A/N: Hey thank you for your patience. Life has been a little hairy lately, but I hope to really start writing more now. Ps I realise I reference Lady Gaga despite this being little earlier than her debut, but considering it's not a major point...let's ignore haha. Thank you for the reviews!

The next day…

My car, technically Jo's car that would be mine if I had a license or insurance or a source of income, was all gassed up and ready to go. My suitcase was packed; I had even packed a small bag of Jo's ex's things for Logan. Some may say I was crazy, but really…was I supposed to just let him walk away? Was I supposed to abandon him when he needed me? I may have done some bad things, but I wasn't a bad person. I knew where my loyalties laid.

I had written a note for Jo and the girls. I explained that if I didn't return, they shouldn't look for me and if I did return…they should get rid of me themselves. I apologized for the secrets and for the lies. I promised they would never be in danger because of me again. Finally, I signed the note Nadezhda…Jo would understand.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when Logan finally came up the stairs and looked at me in surprise. "I'm gone, I swear," he assured me, heading toward the patio.

"Logan, the car's this way," I replied, nodding toward the garage.

"I'm not stealing your car," he snorted as I rolled my eyes.

"Of course you're not," I said raising an eyebrow, "because I'm driving."

I know a lot of people don't like long car trips. Between the gas, the lack of things to do, and the odd constant need to pee, they're a big hassle. But I like them. I like driving. Especially in the summer when the windows are down, the music is loud, and I don't have to think about anything. So here, as strange as it was with Logan riding shotgun and nodding his head in time with Lady GaGa, I was at ease.

The drive started out pretty awkward. I didn't put on any music because I didn't know what he liked. I didn't say anything, because frankly I didn't know what to say. "Hey pal, how much weight did you gain with all that metal shoved inside you" probably wasn't the way to go. About an hour into the drive, however, I learned Logan didn't possess the same skill of polite avoidance of certain topics that I had.

"Did you ever contact your mother?" he asked out of the blue. I nearly choked on the coke I was sipping at the time.

"Seriously?" I asked, trying to recover myself. "Is this really what we are going to talk about? Because if so…"

"Sorry, we'll talk about something else," he replied quickly, obviously surprised by my reaction. I ignored the apology as thoughts quickly turned to my mother. Truth was; I had looked for her. I found several hackers during my time between the old life and the new and they proved useful to me. I was able to trace her stay in a hospital outside the town I was born in. She was transferred to a bigger hospital in Yaroslavl after the discovery of extensive internal bleeding. She died after only two days on the operating table. I had my own reasons for tracking down Stryker, and I was in no hurry to explain that to Logan.

"So…" he tried again. "Any boys?" I almost choked again, but for an entirely different reason. I started laughing for the first time since Logan had come back into my life. At my reaction, he smiled.

"What?" he asked with a chuckle. "I'm serious! You said you were in that same place for two years…"

"Boys are hardly on my list of priorities. Oh my God," I laughed. I shook my head.

"Ahhh come on, you're a good looking kid…skinny…but you're what seventeen? Eighteen?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at his comment about my weight as I pulled off to a rest area. That's what Jo had always told me too.

"I'm twenty, moron. And I'm not saying no one's been interested…I just haven't been interested back," I answered as we both stepped out of the car and stretched.

"You're a girl…" Honestly, all men are and always will be the same.

"Not like most girls Logan. I didn't grow up wishing for a prince like in the Disney movies…I didn't even know what Disney was until I was sixteen. I didn't get to go shopping and scope out boys with the girls…I had you." He rolled his eyes as he headed for the restrooms. Seriously, the man had the bladder the size of a walnut. I walked over to the map and smiled, knowing we would reach Vegas my nightfall.

I wondered how John would react to seeing me. I know he liked me a lot like Logan did, but while Logan actually sought me out…I would be a huge surprise to John. And Dukes. I squirmed at the thought of the man. Hopefully I'd be able to squeeze in a few fat jokes when I saw him. And if he tried to hit me, I swear I would have blown him away.

When Logan returned, I hurried us back on to the interstate, determined to make our destination with no more stops. Needless to say, as soon as we reached the city, Logan ordered me to stop at the nearest gas station.