? He didn't really know if that was the term, the material didn't cling to her skin, but instead skimmed it. It ended just past her knees and showed a decent amount of the tanned calf before the black stiletto with a black band around her ankle began. She normally wore a slightly chunkier shoe as was the style, if there were such a thing as actual style nowadays, but anything went nowadays, especially her outfit.

"Too dominatrix-y right?" she asked raising up a black choker to her throat.

He realized as she was intently looking at him and raised her eyebrows as she shook her head forward a bit that he was supposed to respond, so he nodded.

"Wasn't your hair different when I left you?"

His vocal chords finally worked with him, "I looked like a mortician."

Max laughed and doubted that was the case, but she had to admit she liked that he'd reverted back to his old full out spikey hair to go with the black suit and tie. She was slightly surprised by his wardrobe choice, it was so basic, the black and white, yet on Logan it worked, he made it look totally modern.

"Should be a straight in and out job Max," he said referring to the detour they were taking before heading off to the club. Inside the house of one of the mayor's friends, plant a few bugs in the private study and hope the mayor or someone else would slip up tonight as they drank too much as was known to happen.

"I've heard that before," she said looking the mirror and pouted moving around a piece of her hair, wishing she had Original Cindy here with her. "These shoes are not meant for jumping out of windows," she said raising up a heel and looking down at it. Somehow she doubted the thin heels would survive the impact.

"Don't worry," he said with a smile, "the study's only on the first floor."

ooOoo

...

"You know Sketch is such a liar, I don't know why I ever expect anything more from him," Max said with a frown as they walked up to the club. Original Cindy had called her once inside the club to inform her that the VIP line was a decently long and she'd waited outside for thirty minutes.

Logan didn't bother responding and kept on walking past the line, Max watched as the Cale money was discreetly pressed into the hand of the bouncer, who briefly opened his palm and smiled before moving to the side.

"Logan Cale," she whispered softly as they entered the darkened club, "too good for lines?"

"I haven't waited in line since college, I'm not about to start now." He replied with a shake of his head, refusing to be baited as they walked over to the cashier.

"Max Guevara, Logan Cale," Max said as Logan took out his wallet. Max held no guilt as she watched the money exchange hands, not only was Logan's cash source up and running again, he'd had her working on a holiday, not even Normal pulled that shit.

ooOoo

...

Logan sat on a stool leaning back alongside Herbal as they were watching everyone out on the dance floor. Logan was torn between watching Max in her oh so amazing outfit dancing with Cindy and Sketchy bouncing around like an idiot.

"Should we stop him?" Logan asked leaning over slightly.

Herbal took a slight intake of breath and shifted back looking at his friend, "This is what brings him joy, we are not ones to judge." He turned to Logan as Sketch started dancing behind a girl, "No matter how stupid he looks."

Logan chuckled slightly at that, it might be bring him joy now, but it was definitely working against him in the female department, even Max and Cindy had shied away from him a few times.

Max walked over sometime later as Original Cindy's interest shifted away from her and to an available female, Herbal had left a few minutes earlier as his girlfriend decided she wanted company on the bathroom line and didn't want to bother any of her girlfriends. He smiled and reached back a hand to grab her beer, it might have been an open bar, but beer was their best option, they all learned that the hard way after their first round of drinks. "You know you could come out and join us instead of just watching."

"Not really my thing, I think I'll leave it to Sketch."

Max laughed slightly over the rim of her glass and turned back to where her friend was slightly more in control of his actions as he was dancing with a girl they knew from Crash. "I know you can dance," she reminded.

He smiled, that was true, he actually moved better than he thought he would, all those steps faithfully stored in his mind. Not to mention dancing and rhythm did come more from the mind than the body as everyone always said, though stepping on Max's toes though…" Not like that," he said with a nod of his head towards Sketchy and knew without a doubt, even if he had feeling in his legs he'd be sitting on the sidelines.

Max shook her head giving up. "Couches?" she asked referring to where most of the people who had been on Sketchy's list had been chilling for the night pounding back the drinks. He nodded as he stood.

He got sidetracked as he followed her, a guy had said his name and Logan had stopped to talk, leaving Max to continue on and take the last remaining seat in the group.

She was always amazed at the amount of people Logan knew in the city; maybe she was only amazed though because those first nine months he'd been a hermit. Once they were out, they were always bumping into people Logan knew, granted not at places like Crash, but just randomly throughout the city. All those years as a reporter, being a Cale, hell even just being Eyes Only, though that generally only got him a nod as the other person hoped no one was looking. The possibility of running into people you knew in a place as large and diverse as Seattle should have made it a rare occasion, but as life would have it, it was generally the opposite, especially when they were people you didn't want to see...

The Previous Summer:

He was chucking to himself as he plucked through the crate of oranges having left Max to battle it out with another woman over the last chicken, that poor woman had no idea what she was in for.

" Logan?" the voice hesitantly spoke behind him.

He turned and was faced with his ex-wife whose mouth was slightly open in shock at seeing her 'permanently paralyzed' ex up and walking. "Valerie," he replied with a fake smile, though his mind allowed him some relief to see her skin was still healthy and her eyes still clear, she was still sober.

"I can't believe it," she said with a shake of her head as she looked up and down taking in the light khakis and blue polo that covered his fully vertical frame.

Another smile as he turned and handed over the fruit to the vendor and giving him a bill, her mouth was still slightly open as he turned back.

"How," she began with a shake of her head, "I mean…"

"You know that wasn't even a challenge," Max said walking over not even noticing the other woman, until she actually stopped and realized Logan wasn't simply waiting for her. "Valerie," Max smiled and cursed herself for not remembering that Valerie's apartment was around here as Logan had informed her as to where he was meeting his informant, if she'd put two and two together she definitely wouldn't agreed that they stop and do some shopping.

"Max," the other woman smiled brightly, knowing playing the snob and pretending not to know the other woman's name wouldn't do anything to ingratiate herself with her ex.

"You got it?" Logan said snapping out of the slight daze that had come with running into Valerie.

"Was there ever any doubt?" She asked and then supplied, "Chicken," for Valerie's questioning eyes.

"Hey babe," Valerie's skuzzy husband said walking over towards them. Max almost shook her head in shock that this woman could actually choose that over Logan.

"Uh Deke," Valerie said with a shake of her head as he stopped next to her, "this is my ex-husband, Logan and his friend, Max. Logan, Max," she nodded back to her husband, "Deke."

Deke wasn't particularly good at hiding his shock as he too tried to figure out what happened to the wheelchair.

"Nice to meet you," Logan nodded with his ever present manners.

It forced Max's, "Hi," although all she wanted to do was curse out the guy that tried to take advantage of Logan

Deke just nodded, still confused.

"We should get going," Logan began, "we still have a few more things we need to pick up and the chicken will spoil soon in the heat. It was good to meet you, Deke and nice seeing you Valerie, I'm glad things are going well."

Max looked up upon Logan's return.

"I worked with his sister," Logan explained taking a seat upon the arm of her chair.

"Oh over at-"

"Yea," he nodded and took a sip of his beer.

"Do you want to switch?" Max offered.

He shook his head, "I'm good and this probably isn't the best position for a dress."

ooOoo

...

He'd forgotten the kiss at midnight when he'd agreed. Spending the night with Max instead of his cousins or accepting one of the invitations that had come in the mail of the past friends who didn't bother scratching his name off their invitation list even though dozens had been rsvp-ed no, and since both of those options were only slightly more appealing than spending it working he'd readily said yes when she asked only to remember a few minutes later what happened at the end of the countdown.

He tried to put it out of his mind, convinced himself there would be a cheer of happy New Year and a clink of the glasses. Of course, he failed to take into account Max's friends and the weird pairing up, which had been very verbal and inescapable, making him feel like he was fourteen again with a glass of sparkling cider in his hand. Of course, there was no live shot of the Needle on the tv screen with a countdown in the corner, instead a rebroadcast of New York's Time's Square ball drop that had managed to make its return last year and the glass in his hand was plastic and filled with such a cheap champagne he would really prefer to be toasting with his beer.

That didn't mean he wasn't as jubilant and as loud as everyone else around him, having convinced himself that friends could kiss, much the same talk he'd had with himself underneath the mistletoe. He almost managed it, the crowd around him screamed one, the DJ put on the classic Auld Lang Syne despite the crowd he was playing for. A quick kiss, before going around and doing the obligatory kisses, hugs and well wishes to everyone else. Technically he had managed it, that quick kiss before separating, not taking anything else into notice. Then she'd whispered "Happy New Year," while his lips were only centimeters away from hers. The heat of her breath upon his lips…

He whispered it back or at least he began to, but his lips had returned to hers before he even bothered finishing it. The desperation and the need that had been in their kiss outside of the cabin returned tenfold before they'd only been denying themselves for a few months while they'd been learning about the other person, falling…This was over a year since that kiss. The world stopped existing, any sane thought fell to the side as the both moved in closer to each other, his hand moved into the hair that had long since fell into disarray as lips opened and lids closed.

Not looking particularly out of place on the crowded dance floor along with all the other couple oblivious to the world around them. Though it didn't go unnoticed by Original Cindy whose mouth opened slightly in shock after separating from the chaste little kiss she'd gotten from the boo she'd been flirting with all night as she stood there wondering if they were going to either drop to the floor and go at it or push their way out of the club once they realized there was no privacy.

The person slamming into them was the only thing that broke them apart, since they were caught off guard they staggered slightly to the side and Logan's hands fell apart from her waist where they had traveled to once they were steady again. Eyes were wide as they stepped apart and stared at each other. Last time it had been giving in, not hiding, no words were needed afterwards. Now though, they were both here, no one was leaving.

Logan was the one who found a way out of it, a grin emerged on his face and his head tilted as he repeated the words he hadn't managed to finish earlier, "Happy New Year Max."

She laughed softly and gave a slight nod and turned to go find OC, swallowing the rest of the champagne in a single swallow as Logan did the same.

Idlehands452: Yea it was just part of the banter and one person reviewed wanting to know what it was and another reviewed saying it took them awhile to get it. So since I was going to have to explain anyway I decided to make it into a slightly odd moment for Max.

X-318:

A duvet here is technically the cover to your blanket, but yea I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing. It's your smooshy winter blanket.

The eyes: MW's eyes are green. He frequently if not always wore blue contacts while on the show, I think he's perfect naturally so I keep them green and threw in the Sketch comment bc that drove me insane at the beginning trying to figure out what color I should refer to his eyes as (you'll see it changes throughout my stories).

The airport: Yea that was that episode, but it's also the episode where Logan totally screwed over Max's ultra girl moment of trying to make her man dinner. Jesus he was dense in that episode.

Cale Industries: Yea totally all Logan not telling Max that made Max mad. Logan really wasn't that involved, just steered his cousin in a less seedy, less dangerous direction, the point is it went against Logan's values.

The baby issue: I know you weren't criticizing. I'm sensitive; there are 3 children in my 4 stories. it's excessive and annoying (and so not my fault) I wanted to stop a story early so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Yea newborns…I don't understand why they have hospital pictures, though honestly I was adorable, my sis on the other hand :-D

Oh and playboy was more me making sure you knew exactly who I have Logan being in this story. Once more not me thinking you were criticizing, I haven't thought you've done that once, I swear. I think it might be my way of responding, I think I may sound more defensive than I am, it's more of a me wanting to explain fully.

Oh and Luis is just another messenger, random person who would have the more Hispanic traditions down, which Sketch thought Max should know because of her last name.

The man-gina (better?): No, Logan did NOT do that. Logan tried to distract his cousin from looking for more revealing pics by telling him he didn't really think Max wanted to see them, so his cousin was like well what about the man-gina ones. It was just the first thing I could think of and the most likely of any male contest that other males actually pay any attention to. Logan did not even stay to watch it, when it started Logan went to go bail out his friend who had been arrested (his friend had wanted to do that so they left him in long enough so he couldn't). Yea spring break is umm a rather interesting time for young Americans, never encounter any during this time, research before you travel.