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 Chapter 5:  Showdown

Timeline: Post "Kids are aiight" but before "Female Trouble"

"I left to protect you, had I been there, and stayed in Seattle, been there in Vancouver while you recovered, you would have just gone back to the business arrangement, and most likely been killed. I decided to make sure you could not put yourself at risk again and moved, changed my appearance, moved again to make sure Bling didn't tip you off, so you've found me, what do you want?" Logan said, she want's a real answer, so what's with BS Cale?

"What the fuck do you want from me?" Logan snapped back.

"The truth Logan, I want the truth to why you left me in Vancouver, why you ran from me, why you told your own bodyguard to avoid me like the plague. I want to know why you loved me, and why you thought that love involved hurting the person you were in love with." Max answered.

"I just gave it to you, I was just spewing out some BS for Robert, that's all." Logan said, shifting in his seat, uncomfortable as to where this was heading.

"Give me a break Cale, you can hide yourself from the rest of the world but not from me, tell me what you don't want to say, or I'll put you back in a chair." Max said through gritted teeth, her face full of hatred.

"I was in love with you, if I still am, I'm not quite sure, I blamed myself for getting you hurt. I knew that I couldn't let you get hurt again, I figured that it would be best for both of us if I left, I knew that once you recovered, you would start doing it again. I decided that you needed someone better than me in your life that would cast you into deadly situations, I knew that you would move on, I guess I was wrong. After Bling suggested a few times too many that it was time I went to see if you were doing alright, I fired him, and moved here, seems I didn��t do a good job of covering my tracks. You're here, you've heard the explanation, so I guess you can just go home now, you got what you came for." Logan said, giving his account nice going Cale, here comes the guilt trip on responsibilities.

"It wasn't like that, you deserve better than someone like me, I was just throwing you into danger every time you came over to my place." Logan replied.

"It's my fucking decision whether or not I want to involve myself with another you, not yours, what right did you have to send me away?" Max yelled at him, her eyes full of fury, her entire body tense.

"The same right I had to broadcast the Eyes Only network, for the benefit of others, namely you and someone who actually deserves you." Logan replied, sticking to his argument of him being no good for her.

"You seem to be awfully caught up in the fact that you don't deserve me, why is that?" Max asked, if her eyes had been knives, she would have filleted him the way she stared at him.

"I put you in danger, I nearly got you killed, end of story." Logan replied.

"It goes beyond that, tell me Logan, what made you think that you could just run and I would forget about you?" Max asked him.

"I thought you had more sense then to chase me across the entire West Coast, say, let's talk about why you're here!" Logan yelled at her.

"I'm here for an explanation." Max said, but she knew he had caught her.

"Don't give me that bullshit, no one searches for three weeks and breaks into their ex-employers apartment to ask why they lost the job." Logan said, cutting off her explanation.

"I'm here for an explanation, and I thought I could use a vacation from Seattle." Max replied he's not buying it, you're fucked.

"Don't even consider that last one, I don't want any of them." Replied Max but then why are you here?
"Then that's all you��re here for is it? An explanation, you've got one, thanks for dropping by, see you at the Eyes Only employee picnic in June." Logan said as he got up.

"So that's it, you loved me, you sent me away, ran from me, all the while to protect me?" Max asked.

"That's it, shut the skylight on the way out, it's supposed to rain tonight." Logan said as he turned away and started walking.

"Thanks for nothing, I knew it, men are pigs, I should have known better than to get something good like Eyes Only was in trouble or you found a woman that loved you." Max said but he did, you've just got four inches of steel in front of the heart, that's problem.

"What happened, you took a good look at my ass and got a stiffie and decided to discharge it? You're now the most disgusting, self-absorbed bastard I've ever met, I'll see you in hell." Max said as he climbed back up the line she had dropped from the skylight, cursing to herself the whole way.

"You've just made the biggest fucking mistake of your life, and his, I hope you're happy." Came the voice of the man she had fought earlier, Robert.

"How'd you get up here?" Max asked.

"I took a line up, but to the point, I heard you two, I can tell the feelings are mutual." Robert said as he came around one of the skylights.

"So what the fuck is it to you? You're not involved in any of this." Max snapped at him.

"Wrong, Bling hired me to find Logan, he paid me 2000 bucks to find Logan so he could tap Original Cindy to give you the location. Bling wanted me to do more, make sure you two connected when you met, I blew him off, Logan had hired me, I guess I thought my priorities had changed. I've thought about it while you two argued, I should have done the job I was asked to do, now are you going to go back there or do I have to make you?" Robert said.

"Try it" Max said.

"You asked for it." Robert said as he pulled the line Max was still attached to, and flipped her down.

"Dirty trick, now what?" Max said as she got back up to her feet.

"Give me a few minutes of your time, that's all I ask, then I will never bother you again as long as you live." Robert said as he held out his hand, Max took it, but was cautious.

"Look at what you have left." Robert said, as they walked along the skylights, until he came to the one where Logan was standing there, holding his remote, until he threw it against the far wall smashing it.
"So he broke his remote, so what, I'm probably going to smash a few a things when I get home." Max said.

"Now why would you break things unless you two are truly regretting what just happened?" Robert asked.

"It's human nature, we get pissed, we break shit, end of story." Max replied.

"Don't give me that bullshit, tell me, what do you feel for this man, I know you still respect him for taking on this crusade. I want to know, what else do you feel for him, I know you could give him a reason to drop Eyes Only, question is, could he convince you to drop the tough-as-nails attitude?" Robert asked.
"I love him" Max said, and then covered her mouth fuck! I just said it, great, just fucking great, now what is this asshole going to grill me about?

"I don't know, I love him, I can't tell him, I want to be with him, but he has his crusade, if Lydecker ever traces him to me, he's fucked. I can't decide, should I tell him and see if this can work, or do I just leave?" Max asked.

"That is something you will have to decide." Robert said.
"You string me along and get me to reveal my true feelings, then just skip out on me? Who the hell is supposed to help me along the rest of the way? I need to know, should I go back down there and see if Logan will still be with me, or I should just jump off this building for making the biggest fucking mistake of my life?" Max yelled at Robert.

"Ask him." Robert said as he grabbed the line he had rappelled from to get to the top of the building, as he pointed at Logan, who had just entered from the rooftop entrance from his penthouse.

"You were setting me up, both of us up, the whole fucking time?" Max yelled at him.
"Call it a classic scenario of bait and switch, you two can resolve the issue now." Robert said as he rappelled down to the window he had climbed up from.

"I suppose we actually have to talk about this." Max said, slumping against the side of building rooftop.

"That would be nice, were you ever planning to tell me that you felt for me what I felt for you?" Logan replied, he had removed his contacts, and replaced his glasses, his blue eyes shone clear.

"No, because I'm not sure if I am in love, you left me." Max said, still sticking to her excuse.

"I'm pretty sure that we're both getting tired of that line, after what you dumped on me down there, what makes you sure I still love you?" Logan replied, answering with her own logic, he knew it infuriated her.

"You came up here after hearing Robert and I talk about it through a skylight window he artfully opened up enough for our conversation to filter through." Max replied.

"That doesn��t answer my original question, do you love me, or is it just phony sentimentality?" Logan asked.

"What do you think?" Max shot back.

"I think that you're afraid." Logan fired back.

"Afraid, afraid of what?" Max snapped.
"You're scared that if you admit it, we'll get involved, which means for the first time, you'll have a male influence in your life, you'll love another man. It means the end of not giving a damn and just kicking it with the girls at the clubs on Saturday nights hitting on the flavour of the week. You'll be exploring something that you never experienced before, true love for a member of the opposite sex, or is it just because you and Original Cindy are both working the same side of the street?" Logan replied.

"I've never been scared in my entire life, why would now be any different?" Max asked.

"Because you're entering uncharted waters, you can make your decision, and I guarantee that everyone will abide to it. You can figure out what you feel for me and ask for it, or you can walk away, Robert won't stop you, I won't stop you, no one will. All you have to do, is make a choice, what you want, or what your heart wants." Logan said, opening his arms out, stretching.

Decision time, you can leave now, and just fuck an endless stream of losers in clubs, or you can take on the most caring and handsome man you've ever met. If you take Logan, it means taking emotional responsibility, which means you have to finally bridge a frontier that's never been walked before. If you take the losers, it means disappointment, but no ties. That does it, it all boils down to this, a man who loves you and cares for you, or a bunch of pervs, oh fuck, here goes.

"Logan, you've really only given me one choice in all this, you do matter to me, you're the only man I know who ever really mattered to me, I guess I'm just trying to say I love you." Max said as she buried herself in Logan.

"I would have jumped off this building if you told me to piss off." Logan said as brought her head up.

"I would have too, we would have had all eternity in the afterlife to yell at each other for being so stupid." Max said as she looked into his eyes.

"Max, is this for real, or are we both having a nightmare that's dragging itself back up?" Logan asked.

"It's real, I've never felt anything better than what I feel right now, no dream can substitute for the real thing." Max said as she ran her hand across his once clean-shaven face.

"Than let's make the most of it, in case it is a dream, I don��t want to lose any more time than I've already lost with you." Logan said as he pulled Max into a passionate kiss that lasted for some time.

"Tell me, how long have wanted this, I've wanted it since��" Logan began but Max cut him off, finishing it for them.

"We first met." Max said as she pulled him into another kiss.

"I'm glad we finally agree on something." Logan said as he stroked her dark hair.

"You just reminded me of something we have to change though." Max said, but Logan was puzzled.

"Bring the spikes back, lose the color, and let the scruff back in again." Max said smiling at each other.

"I thought you'd never ask." Logan said as he scooped her up in his arms and walked back down the roof entrance, until finally depositing Max on the couch facing the window, then sat down with her.

"I see all that time in the chair paid off pretty damn well." Max said as she ran her hand across his well-muscled arm.

"Where do we go from here, do we bump, take it slow, take it fast, or what?" Logan asked.

"I seem to recall you saying something about wanting to go fast one time." Max said as she moved to his side of the couch and kissed him.

"No point in rushing something that we'll enjoy regardless of the pace, let's just spend today together, and see where it goes from there." Logan said as he pulled her onto him and kissed her back.

"Just one last thing Logan." Max said.

"What is it?" Logan asked.

"If you ever pull what you did again I'll put you back in that chair!" Max said into his ear.

"I'd probably have to help you on that account, I doubt I'd let myself live if I hurt you again." Logan replied.
"Likewise for me, I know now, I can't lose you, not ever." Max said as she buried herself into Logan's embrace.
The two spent their time wrapped in each other's embrace, sharing words of comfort and love. They drank hot chocolate together as they watched the rain pour down that afternoon and night, until falling asleep in each other's arms, content with that they had finally achieved. They shared two thoughts that night, home is where the heart is, as they looked at each other before falling asleep, I'm home. As dawn approached, the couple awoke, fully aware of what had happened the day before, not regretting it, but for the first time in over a month, looking forward to what the day would bring as they looked at each other.

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I know that sort of wraps it up, but I think an epilogue is in order, just to hammer out all the loose ends and such.

Chapter 6