Shameless Plug: Some of us finally got around to starting up an ML forum so go check it out! You can bond with other ML-ers or harass the writers. Whichever makes you happiest :-P

Bob: The meatball story is actually a kid's book called, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." I thought it was a great book as a kid, so I decided Brit should like it as well. Not to mention food always fits in a Logan Cale story.

AN: Okay this is waaay shorter than my more recent chapters. But as I was writing this chapter I realized this part could be put up on its own and I figured some of you out there might prefer getting a little bit sooner rather than a lot longer.

Thanks for reading everyone! And those reviews for the last chapter were great (I gotta make them get more action just for that reason alone :-P).

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Promises of Tomorrow

They'd been caught up. That's what she'd told herself the entire long night that followed.

Caught up in the moment.

Honestly, a jigsaw puzzle, a little kid acting like a baby because of an odd form of cousin rivalry? Cheesy seventies television at its best.

Caught up in a Brady Bunch moment.

They'd simply gotten carried away, she thought as she carried Original Cindy back to their place.

It would mean nothing tomorrow, she decided as she tried not to retch herself as she cleaned up the bathroom from OC's exploits.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, pounded in her head as her wheels pounded across the pavement or her feet up every single flight of stairs in that sky-rise whose elevator had gone out.

Where the hell had he learned to kiss like that, she wondered in the brief moments of confusion as the recipient had to put down whatever they were carrying in order to sign or as they searched out their purse for a tip.

He'd taken the lead on three out of their five kisses.

She didn't know if it was a sense of control she felt from him or a sense of skill. When she kissed him, she wanted all of him immediately; she had no patience for anything else. Just Logan. Logan as quickly as possible.

The kiss they'd shared in heat remained a blur to her. He'd pulled her to him, but she doubted he'd been in control. She certainly hadn't been.

It had been all consuming instantly.

Last night…

God she didn't know how to describe it. Even if there were anyone she could tell…Which there wasn't because she was in no way stupid enough to share this with OC.

Just how his fingers felt brushing against her face, the warmth of them against her skin, the sprays of her own hair he caused to move tingling and sending shivers down her body she had to fight to hide.

You weren't supposed to forget to breathe!

It was just one of those things. An autonomic function, it was supposed to keep going on its own until you died. Yet with Logan…

"Girl, you look like you had a rougher night than me," Cindy said with her head pressed against the cool locker as she took in the 'oh so' distracted one. "Something happen with Logan before Crash?"

Why did she have to be so observant even hung-over? "Nope still just having flashbacks to you thinking our sink instead of the toilet two feet away would be a good place for you to empty your gut and why did you have to have Mac n' Cheese? I'm never going to be able to eat it again."

"All we had and it was that or the floor Max, be happy it landed in a more confined area. I got your back next time hot-boy does something stupid and you want to take it out on yourself."

"We're not like that," she replied a little too quickly and harshly.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself Sug," she said with rolled eyes still not moving from the relief of the locker until it was absolutely necessary.

"I tell myself the truth," she responded and didn't all let herself think about how much she didn't want it to be the truth.

-o-o-o-

What a difference a day makes, she thought walking into Logan's apartment once more, her second in fact of the day.

All serious work-mode had been going on earlier as she'd stopped by mid-day following a page. That girly girl part of her had been hoping he'd wanted to talk about last night, but then again considering how that might have gone maybe it was best that all she'd gotten was a quickly startled look before Asha had walked into the room chomping on a breadstick.

The other woman had never left.

Luckily for her though she avoided being forcefully tossed out one of the many windows as Max took in Logan's tired eyes.

The little creases he'd get in the corners frequently getting too wrapped up in work to actually sleep. You could try ordering him to bed, he could even do it to himself, but he'd just toss and would soon reappear behind his computer. Max was guessing he got two or three hours, just enough to make sure his brain continued to function at its highest possible level.

He became obsessive almost whenever confronted with a problem, just like the jigsaw puzzle he couldn't let it go until it was done.

It was the only thing keeping that trashy little skank from discovering just how long she could fly for.

She walked in this second time once more smelling sauce on the stove and the person coming at her was a blonde female. But it was Asha with totally overdone hair instead of the little cute pigtails that she had struggled with for a half hour earlier the morning before. Asha walking down the hallway with a bowl of pasta in her hand.

"Hey Max," she said as she swallowed her bite. "You get it?"

She waved the file and fake smiled. God she hated that girl.

"Dinner's on the stove," she said taking another bite.

"How's it going?" she forced herself to ask.

"About as well as it was going five hours ago," she answered.

"That well," Max made a face and starting to walk down the hall.

"How'd it go?" Logan asked looking up from the scattered mess of papers spread across the dining room table.

"Same ol' same ol," she said tossing the file onto the table. "These places could really use to step up their security."

"Um," he said looking at her, "yea I don't think we'll be seeing an Eyes Only report on that any time soon." His eyes smiled at her. "Dinner's on the stove."

"You're not eating?" she asked flopping down into a chair across from him.

"I'll eat in a little bit," he said lifting up a paper and looking down.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Uh…yea," his eyes never bothering to look up.

"Don't blame me when there's nothing left," she halfway joked as she stood.

He continued reading, "I think I'll live," a jot on the yellow pad next to him.

-o-o-o-

"Seriously Logan," she said walking into the dining room over an hour later with a fork full of pasta, "either you eat it or I'm going to."

"Go ahead," he said once more not looking up.

"When was the last time you ate?" she asked pausing before removing the next piece of penne.

"Around noon," he said finally looking up with a small amount of exasperation.

"What time is it now?" her head tilted looking at him.

His head quickly down to his watch, followed by a quick nod. "I should probably eat," he said pushing back and standing.

She shook her head, the guy seriously needed a full-time babysitter.

"Are you eating out of the pan?" he asked walking by her.

"Don't worry you're safe, I'm clean," she retorted.

They both froze as he moved to walk past, just looking at each other as they realized whatever germs where inside either of them were now in each other.

"Good to know," he nodded.

-o-o-o-

If Asha noticed anything off with them she didn't mention it.

She didn't mention the confused little smile that emerged on Logan's face as Max had reached out still with her ever handy fork and speared some of Logan's dinner for herself. Didn't notice the blush that had actually managed to creep up Max's cheeks quickly and caused her to look back down at the tax forms before her still with the fork in her mouth.

Not a single word about how their hands froze as one was pushing and another was grabbing a folder and their hands connected.

"It's getting late," Logan had said as the clock neared midnight. "Why don't we call it a night."

"But what about-" Asha began to ask.

"It'll keep," Logan said with a nod and a weary hand over the back of his head. "I think I'm going to have to get an accountant to go over these and tell me what we're missing. I'll get back to you in a few days with what they find."

"You sure?" Asha questioned.

"Yea I mean-" Max began as well. Not that she could at all stand doing this kind of grunt work and generally only suffered through it to hang out with Logan and make sure he wasn't pushing himself too hard and even that was rare. She wasn't dumb, she knew the exact reason why she stayed this long and her name was Asha.

"Positive," he replied as he took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"You should probably get some sleep," Max said making a face upon suddenly seeing the exhaustion settle over him. Guy was never going to learn he wasn't invincible was he?

He looked over with sarcastic eyes, "Trust me, I plan on it."

"Call me if you need me?" Asha said standing.

"Will do, I'll probably know something in a couple of days."

"Uh Max," he called out as the two girls turned to make their exit after saying their goodbyes.

She turned back.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"First two pitchers are on me this weekend," she consoled as he commiserated by himself over the coffee she handed him after simply pulling on socks and shoes to take Brittany to school.

He merely looked up with eyes so large they belonged to a doe.

"Three?" she offered.

"Uncle Logan," Brittany's voice called out as she rushed down the hallway, the pink book bag bouncing up and down just like the pigtails.

The steaming hot coffee was placed down on the table just as Brittany came skidding into him.

"Tell Max," she said mid-climb onto her uncle's lap, "that I don't have to go to school that I can stay home with you."

He just looked up at Max and said, "Four."

"Tomorrow," she nodded back.

Funny she'd never looked so forward to sleep as she suddenly did now.

The future was all kinds of interesting lately.

Actually not cheesy 70's tv. Cheesy 80s watched an episode of "Charles in Charge" back in October (when I originally started writing that chapter) and suddenly Logan with a jigsaw puzzle seemed like a good idea. :-P

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed…I know, not excited, but oh well. Should hopefully get better with the next chapter. (Don't forget to check out the forum!)