---

As the hot water cascaded down the front of his body, washing away the sweat from his latest training session with Bling, Logan could feel the door to his shower slide open. As the cool air from the bathroom rushed into the steamy cubicle, a chill ran down his spine. His entire body tensed up as a cold, soft-skinned hand slid from his lower back to the base of his neck where it reached around to grab his face. The hand cupped around his chin, and pulled his head around. Logan closed his eyes and slowly turned around to face the owner of the hand. He opened his eyes, only to gaze into the chocolate colored eyes of the one woman he felt complete with. She wrapped both hands around the back of his neck and pulled his head down so that his lips could meet her own. Logan tilted his head slightly, and as he closed the shower door with one hand, his other grabbed the back of her head and pulled her waiting lips to his.

""Logan!"" The sharpness of the voice jolted Logan out of his reverie. ""Logan!"" Logan finally was able to focus on the real world. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked towards the voice calling his name. His heart skipped a beep when he saw that the woman leaning against his door frame was none other than the woman in his dreams.

""Max..."" His voice caught in his throat.

""That must have been some dream. You were grinning so much, I thought you were going to pull something."" Max smiled as Logan shifted uncomfortably with her statement. ""Anything that I would like to hear?"" I hope I was in it some how, she thought.

""Um....not really. No, nothing at all. It was dumb.""

""It had to have been something good. Your breathing was kind of accelerated. I can hear that you know,"" Max smirked.

""Oh...well...I can��t really remember it...but I vaguely remember us putting away some scumbag or another,"" Logan hammered out.

Hmmm, he said us. Don��t get your hopes up girl, it was about work again, remember? ""Fine, if you don��t want to tell me, don��t."" Max turned her face into a half smile. ""I just stopped by to see if you had anything you wanted me to do before I went to work this morning, but obviously you haven��t gotten to your computer yet.""

If you only knew what I wanted you to do.

""Well, I��ve gotta blaze. If I��m not at work in the next few minutes, I might be back looking for a job from you that actually pays. See ya."" And with that, Max turned on her heels, and walked out of Logan��s life for the next few hours. Logan flopped back down on his bed. What am I going to do with myself? She knew that my dream wasn��t about work. She knows me too well, but how am I supposed to not think about her when she is just so damn cute? Shake those thoughts Logan, you don��t want to scare her off. Logan rolled over and put his feet down on the cold hardwood floor of his apartment, and got up to take a shower.

****************

Max looked up and smiled as the cool air of February pulled her hair out of her face. She felt so free as she zipped in and out of traffic on her way to the Jam Pony headquarters. As she rode, thoughts of Logan crept into her head. I wonder what he really was dreaming about. I know it wasn��t about work. It was too intense for work. Was it about me? Nah. Max flew in the door at Jam Pony just as Original Cindy was heading out.

""Hey Boo, what��d you get up to after you split last night?""

""Just took my baby out for a spin..."" Max smiled as she remembered her night cruising through the streets of Seattle.

""So you and your boyfriend finally got it on. I��m impressed Max, but why didn��t you two wait until tomorrow? Or couldn��t you hold out for an extra night?""

""He��s not my boyfriend."" Max stated bluntly.

""Right..."" Cindy loved getting Max in this position.

""Besides, what��s tomorrow?""

""Don��t tell me you don��t know...... It��s Valentine��s Day!"" Max just looked back at her blankly. ""Damn girl, don��t tell me no one has ever given you something on Valentine��s Day."" Max just nodded her head no. ""Girl, on Valentine��s Day you��re supposed to get something for your loved one, or in your case, Mr.-He��s-Not-My-Boyfriend, and pronounce your undying love for each other!""

""Oh. Well, I guess I don��t have to worry about that then."" Max looked away from the stare that Original Cindy was giving her.

""Bip, bip, bip people! This is not a place to fraternize, it��s a place to pick up parcels to deliver them, or have you forgotten?"" Normal shouted from behind his desk.

""We talk later, k boo?""

""Sure, see ya."" Max leaned over her bike and gave Original Cindy a hug. ""Later."" Max walked her bike over to the counter that Normal was standing behind. ""Hey Normal, I��ve gotta split early today, can you just give me a few runs now, so I don��t have to come back?""

""And what makes you so special?""

""Other than the fact that I��m a genetically revved up female?"" Max looked away, and then looked Normal right in the eye.

""Everything is a joke to you isn��t it?""

""Damn straight.""

""Fine, here��s four hot runs. I better see you in here tomorrow.""

""Like I would miss a day of work. I��d just feel so lost if I didn��t come back here every day."" With that, Max spun around on her heels, grabbed her bike, and rode out to begin her deliveries.

**************

As Max cruised through the streets, and while dodging in between cars and people, thoughts of this Valentine��s Day kept going through her head. Am I supposed to get something for Logan? I mean we��re friends...we��re more than friends, but boyfriend? Loved one? But then again, what do I do if he gets me something? Max dropped off her last package, and started to go from street vendor to street vendor. What the hell should I give Logan? Ok, think logically, what does he like? Computers, cooking...me...

""Whatcha lookin�� for? The question from the vendor broke up a thought that could��ve gone too far. Max was grateful for the interruption.

""Um, actually...""

""Wait, don��t tell me. You need something for your boyfriend for tomorrow, but you don��t have a clue what to get him. Am I right?""

Max looked the street vendor and her stall over before answering. The vendor was a short lady that had rags for clothing. Obviously she lived her whole life on the street because the smell emanating from her wasn��t exactly a memorable one. Her stall had a few trinkets hanging from the upper portion, and a blanket covered the table. On the blanket were a couple of old watches and a few necklaces of varying gaudiness. ""He��s not my boy..."" Max didn��t want to get into this with someone she didn��t even know. It was bad enough trying to explain her relationship with Logan with the people she did know. ""...uh, yeah, that��s right. But, you don��t really have anything that I��m looking for."" Max was about to turn away when the vendor pulled something out from underneath her table.

""Here, give him this."" The vendor thrust the object at Max. Max took the object and looked at it.

""What is this?""

""It��s a picture frame. Hard to come by these days. You can put your picture in it, and maybe write a little note that you can stick in it. He��ll love it.""

""It��s perfect. How much?""

""Two hundred.""

""Two hundred for a picture frame? That��s extortion!"" Max looked longingly at the frame, and then handed it back to the vendor. ""Thanks for the idea, but I��ll be looking elsewhere I think."" She turned around and started to mount her bike to ride to another street.

""Wait!"" Max stopped and turned around. The vendor motioned for her to return. Max got off her bike and walked back to the vendor. ""You look like you really care for this guy of yours. I could maybe let this go for say...one fifty?"" The vendor looked hopeful that Max would take the bargain.

""How about seventy-five?""

""One twenty.""

""One hundred, and that��s as high as I��ll go,"" Max stubbornly said.

""Fine.""

Max pulled her backpack around her body so that it rested on her stomach, and she had easy access to the contents inside. She rifled through until her hand brushed against her target. She grabbed the wallet and took out all the money she had in there. She flipped through the bills. ""I��m three dollars short...""

""That��s ok dear, I know we��re all pressed for cash. Here you go."" The vendor took the wad of bills out of Max��s hand and replaced them with the picture frame. ""Now all you need is a picture!"" The vendor smiled a smile so large that Max could see that she had a few teeth missing.

""Right, thanks again."" Max carefully placed her purchase in her bag, and slung it back around her back. She climbed aboard her bike and rode off towards home.

**************

Logan stepped out of his empty shower, and felt the sting of aloneness once again. He grabbed a soft, blue towel and was about to dry himself off with it when he took a good look at it. He stopped and held it close to his chest. It smelled of clean laundry, but only weeks ago, it had been snuggly wrapped around Max. She was pissed at me that night. I shouldn��t have broke that date for work. I can��t even believe I did that. Especially to Max. But, she looked absolutely stunning in this towel after her shower. Maybe it was for the best that I made her work that night. Logan smiled at the fond memory, closed his eyes to get a clearer image, and then continued to get ready. As he walked towards the kitchen to grab some food, he noticed a note lying on the counter. Maybe it��s from Max. Logan reached for the piece of paper while quickly running through all of the things that she could have written to him.

Logan,

Logan��s heart sank as he read through the letter. Just Bling. It wasn��t from Max. Why would she leave me a letter though anyways? And what��s this about tomorrow? What��s tomorrow? Logan shrugged off the thought and made a mental note to ask Bling about it later on. Ok, let��s see what I can do to protect the downtrodden today. Logan entered into the comfortable surroundings of his computer room and proceeded to get lost in his work.

***************

Without even realizing how much time had passed, Logan spun around in his computer chair when he heard his front door open. Must be Bling. Sure enough, Bling appeared in the doorway to the computer room.

""You ready for your reps?""

""You know Bling, now that I can walk, you don��t have to be coming by every day."" Logan leaned back in his chair, hoping that Bling would feel the same way, and let the exercise schedule slide a bit.

""You know I can��t do that. If I didn��t come here every day, you would end up spending the entire day typing away at that keyboard, letting your muscles go to waste. You do want to continue to be able to walk, don��t you?""

Sensing that there was no way in hell he could win this battle, Logan gave in. ""You��re right. Let��s get to it."" The two men walked out of the room, and while Logan was getting changed into his workout clothes, Bling set up the physio table. Logan jumped up on the table and started his reps when he remembered the note Bling had left. ""You know, nothing happened between me and Max last night. She just stopped by this morning to see if I had anything for her to do."" Logan looked Bling in the eye as he said this, but Bling was concentrating his gaze on Logan��s lower leg.

""Right."" Logan could see Bling grin, even though it was obvious that he was trying to hide the smile.

""It��s true!"" Logan stated defensively.

Bling stopped working on Logan��s leg, and looked his employer and friend in the eye. ""Look, whatever your relationship is with Max, as long as you��re happy, that��s all that matters."" Then he refocused his gaze on Logan��s legs. ""But whatever the relationship, I hope for your sake you have something special planned for her tomorrow.""

""Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. You talked about tomorrow in the note you left me as well. I��m obviously missing something here.""

Bling once again focused his gaze so that he locked eyes with Logan. ""Don��t even try to pretend you forgot about Valentine��s Day. I would��ve figured that you would have had the whole day planned out.""

""No, I completely forgot!"" Logan looked away from Bling��s surprised stare. ""Should I be getting something for Max?""

""I think that that would be a really good plan.""

""What should I get her?""

""I can��t help you there Logan, you��re going to have to come up with something yourself."" Bling stood up and threw a towel over his shoulder. ""I think we��re done here. Besides, it sounds like you need some time to get something together for Max.""

Logan jumped down from the table, and started to head back to his room to change. ""Thanks Bling, I��m going to need it.""

******************

Max sat cross-legged on her bed and turned her purchase over and over in her hands, studying every detail of it. It was a solid silver frame that reflected any light that it caught, and it had an antique design carved into it. The back was a soft black velvet material. This will fit in nicely in his decor. The frame itself could hold a picture about double the size of a playing card.

""Max?""

""In here!""

Kendra came around the partition that separated Max��s room from the apartment. ""What are you doing?""

Max looked up from the frame. ""Just trying to figure out where I can get a picture to put in this.""

Kendra walked over to Max��s bed, and sat down beside her. ""What��s this for? Oh wait! I know, this is for your boy-toy isn��t it?"" Kendra was getting very excited over the idea.

""He��s not my boy-toy, but yeah, it��s for Logan. Do you think he��ll like it?""

""Are you putting a picture of you in there?""

Max looked at Kendra, and then quickly turned away, feeling herself blush. With a slight smirk on her face, she replied. ""Yeah.""

Kendra grinned even more, especially when she saw Max blush - something she never did. ""It��s perfect.""

Looking back at Kendra, Max��s face dropped. ""I don��t have any pictures of myself though. Where am I supposed to get one before tomorrow?""

Kendra rolled onto her hands and knees and crawled off the bed. ""I think I can help you with that."" She swiftly walked out of Max��s room, and Max could hear her open the curtains that Kendra had around her room. She could hear her rummaging through some things, and then looked up at her doorway as Kendra was walking in. ""Here. It��s from Original Cindy��s birthday a few months ago. Remember when I caught you blushing on the couch?""

Max took the picture from Kendra��s outstretched hand. She looked at it and remembered it instantly. In the picture, she was sitting on Original Cindy��s couch, both feet on the floor, her legs about shoulder length apart. She was leaning over slightly, resting her elbows on her knees with a beer in her hand. She was looking slightly downward with her head cocked a bit to the side, and she had a stupid grin on her face. Cindy��s birthday had been a few days after the first time she and Logan had kissed, and Kendra took that picture just after she and Cindy had asked Max if she and Logan had taken any steps to further their relationship. Max smiled at the memory that the picture brought. She was still hearing about that grin. ""Thanks Kendra. I think it��ll look really good in here.""

""And the best part is, is that you were thinking about him when this picture was taken. You should tell him that.""

""Yeah, maybe I will."" That would be a good thing to put in this letter that I still have to write. Good thing I don��t need to sleep all that often. I have a feeling that it��s going to take awhile to write it. ""So what are you up to tonight?""

""Actually, Walter and I are going out. He has to go to Portland tomorrow, so he��s going to give me my Valentine��s gift tonight.""

""Ugh, Kendra, I know you��re happy, but I��m still having problems thinking about you with Walter.""

Obviously not wanting to talk more about Walter, Kendra changed the subject back to Max. ""So what is Logan going to do for you?""

Max stopped. She had never even considered him doing anything for her. He��d probably just cook a nice, romantic dinner, and the two of them would spend the night talking and playing chess, or doing some recon. ""I don��t know, probably just cook me dinner or something.""

""Oh I don��t know about that Max. He probably has the most romantic evening all laid out for you.""

****************

What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I can��t believe I forgot Valentine��s Day! Logan, I swear, sometimes you are the most inconsiderate.... Logan furiously paced around his apartment, desperately grabbing at any idea that decided to lunge into his brain. Got it.

****************

****************

After grudgingly wishing Kendra good luck for her date, Max settled in to writing her letter for Logan.

Dear Logan.

""Max? Are you still here?""

""In my room Kendra!""

Kendra came bursting into Max��s room. ""Have you seen my purse? I can��t find my purse, and it has Walter��s present in it!""

""Whoa, calm down. Here I��ll help you look for it."" Max got up off her bed, and when she did, the note that she had written to Logan fell off of her lap onto the floor.

""What��s that?"" Kendra walked over to Max, and bent down to pick up the piece of paper. She read through it, and looked Max in the eye. ""Are you actually going to give this to him?""

Max just shrugged her shoulders, and put her hands on her hips. ""Yeah, I was planning on it.""

""You can��t give him a note like this. Thank goodness I came home, otherwise he would have actually read this. Come on Max, he may not be your boyfriend, but on Valentine��s Day, letters to people are a bit more....intimate. Now I��m not saying go full out, but I��m just saying, write something deep, that will make him think. You��re a smart girl, I know you can do it. Now, as much as I would like to help you with your letter, I really need to find my purse."" Kendra��s gaze swept Max��s room, and focused on a makeshift bookshelf. ""There it is."" She went over, and pulled an oversized bright pink bag out from behind the shelf. ""I must have accidentally threw it this way when I came in last night."" She blushed at that last comment. Max didn��t even want to think why. ""Now, make sure you come up with something good for that letter! See ya in a couple days.""

""Bye Kendra, thanks for the info."" With that, Kendra turned and left for the second time that night, and left Max to think about just what the hell she would say in this letter to Logan.

*****************

Logan frantically typed away on his keyboard, searching wherever he could think of to find the things he was looking for. He looked down at his watch. Midnight. He was going to have to get these items soon, so that they would be ready in the morning to pick up. Also, he would have to get to Max��s apartment and set up before she got home for the day. After many futile attempts, Logan finally found the items he was looking for, and set up the pickup times, and made his plans for the next day, before going to bed.

****************

Logan,

There. Finally. Max had been working on the letter for what seemed like hours. She looked at her watch. 5:30. Crap. I have to be at work in a couple of hours. I��ll just get a bit of shuteye so that maybe I can handle Normal��s incessant yelling. Max laid back in her bed, and drifted off to sleep.

***********

***********

Max walked into Logan��s apartment, but there was no one around. She was about to turn around and leave when she noticed a trail of rose petals leading through the hall. Curious, she crept along side the path, and followed it to the end. Upon looking up, she found herself in a bedroom, with the king sized bed turned down, ready for someone to sleep in it. She looked cautiously around the room, but saw no one. Suddenly aware of movement behind her, she turned around to see him standing in front of her with a rose in his hand. He lightly traced down her cheek with the rose bud and stopped just under her chin. He then pulled slightly on the rose, causing Max to raise her head. He slowly lowered his head so that his lips brushed against her own. At the slight feel of contact, Max felt a shiver rush through her body. She could feel his lips curve into a smile. He then moved his lips to her ear, and whispered into it. ""Trust me."" He pulled his head away so that once again, he could look deep into her eyes. Without breaking the staring contest, he put the rose on a table by the door. He then put his hands lightly on her hips and began to push her backwards toward the bed. The back of Max��s knees hit the edge of the bed, causing her to fall. As she was falling, she grabbed his shirt with both of her hands. He landed on top of her, and the full body contact made goosebumps appear on her arms. They moved together as one, farther onto the bed. Finally, he broke the unbreakable gaze between them, closed his eyes, and leaned into give her a kiss. While their lips were together, he moved one of his hands, and put it under her shirt, reached up and felt her...

Max sat up quicker than she ever had in bed. Her forehead was drenched in sweat. Oh my god. That was intense. Why did I dream that? It felt so real. In an unconscious reaction, Max put her one hand on her lips, and closed her eyes, remembering the feeling of Logan��s on hers. Shake it off girl. Your relationship with him isn��t like that. Wait, what time is it? Max frantically got up from her bed to look for her watch. Calm down. Just calm down. It wasn��t real, so just push it aside. Max then looked down at her arm. There it is, I��m already wearing it. Ok, just calm down, get changed, and go to work. Max jumped into the bathroom for a quick shower, got out, got changed, grabbed her gift for Logan, with the note, and carefully put it in her backpack. She grabbed her bike and rushed out the door. You can deal with your dream tonight when you go and give your gift to Logan. Until then, you have to focus on work.

****************

Max was surprised to find that even though she had overslept, she still had managed to be one of the first ones to arrive at Jam Pony. That was good for her, because it gave her the chance to calm herself down a bit more. She parked her bike near the front of the building, and walked over to her locker. She opened it, and put her backpack down in front of her. She bent over to pull Logan��s present out of her bag, when somebody grabbed her ass. She immediately straightened up and wheeled around. She grabbed the guy��s coat with her left hand and slammed him into the wall of lockers with her right arm pressed firmly against his neck. ""Do you have a death wish? Because it certainly seems like it!"" Max bore holes into the guy��s head with her piercing stare.

The guy put his hands up in the air slightly. ""I��m sorry, but you just raise certain parts of my character."" At this he darted a look down at his package.

Max smiled and looked at it to. She loosened her lock on the guy��s neck, and when she felt him relax, she slammed him against the lockers again. This time with more force.

""Hey! What did I say about rough housing?"" Normal looked over towards the scuffle. Max shot him a dirty look, and sensing that she was not exactly in the mood to hear any orders today, Normal decided to just ignore what was going on, and went back to sorting the packages.

""Look, I��m going to take it easy on you this time because you��re new, but if you EVER touch me again, certain ��parts�� of your ��character�� WON��T be able to rise any more. Got it?"" The guy, with fear in his eyes, slowly nodded his head. ""Good. Now why don��t you walk over to Normal over there, and get a package to deliver."" Max released the guy and kept her eyes closely focused on his as he passed her and walked over to Normal.

***************

Normal looked up as the guy came over to the desk. His eyes were still locked on Max as she once again bent over to take a package out of her backpack and put in her locker. ""I know she looks good, but I would take your advice if I were you.""

""What do you mean?"" Normal��s voice had distracted the guy from watching Max rifle through her stuff.

""I know you��re new around here, and I don��t expect you to know everything that goes on around here, but nobody touches her. She��s one tough chick, and doesn��t take anything from anybody.""

The guy looked over at Max again. ""I don��t know. I think I could get her to come to my place."" His face erupted in a cocky grin.

""It��s your life."" Normal shoved a package at the guy. ""If you know what��s good for you, you should leave before she sees you again.""

The guy looked back at Normal, and then headed out the door to make his delivery.

*************

*************

""Hey boo!""

Max looked around her locker to see her home-girl standing there smiling at her. ""Hey girl! How did your night go?""

""You know, you know. Hit Crash with the guys. Saw a honey there, that was as fine as silk. She and I did some serious connecting.""

""Oh? So Original Cindy got some action last night?"" Max smirked at her friend. Original Cindy was about to answer when Sketchy came up beside her.

""Not unless she found her later on in the night.""

""Sketchy, if you know what��s good for you, you��ll stop talking right now.""

Max��s interest had been peaked. She looked back and forth between Sketchy and Original Cindy. ""Well? What��s the dealio with this chick?""

""The only connecting that our girl here did last night with this chick was with her eyes. They locked eyes for like a second. That��s all.""

""Yeah, well, it could the beginning of something great. Don��t you have a run to do or something Sketchy? Me and my home-girl have some things to discuss.""

""And what, I��m not allowed to hear?""

""No, so why don��t you just go?""

""Why should I?""

Original Cindy turned her head to look Sketchy right in the eye. ""Look, if you leave now, I��ll buy you a drink tonight at Crash. Aiight?""

""Sounds good to me. See ya peeps later."" With that Sketchy turned his attention to Herbal who was just walking in the door.

""So you think that this girl could turn out to be anything?""

""I don��t know. I��m pretty sure that if anyone can get her to swing my way, it would be Original Cindy.""

Max just smiled. Cindy would do anything to get a girl to swing her way, until there was no hope at all in it.

""So I saw you dealin�� with the new guy. What happened?""

""Oh, that guy? He decided to grab the wrong person��s butt. I don��t think I��ll be seein�� him ever again. Who is that anyways?""

""Some new guy that Normal hired a couple days ago. He��s one of those guys that think they��re all that. I think his name is Devon, or something like that.""

""Oh, well, he doesn��t seem like he��ll last too long. But then again, he does seem dumb enough to keep this job."" Both Max and Original Cindy laughed at that. They had been working there themselves for what seemed like forever.

""So what��s the dealio with this package that I seen you all careful with.""

""It��s my gift for Logan. For Valentine��s Day.""

""Can I see it?""

""Yeah, here."" Max took the gift out of her locker and handed it to Original Cindy. Cindy turned it over and over, looking at every detail of it. She then read the letter.

""Girl, if he ain��t givin�� you what you want right now, after tonight, he��ll be putty in your hands. Damn, you can write!""

""Do you think he��ll like it?""

""Hell ya. If he doesn��t, you can tell him that Original Cindy will teach him a lesson on sensitivity.""

Max smiled. ""Thanks. I spent hours trying to write this thing. I just couldn��t write anything that sounded appropriate. Kendra made me tear up my first attempt.""

""Well, I think it turned out aiight."" She handed the package back to Max. ""So what��s your boy got planned for you?""

""I don��t think anything. I haven��t talked to him in awhile. I was just planning on stopping by his apartment after work and dropping this off, and then hang with you and the guys at Crash.""

""Boo, you know, he��s going to have something outrageous planned for you. He likes you way too much to forget about Valentine��s Day.""

Max turned her face away, and blushed slightly. ""I don��t know about that.""

""Hey you two! This isn��t a social convention! Get to work!""

""See you at Crash tonight?""

""Sure boo, but I don��t think I��ll see you there."" Cindy gave Max a hug. ""Good luck tonight.""

""Thanks. See ya.""

Cindy gave Max a quick hug and then headed off towards Normal. Max took one more look at her present for Logan, put it in her locker, made sure it was locked, and then headed off to get her first run from Normal.

****************

****************

Max leaned her forehead against the cold metal of her locker. She was exhausted. She had done a few more runs than she normally did, so Normal wouldn��t be so hard on her if she was a little bit late tomorrow. She opened her locker and took out Logan��s gift. She put her backpack on the floor, and bent over to put the gift in it. As she stood up, something brushed her hair to the side. Immediately she sent her hand up to cover her barcode, and turned around to face whoever touched her. Devon. Damn it. Max slammed him into the lockers, just the same as she did in the morning. ""I��m not in the mood,"" she hissed at him through a clenched jaw.

Devon smiled at her. ""Sorry, thought you were someone else.""

""Yeah well, you thought wrong. Now beat it."" Max released him, and he turned away and left her standing there steaming. I swear, sometimes I wish I wasn��t so strong, so I could just bitch slap this creep. Max shrugged her shoulders, and headed towards the door. She rode through the streets letting the cold winter wind cool her down. She was lost deep in her thoughts when she was abruptly pulled out of them with the sound of her pager blowing up. She pulled over to the side of the road to check the number. Why would someone be calling me from my place. Kendra must��ve gotten home early. Max checked her watch. It��s still early, I guess I��ll swing by to see what her gift from Mr. Multiples was. If she even mentions sex though, I am going to be out that door so fast. Max tilted her bike up and started to peddle away. Oh well, I can tell her about that creep at work. She��ll like that. Max headed towards her building, weaving through all of the couples holding hands, and passing stores that had signs that were advertising special Valentine��s Day sales. Mostly of old candy and dried flowers. Max pulled up in front of her building, and walked her bike to the elevator. Oh well, this is good. It gives me a chance to change, and now I can ride my baby over there instead of this bike. Max wheeled her bike to the door, and put her key in the lock. She opened the door, and without looking up, started to talk to Kendra. ""Hey Kendra, you would not believe the day I had. This guy at work..."" Max stopped, and almost dropped her bike. She caught it, and leaned it against the wall, just inside the door. She couldn��t believe her eyes. Her entire crib was filled with balloons. There were red ones, there were pink ones, and there were white ones. They were everywhere. Then she looked at the floor, and swore that her heart skipped a beat. Just like in her dream, there was a trail of rose petals. Unlike the ones in her dream, which were red, these ones matched the balloons, some being red, some pink, and others white. It wasn��t like her, but Max felt a smile creep across her face. Then, it turned to an outright grin. She followed the trail of rose petals, pushing her way through the hundreds of balloons that were floating around. The trail led right to her bedroom. This is so close to my dream. I swear, if Logan is standing behind me... Max turned around, but Logan was no where to be seen. Oh well. Then she noticed something on her bed. She walked over to it. There, lying with a card, were three long stemmed roses. One red, one pink, and one white. Max couldn��t wipe the grin off of her face. She leaned over and picked up the roses to smell them. The whole apartment smelled of freshly cut roses, but these three smelt almost heavenly. Max closed her eyes and took in as much of the smell as she possibly could. She swore she could smell a little bit of Logan on them. Then she remembered the card. She opened her eyes, laid the roses back on her bed, and picked up the card. She opened it, and read it.

Max,

Max smiled at the joke that Logan had included in his note. She sat on the edge of her bed, and reread the note over and over. She then looked around her room. It was simply stuffed with balloons. It was a simple gift, but it was so sweet. And then the matching roses. Yet another reason why I find Logan so interesting. He can make the most subtle thing become incredibly important. This is such a great gift. I can��t wait to give him mine. But then again, in his note he said that this is only the beginning. What else could he possibly get for me? Max stood up from her bed, and picked up the roses to smell once again. She closed her eyes to once again get the full affect of their aroma. She put them back down on her bed, and decided that since Logan had said that this was only the beginning of her gift and he was planning on doing something else for her, she would get changed out of her work clothes into something else. Max waded her way through the mounds of balloons to her closest. She pulled out a pair of her tightest blue jeans, and a tight blue shirt. I want to look good, but at the same time, I want to look like myself. She grabbed her leather coat, and her backpack, and headed towards her baby. Wheeling her bike through the balloons was harder than she thought it was, and more than a few of them popped. Oh well, I��ll clean that up tomorrow. With that, Max headed out the door, careful to lock it so that no one could come to take her balloons, and headed down the hallway to the elevator.

**************

Logan looked around his kitchen to make sure that he had all of the ingredients he would need for the meal he was planning on preparing for Max tonight. Satisfied that he did, Logan set into making the dinner. He picked up six cloves of garlic and began to clean them off. I know the recipe calls for 12, but I don��t want that taste lingering in my mouth all night. Logan smiled at his own thoughts. I can��t believe I��m thinking about this, but still... He then took a sauce pan, and added a cup of pre-pulse white wine, a cup of white vinegar, the garlic, and two table-spoons of sugar. He let it simmer for about half an hour. While he was waiting, his mind was swirling with dreams of what tonight might bring. He leaned back against the counter, and lost himself in this thoughts. I wonder what Max is going to wear. Knowing her, she��ll probably come straight from work, and be in those tight biking pants. No, I can��t think like that. Max is just a friend, but still... No, stop it Logan. He looked over at the sauce he was creating, and noticed the liquid was almost gone. Whoa, I better get going on the rest of the meal! Logan took the two lobsters that he had found in the market earlier in the day, and placed them in his steamer. After about ten minutes, he took them out, broke off the tails, and picked the tail meat out. He then put the claws and the bodies back in the steamer to finish cooking them, for every good chef knows that the meat is easier to remove if the lobsters are steamed. While the lobsters were steaming, Logan took out his large skillet, and melted two sticks of butter in it. He then added the lobster tails and the sauce. He watched the lobsters cooking very carefully, and took them off the heat after just the right amount of time. He arranged each lobster over a bed of lettuce on a plate, with the claws that had finished cooking in the steamer. On the side, he threw a bundle of green and yellow beans into his steamer. After they finished cooking, he placed them beside the lobster on each plate, and drizzled lemon juice for an extra bit of flavor. For desert, remembering Max��s love for coffee, Logan had taken a lot of time earlier in the day, and made a tiramisu. Something he figured that Max had never even dreamed of. He opened up the fridge and looked in on it to make sure it was still there, and untouched. Good thing Bling wasn��t in here, otherwise this probably wouldn��t still be here. Logan chuckled to himself, and then looked further into the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of pre-pulse wine that he was saving for a special occasion, and walked over to the table to pour it into the two wine glasses that were sitting beside the plates of food. He put the half empty bottle down and took out a lighter to light the candles that were on the table. He dimmed the lights in the apartment, allowing the full luminescent glow of the candles he had strategically placed around the apartment, take full effect. He stepped back to take in his creation and then sat back on the kitchen counter to wait for his Valentine.

*************

Max raced through the streets on her way to Logan��s. She couldn��t stop smiling about how taken aback she was with all of those balloons. Only someone like Logan could think of something like that to do. She parked her bike in front of Foggle Towers, and got off. She looked up towards Logan��s penthouse. There was only a soft glow coming from his windows. Max looked at the doors to the building, took a deep breath, and then walked through. The ride up to Logan��s apartment seemed to take longer than it normally did. It could have been her excitement to see him, or it could have been her apprehension as to what exactly would happen on this night. Either way, the elevator ride was definitely taking longer than normal. Finally the doors opened, and Max stepped out into the hall. She slowly approached Logan��s door, and then hesitated. Should I pick the lock? Or should I knock? Figuring that this night shouldn��t be any different than any other night, Max picked the lock, and walked in. Inside, she found none of the lights on, but there were candles leading towards the kitchen. Max quietly closed the door, and turned to follow the trail of candles. Before she could however, she suddenly realized that she could smell roses once again. She looked down, and sure enough, there was a trail of rose petals, also leading towards the kitchen. This time however, they were all red. Max smiled, dropped her bag by the door and slowly walked towards the kitchen. She walked down the hall, turned the corner into the kitchen, and saw Logan standing near the far wall holding two glasses of red wine. He was wearing a dark turtle neck sweater, and lightly colored cargo pants. He looked into her eyes and smiled that radiant smile of his when he saw Max enter. I always was a sucker for that smile. Max smiled back at him, and he walked slowly over to her, never letting his eyes leave hers. He came up to her, put the two glasses on the counter beside her, and gave her a hug. ""Happy Valentine��s Day Max"" he whispered into her ear. The slight contact of his lips on her ear, made her tense a bit, which she prayed that Logan did not feel. Logan pulled away from the hug, and picked up the two glasses, giving one to Max. ""And now, for your dinner."" He grabbed Max��s hand and led her to the table. Max couldn��t believe how inhibited Logan was this evening. I hope this doesn��t go somewhere that we will both regret later on. She let him lead her to her chair, and sat down. She looked at the wonderful creation that was in front of her, closed her eyes, leaned over the meal slightly and took a deep breath to allow all of the wonderful aroma enter into her body. She leaned back and opened her eyes so that she could look at the creator of this culinary miracle. ""Logan, what is this?""

""It��s called lobster. I managed to find a couple of them at the market earlier today. You��ll like it, I promise."" He picked up a cup that he had filled with melted butter. ""Here, you dip the meat in the butter. It makes it taste even better, if that��s possible.""

Max quickly ate through her dinner, trying to get as much of the incredible taste into herself as she possibly could. Logan stared at her the entire time, smiling to himself about how fast she was going through the meal. I hope she isn��t rushing so that she can get out of here. Logan stood up and took her plate when he saw that she was done. ""I take it that you enjoyed your first taste of lobster."" He smirked at Max.

""Oh my god. It was delicious. I don��t know how I can ever thank myself for trying to break in here months ago. If I didn��t, I would never have found such a wonderful meal ticket!"" Max sort of half chuckled at her attempt to put some of her trademark sarcasm into the evening. What day would be complete without some kind of sarcastic remark coming from her mouth?

Logan laughed at her joke. ""Yeah, well, I��m glad I could be of some service to you, but the meal isn��t over yet. I have something else that I think you will enjoy."" He walked over to the sink and put the plates in it and then headed towards the refrigerator. The whole time he was up, he could unconsciously feel Max staring at him, but it didn��t bother him in the least. He took out the tiramisu, and put it on the counter so that he could slice into it. After putting a slice on each plate that was there waiting for him, Logan walked back over to the table, placed one dish in front of Max, and sat down to dig into his own piece. The two ate the desert while gazing into each other��s eyes. The candles in the room seemed to create an atmosphere that allowed the two to forget all of their past worries. After finishing her piece, Max leaned back in her chair, full and satisfied. ""That was amazing Logan. What was that called?""

""Tiramisu. I thought you��d like it. It kind of has that coffee taste to it.""

""Yeah, it was so good."" Max winked at him. ""I think I might just have to make sure that you make that more often.""

Logan smiled. ""I��ll have to make a note of that."" Logan paused, as if thinking about his next words. Finally, he looked away from Max, and then after getting his composure, he looked her right in the eye. ""Well, I��m kind of getting drowsy from this wine. Would you like to go and sit on the couch and tell me about your day?""

""Sure!"" The word escaped from Max��s mouth too quickly. That sounded WAY too over eager.

Logan grinned even more at Max��s enthusiasm, stood up, leaned over the table, and extended his hand to her. She took it, and the two walked hand in hand over to the couch. Logan sat down first, and motioned for Max to sit right beside him. Sensing that the evening could go further than she was comfortable with, Max sat about a foot away from Logan. She could see the disappointment creep across his face, but she didn��t want to make any mistakes with him that she would later regret especially if it affected their friendship in anyway. She quickly looked at her feet on the floor so that she wouldn��t have to look into his eyes.

""So how did you like the balloons?""

The sudden sound of Logan��s voice made Max jump a bit, causing her to forget what she was thinking about. She looked up into his eyes, and hers were filled with absolute joy. ""They were wonderful! I couldn��t believe it. It was simply amazing. I think Kendra might think that there is definitely something going on between us when she gets home and sees that though."" Max smiled. She was happy to finally be able to bring some humor into the tension that she was feeling in the room.

""I��m glad you liked it. I figured that it would totally surprise you.""

""Completely. They were such a surprise! Where did you get so many?""

""Ah, but a true romantic never tells his secrets."" Logan gave Max his mega-watt grin. Thank God she liked them. I was so afraid that maybe she would have thought they were too much.

""Oh! I almost forgot your present!"" Max��s face dropped for a second. I can��t believe I almost forgot to give it to him! That smile of his just makes me lose all of my thoughts. And, after all the time I spent on that letter too! Max gave Logan a quick smile, and then jumped up from the couch and headed back towards the door where she had left her bag. She came back clutching it in her hands. She stopped right in front of Logan, and without letting her eyes leave his, she opened the bag, and took out her present. She kept it in her hands and let the bag fall to the floor. The note was on top, covering the picture, and she handed it to Logan so that he would be forced to read the note before he could see the picture. Logan smiled and took the gift from Max. He opened the letter, and began to read. Max could feel her heart begin to race as she could see Logan��s eyes floating from word to word. As he was nearing the end, she could see a tear develop in his left eye. Does that mean he likes it? Maybe it was too sappy. Oh man, I don��t know if I want to see how he reacts to it. I could leave right now, and I would never have to know. Logan��s movement to move the note behind the picture so that he could see the picture stopped Max from moving from her spot. I��ve got to see his reaction. Even if it��s bad, then at least I��ll know. Max kept staring at this face to see if it would give anything away, but it was almost entirely unreadable. He then looked up at Max. ""I think that this is the best gift I have ever been given. Come here."" He held out his hands to Max. Max felt as though her heart was going to jump out of her throat, but at the same time felt relieved that Logan had liked her gift. She placed her hands in his, and let him pull her down onto his lap. He wrapped his hands around her back, and took her in the biggest hug. He then loosened his grip and pulled away so that he could look her in the eye. It seemed as though they were both thinking the same thing, and at the same time, closed their eyes, and leaned into each other. Their lips barely touched, but then Logan grabbed the back of Max��s head and pulled her closer. They kissed passionately, giving into their dreams, and the appeal of Valentine��s Day. They both pulled away from each other after what seemed like an eternity. Logan kept his eyes closed, so that he could keep the wonderful feeling in his head that much longer. He tried to talk but only barely managed to get the words to come out of his mouth. ""Would you like to stay here tonight?""

Without even pausing, Max answered Logan��s question. ""Yeah, I��d like that.""

********************

********************

Max stretched across the couch, laying her head in Logan��s lap. Her ever present feeling that she should just jump up and leave was there, but she just couldn��t seem to pull herself away from the tranquil setting that had been created that night at Logan��s. Logan simply sat there, petting Max��s hair, and running his fingers through her soft curls.

""Mmmmm, this is so much better when you do it."" Max had her eyes closed, and she felt like she was turning to mush in Logan��s lap.

At her comment, Logan suddenly stopped. A sensation ripped through his body, that one could only describe as jealousy.

Max sat up and turned so that she was facing him. He had a look on his face that she could only describe as shock. This caused her to worry. ""What? What��s wrong? Are you ok?"" She looked into his eyes, and they seemed almost distant, as if he didn��t want to be where he was at the present moment. She continued to look back and forth between his two eyes, until his gaze finally settled on her eyes. When it did, he seemed to relax just a little, until Max��s comment creped its way back through his mind, causing his body to tense once again. Finally, Logan found the words to answer Max. ""Who else has done this to you?""

""Now, would that be jealousy coming out of the mouth of Logan Cale?"" Max smirked at Logan��s obvious discomfort.

""No....that��s not what I meant....""

Max fully turned her body around so that she could look Logan right in the eye. ""Yes it is. You want to know what other guy has done this for me!"" Max could only laugh at Logan. He seemed to be full of rage at the thought that someone else had touched her like he was doing. ""Don��t worry Logan."" She grabbed his hands and held them to her chest. ""I��m talking about this new guy at work who has decided to make me his personal challenge.""

""What do you mean?"" Logan calmed down considerably. Obviously she doesn��t want anything to do with this guy.

Max smiled even more, noticing Logan��s more relaxed body position. Feeling that he wasn��t worried anymore about his place in her life, she let go of his hands, and once again, laid her head in his lap. As Logan once again began to run his hands through her hair, she sighed deeply. ""Do you really want to hear this story? There��s not too much to tell.""

""I don��t mind. Tell me about your day. Tell me about this ��new guy��.""

""Well, alright. It started this morning. I went into work, and I was so stressed from trying to come up with the right words to put in your letter, and then it didn��t help that.."" that I had an incredibly arousing dream about you that got me all flustered before work? I can��t tell him that. Oh my god. Ok, think of something quick, you��ve paused WAY too long, in a seemingly simple description of the morning. ""...that I lost my watch and didn��t know what time it was.""

Logan smiled at her pause. ""Why do I get the distinct impression that you didn��t really lose your watch?""

""Well I did..."" I did lose my watch. He just doesn��t have to know that it was on my arm, and I only thought I lost it because I was so worked up about that dream.

""Fine if you don��t want to tell me, don��t."" Logan leaned over Max��s face so that she could see him smiling at her. She looked up into his face and turned a bit in his lap so that she could get a better look at him.

""Do you want me to continue with my story or not?"" She twisted her mouth so that only the right side of her lips went into a smile. She knew that Logan always would shift uncomfortably when she did that. And shift uncomfortably he did.

""Please. Continue!""

""Aiight! That��s better!"" Max turned her head once again so that Logan would have easier access to her hair. ""So anyways, I was really stressed out this morning, and I had your gift with me, because I thought that I would come here straight from work. So I was bending over to take it out of my bag, and suddenly I feel someone grab my ass.""

At the words ��my ass��, Logan��s eyes drifted down towards Max��s lower body. I��d like to grab her ass, but I can��t do that. As much fun as this evening has been I just can��t do it. Maybe another time. But what if I don��t have another chance, maybe now is the best time to do it.

""So, I wheeled around and slammed the guy into the lockers. I was so pissed!""

Ok, moment passed, cannot grab her ass. ""That��s my girl!"" Maybe I can just get near it...

Max smiled as she could feel Logan��s hand tentatively rest itself upon her upper thigh, very close to her butt. ""Yeah, I try. But that��s not the worst part! Do you know what he had the nerve to say to me? He said that he couldn��t help but touch me, because I ��raised certain parts of his character��. How sick is that?""

Logan paused before answering. ""Well, I know that wasn��t exactly the most appropriate thing to say to get a girl to notice you, but, you do have that affect on a lot of men."" Oh I��m going to get it for that comment.

Max let Logan��s words run through her head a couple more times just to make sure she heard him right. She couldn��t help but smile, knowing that subtly, he was talking about himself. She reached over and playfully slapped him on his knee. ""Logan Cale. I can��t believe that you of all people would say something like that!""

Logan thought his heart was going to stop. The last thing he wanted to do was offend her. ""Um, no... that isn��t what I should have said...""

""Logan, it��s ok. I understand what you��re saying, and thank you for the compliment.""

Oh thank god. ""You��re welcome.""

""So anyways, as if that wasn��t bad enough, Normal was busting my chops ALL DAY! I was even tryin�� to work harder so that I could come in late tomorrow if I needed to. But then, as I��m standing there trying to cool down after work, guess who flipped my hair up? That loser Devon!""

""Did he see your barcode?"" Logan lightly traced along her barcode as he spoke, with his fingers. The action caused Max to shiver, making Logan smile. He loved doing that to her.

Does he have to do that to me? I don��t think I can hold out too much longer. ""Um...I don��t think so. I covered my neck as soon as I felt my hair move. He could have, but I doubt it.""

""Well, let��s hope not.""

""What would it matter if he saw it? He��s just some punk-ass kid who��s trying way too hard to get a girl at work.""

""You never know Max, you have careful. You of all people should know that.""

""Yeah, I do. Don��t worry. He won��t be a problem.""

""So anything else happen today that was news worthy?""

""Um, other than the fact that my apartment was filled with balloons? No, I don��t think so."" Max looked up into Logan��s eyes and smiled at him. ""How about you? What did you do today?""

""Well, let��s see. I spent most of the morning picking up some items for a girl that I know.""

""Oh yeah, what��s she like?"" Max couldn��t help but laugh at her own joke. She knew he was talking about her, but still...

""Well, she��s really sweet when she wants to be, but she has a real tough-ass attitude about her. She loves hanging out with her friends, but would much rather ride the streets on this motorcycle that she owns.""

""Wow, sounds like someone I��d like to meet. I think I��ll like this story.""

As Logan went into telling Max about all the things that he had done to get ready for tonight, Max snuggled her head into Logan��s lap as far as she could, and she could feel herself start to drop off to sleep.

*****************

She woke up to find herself alone in his apartment. She sat up on the couch and tried in vain to hear any kind of sound at all. Not hearing anything, she got up to look around. She walked through the halls, peering into his bedroom to only find his bed empty. She turned around and headed towards the computer room, but once again it was empty. Caught up in wondering just what was going on, she could suddenly hear the faint sound of music coming from the living room where she had just woken a few minutes ago. As she pulled herself from her thoughts, the music began to get louder and louder. She could recognize it as some type of hip-hop song, something that was never heard in this apartment. She was accustomed to hearing the soothing melodies of classical music, not the hard beat of rap. She smiled at the sound of the song, because this was the type of music that she liked to dance to. She walked towards the living room, and suddenly found herself at Crash, surrounded by hundreds of people. There wasn��t any light except for the few lights that surrounded the DJ. She started gyrating to the beat, moving her body to the rhythm. She looked around as she danced, but saw no one she knew. She closed her eyes to allow the music to envelope her and she could feel a strong set of arms wrap around her. She opened her eyes and turned around to look at the person holding her so closely. It was him. He looked deep into her eyes and smiled. She continued to dance to the music, all the while holding his gaze. He danced with her, caressing his hands over her body. She wrapped her arms behind his neck as his hands roamed freely. They moved together as one, slowly making their own beat, no longer following that of the music. His hands went under her shirt, but never rose higher than they should. They drew circles on her back, and then flowed towards her stomach. Once there, they traced around and his fingers lightly tickled her skin, making her shudder. She looked into his eyes and he chuckled. He leaned close to her ear, and whispered ""I see someone is ticklish."" They continued to dance, her hands beginning to find their way farther and farther down his body. Just as they were nearing their destination, the music stopped.

********************

************************

Max bolted out of her dream, and quickly gathered in her surroundings. It only took her a second to realize she was still at Logan��s apartment. As more and more of her senses woke up, she could sense someone was with her. Right beside her. Then she remembered. She had fallen asleep on his lap, and he was still there. She whipped her head around to look to see if she had woken him up with her sudden movement. All she could see was Logan smiling at her. Max��s defenses immediately rose. Even though everything seemed as it should, she felt as though she had to get out of there.

""We��re going to have to do that sometime soon,"" Logan casually stated to Max.

""What?"" What is he talking about? Did we have the same dream again? That��s just way too weird.

""Oh. Nothing. Never mind. Did you sleep well? You were out for a few hours!"" Maybe we didn��t have the same dream. But if we didn��t, then why is she suddenly looking like she needs to be elsewhere?

""A few hours? What time is it? I��ve got to get home, Kendra��s going to be there, and she��ll want an explanation as to the state of our apartment, I��m quite sure. Thanks for the wonderful evening. Later."" Max quickly got off of the couch, and moved with her confident stride towards the door.

""Max, wait!"" Logan got up and followed her to the door. He watched her throw her coat on. ""You don��t have to go you know.""

Max finished putting her coat on and looked Logan right in the eye. ""I know, but it would probably be best if I did."" She gave him a quick smile, and with that, turned and headed out the door.

********************

Max drove faster than she ever had home from Logan��s. Usually she was always reluctant to leave his place, and drove rather slowly back to her own home, but this night was different. Something had changed between the two of them, and it scared the hell out of her. She made it back to her building in record time, and tiredly pushed her bike down the hallways to her door. She put the key into the lock, but it was unlocked. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked in the door. All of the balloons were there, and Max couldn��t help but smile, even though for some reason it tugged at her heart.

""Max? Is that you?""

Max turned towards the kitchen area of the apartment, and even though she couldn��t see her through all of the balloons, she knew it was Kendra. ""Hey! So how was your date with Mr. Multiples?"" Max pushed her bike to its normal place in the apartment, and then pushed her way through the balloons to the kitchen. She noticed that a few of them had popped, while some others were starting to fall.

""Oh no. You can not change the subject to me there missy. These balloons aren��t for me, so what happened tonight? I take it your gift went over rather well? I wasn��t expecting you until morning.""

Max made it to the kitchen counter where her roommate stood, holding a cup of coffee in her hands, and wearing the biggest grin Max had ever seen. ""Nothing happened. I went over there, and we had dinner, I fell asleep, and then came home!"" Max couldn��t help but hear the slight disappointment in her voice. She looked down to avoid Kendra��s eyes.

""Sure. I don��t believe you."" Kendra��s voice was as calm as ever.

""Would you mind if we talked about this in the morning? I really don��t feel like talking right now."" Max prayed that Kendra would leave her alone and just go to bed.

""Alright, but you owe me an explanation, and it better be good. With ALL the details!""

""Thanks Kendra. Night."" Max turned and walked to her bedroom, only to find the three long stem roses and the card on her bed. She picked them up and began to feel herself lose control. She put the objects aside, and collapsed on her bed, and drifted into a light sleep.

****************

Logan was left standing, staring dumbfounded at the door which Max had just ran through. What the hell was that? Everything was going so well. I even got the chance to watch her sleep! How often does that happen? This evening was absolutely amazing. But, what then made her leave? She must have had the same dream that I did, but even that��s not possible, is it? I mean, I did wake up before she did, so maybe we didn��t, but then again, why did she suddenly act so distant? I thought we made some real progress tonight. Logan finally ripped his eyes from his door, and turned to walk very slowly into the living room. Memories of the night were reeling in his head. He made it back to the couch, which was still warm from the body heat of the two. Logan sat down, and his foot kicked something on the floor. He looked down to see what it was. It was Max��s backpack. In her rush to leave, she forgot all about it. Oh well, at least she��ll have to come back sooner or later to pick this up, and then we can talk about what happened. Logan put the bag on the table beside his new picture of Max. He picked up the picture, and read the note that was attached to it again. I never knew she could write so well. Logan looked at the picture and smiled at its image. Never had he seen such a beautiful person, and that person was thinking of him when this picture was taken. Nothing could have been more appropriate for a gift. Logan stood up, still holding the picture and the note, and walked into his computer room. He sat down at his desk, and placed the picture right beside his monitor. This is where I spend most of my time, and, well, I need a good distraction once and awhile. Logan sat smiling at his picture, and finally, after time had seemed to disappear, Logan finally got up and headed for his bedroom. Beside his bed, his nightstand held a few things, like a lamp, a clock, and such. Things that were important to him, that he always used before he went to bed. And so, the letter that meant so much to him, was placed on the table so that he could read it every night before he fell asleep.

Morning did not come soon enough for Max. She didn��t want to face talking to Kendra, but it was better than being forced to think over her night with Logan that had ended so abruptly. Max looked at herself in the mirror in the bathroom, and after determining that she looked presentable, she walked out to find Kendra ready and waiting at the dinner table for Max��s description of the previous night. By this point in time, most of the balloons had lost most of their air, and were hovering about waist high. I��m going to have to clean this up when I get home from work. Crap. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted! ""Morning Kendra! How was your sleep?""

""How can look so good this early in the morning? Not only did you probably get busy with your boyfriend last night, you came home late, and I��ve heard you moving around already this morning!""

Max looked at her friend, and could see that she was indeed really tired. She must really be interested with what went on last night. Max casually shrugged her shoulders. ""What can I say? It��s in the genes I guess."" Max walked over to the table, and sat across from Kendra. She pulled one knee up to the table, and let the other dangle from her chair. ""And he��s not my boyfriend.""

""Ah, so you DID get busy with him last night.""

""I never said that.""

""Yeah, but you never denied it either.""

""Fine. I didn��t get busy with him.""

""Oh yeah, like I believe you now."" Kendra smirked at her roommate. ""So what happened last night?""

""Well, where do you want me to start?""

""From the beginning of course!""

""Aiight. Ok. So I was just leaving work, and was going to go straight to Logan��s when my pager went off. I looked to see the number, and it was from here. I thought that maybe you had gotten in early from your date, so I decided to swing by and see what was up. I figured that I could get changed from my work clothes too. So I came in the door, and there were all of these balloons. There was also three long stemmed roses on my bed. So I went to Logan��s, and he had made me a wonderful dinner, we got to talking, and then I came here, and you know what went on from there.""

""And that��s it.""

""Yeah, why, were you expecting more?""

""Oh come on Max, you didn��t give me anything there! You just scratched the surface! There��s got to be more. You��re not telling me something.""

""Well, you know me. I��m not really one for giving big, long descriptions of anything.""

""Well, start describing.""

Max looked down at her watch and smiled inwardly. Thank god for a job that I can��t be late for. ""I��d love to stay and chat Kendra, but a girl��s gotta get paid."" Max stood up from the table and leaned over her friend to give her a quick hug. ""Have you seen my backpack?""

""No, when did you have it last?""

Oh man, I must have left it at Logan��s. ""I must��ve left it at work. See ya Kendra!"" With that, Max grabbed her bike and walked out of the apartment, leaving her roommate shaking her head.

""That girl has it bad for that boy.""

**************************

**************************

Max walked into Jam Pony in a daze. Her night with Logan was still fresh in her memory, and for the life of her, she could not get it out. She rested her bike next to the front desk, half-hazardly took a package from Normal as she walked by and headed towards the back to get a cup of coffee. She poured herself a cup, and walked to the benches by her locker to sit down.

""Original Cindy was right once again when she said you wouldn��t show at Crash last night. I take it you had a productive evening with Logan?"" Original Cindy smiled at her friend as she walked up to her.

""Wha?"" Max could not seem to bring herself out of her thoughts enough to even answer Original Cindy��s question properly.

""That��s what I thought. Original Cindy knew she��d be spending the evening without you, but don��t you worry about her, she had some fun of her own if you know what I��m saying.""

Max finally turned around to look at Original Cindy who had just sat down beside her, but did not even think twice about Original Cindy��s comment of her night of events. ""Do you think it��s stupid that I have never been in a serious relationship?""

Original Cindy was re-tying her shoes, and did not even look up to answer Max. ""Whadaya mean boo?""

""I mean, I��ve never been in a serious relationship. I don��t think I would know what to do even if I were in one. So is that stupid? Or am I just not cut out for the whole relationship thing?""

Original Cindy looked up to see that Max was totally serious. ""What brought this question on. Did you do something that you��re regretting now?""

""Well, kind of.""

""Things went a little too far last night did they? Well, was it fun while it lasted at least?"" Original Cindy smiled at Max, who still kept her dead-pan face intact.

""Yeah, I do regret something I did last night, and it��s not what you��re thinking. Trust me. I went over to Logan��s and we had dinner, and afterwards we got to talking, you know? And I fell asleep with my head in his lap. I woke up, and just panicked, and ran out of there as fast as I could, which leads me to my question. Am I incapable of a serious relationship? I mean, I think that I could really have something with Logan, but every time we seem to be getting somewhere, there is just this thing inside me that makes be bolt. So is it stupid that I��ve never been in a serious relationship?""

""Max, serious relationships take a long time to build up. They��re difficult to find and even harder to maintain. It��s not stupid that you haven��t been in one, it just shows that you are waiting for the right guy, and Original Cindy is pretty sure that Logan is the closest person you��re going to find to be the right guy. Everyone has that feeling to just bolt when something gets too serious, but you just have to find the strength in yourself to overcome that feeling, and stay firmly in your place.""

""I��m just worried that even if I did tell Logan what I was feeling, he wouldn��t return the feelings, and I would just be back to where I am now.""

""Hon, Original Cindy can see right through that lie. You��re not worried about Logan not returning the feelings because we both know that he��s crazy about you.""

Max finally looked at Original Cindy with some hope in her eyes. ""You think?""

""Original Cindy knows so. If there��s anything that Original Cindy knows, it��s relationships.""

""I��m just worried that I��m not the kind of girl that he��s looking for....""

""Do not even go there. Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately? I don��t know why even more guys aren��t hanging off of you."" Original Cindy paused for a moment, and then looked past Max to look at someone who was standing behind her. ""Speaking of guys hanging off of you...""

Max turned to look behind her at the person that Original Cindy was now glaring at. It was Devon. As soon as Max��s eyes locked on his, he ducked around the corner, out of her sight.

""Let��s go people! I don��t pay you to sit around! Bip, bip, bip!""

""Ugh. Back to work. Which reminds me, with my mad dash last night out of Logan��s, I left my bag there. Do you have an extra I could borrow today?""

""Sure hon."" Original Cindy got up from the bench, and banged her fist against her locker so that the lock would disengage. She pulled out an old bag and handed it to Max. ""Here ya go. It��s nothin�� special, but it��ll work.""

""Thanks."" Max got up and started to head towards her parked bike, but stopped and turned around to face Original Cindy. ""And thanks for the advice. I owe you one.""

Original Cindy smiled at Max. ""No big dealio boo, what��re friends for?""

Max smiled and headed towards her bike and left for her first of many runs for the day.

Original Cindy continued to rifle through her locker to make sure that she had everything that she needed for the day. Damn that girl has some issues. Makes Original Cindy glad she don��t have to worry about the guys. So wrapped up in her own problems she didn��t even ask me about my night last night. Ah well, we��ll tell her tonight at Crash, that is unless she��s out kicking it with her boy. Maybe she��ll finally get her act together and take that relationship to the next level so she can de-stress a little bit. Original Cindy closed her locker and was about to go to the front desk to get a package for a run, when she noticed Devon peeking around the row of lockers. ""What exactly is your dealio?""

Devon hesitated for a moment, obviously not expecting Original Cindy to talk to him. ""Um, I was just looking to see if Max was still here.""

""Well she��s not, so you can just be moving along."" Original Cindy was getting slightly annoyed at this guy, and ushered with her hands for him to get moving. What exactly is his obsession with my boo all of a sudden. No matter, Original Cindy��ll set him straight. ""You might as well just move on there boy, she doesn��t want anything to do with you.""

Devon came fully around the corner so that he could stand right in front of Original Cindy. He was a good head taller than her, so he easily towered over her. ""I just wanted to ask her if she would like to do something tonight, not that it��s any of your business.""

Original Cindy put her hands on her hips and looked up right into Devon��s eyes. She wasn��t intimidated by anyone, especially not this creep. ""Well she doesn��t, so why don��t you just forget about her, move on and go back to what ever hole you crawled out of.""

""Well, I��d like to hear that from her mouth, not yours, so why don��t you move aside like a good girl, and I��ll be on my way."" Devon sneered at Original Cindy.

""Ok, that��s it. I was takin�� it easy on you, since you were new and all, but that��s going too far. You��re about to see what kind of smack-down Original Cindy can give out."" Original Cindy took her hands off of her hips, and was about to hit Devon when Normal��s voice interrupted the two.

""Devon! Hot run to 15 Pike street! Let��s get a move on!""

Devon looked down at Original Cindy and smiled, and pushed past her to get to Normal. Cindy was left fuming.

*********************

Logan woke sprawled across his bed. He hadn��t even made it under the covers. He had spent the better part of the night reading and re-reading the note that Max had given him. Like Max, he couldn��t get the events of the night out of his head until he finally lost consciousness and had slipped into the blissful serenity of sleep. He slowly pulled himself off of the bed, and stood up and stretched out all of the knots that had developed in his muscles over night. He walked over to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. After coming out and quickly drying his hair, he walked towards the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. The previous night��s events and conversations were still running through his head, but he kept going back to one comment in particular that Max had said.

""But then, as I��m standing there trying to cool down after work, guess who flipped my hair up? That loser Devon!""

""Did he see your barcode?""

""Um...I don��t think so. I covered my neck as soon as I felt my hair move. He could have, but I doubt it.""

""Well, let��s hope not.""

""What would it matter if he saw it? He��s just some punk-ass kid who��s trying way too hard to get a girl at work.""

""You never know Max, you have careful. You of all people should know that.""

""Yeah, I do. Don��t worry. He won��t be a problem.""

For some reason, Logan��s thoughts kept stalling on this. Maybe I��ll do a check-up on him. You can never be too cure. It��s more than likely just what Max said, but you never know....

""Logan? You here?""

""In here Bling!""

Bling came walking in to the kitchen to see Logan in a robe, obviously just coming from a shower. ""So I take it things went well with Max last night?""

Logan couldn��t help but hear the playful tone in Bling��s question. ""Not the way you��re thinking, but we did have a good night. Well, that is until...""

""Until? Come on Logan, you can��t stop a sentence like that!""

""Like what?"" If Bling could be playful, so could Logan.

""You know what I mean! Come on, spill it. Or am I going to have to work you so hard that you talk just so you can get away from me?""

Logan looked up at his friend, and could see that he would probably do just that. Work him so hard that he spills everything. ""Well, until she bolted.""

""What did you do?""

""Nothing! Now, do you want some breakfast? Because I��m making some either way.""

Wow, that was a quick change of topic. Oh well. I��ll let him get off for now, but I think I��ll ask again when they��re both here. That should prove for some interesting entertainment. ""Sure! Why not?""

Logan set into making a quick breakfast for the two of them, and while they were eating, they continued with the small talk.

""So what are your plans for today? Is Max coming over?"" Bling looked at Logan to see if he would squirm at all from his question, but he didn��t even look up. He just continued to shove food in his mouth.

""Actually, I��m going to do some digging on this guy from Jam Pony. Max was telling me that he��s been bothering her lately, and yesterday he even pushed her hair back.""

""Logan, is that jealousy that I��m hearing?"" Bling could only smirk at his friend. It was DEFINITELY jealously.

Logan chose to ignore the comment, because even though he did feel a bit of jealously, the worry was much greater. ""Actually, I was worried that maybe he saw her barcode.""

""Do you think he did?""

Logan stood up to clear away the dishes. ""I don��t know. Maybe. That��s why I want to check up on him. If he is just some random kid and saw it, she can just pass her barcode off as a bad choice she made a few years ago when deciding on a tattoo, but otherwise.... we could have a problem.""

""Why do you say that?""

""Well, because when I first met her, that��s the way I got to see her barcode. I��m going to go get changed, and then we can get started for the day."" Logan walked away from Bling, and headed towards his bedroom. Now that he had actually said his worries out loud to someone, they seemed to grow even more. He couldn��t wait to get to his computer to look this guy up.

******************

Max spent the day doing more runs than usual, so that she could keep her mind off of the conversation that would more than likely result tonight at Logan��s. She was dreading it, but at the same time, exhilarated for it, because maybe, finally, she would break her barriers down and confess her true thoughts to Logan. Yeah right. I��ll chicken out like I always do. No, not chicken out. I don��t do that. I just look for the right opportunity. Yeah, that��s it. Max weaved through the streets back to Jam Pony. She figured that she could probably pull off one more run before the end of her shift, and then she could go home and change. She pedaled through the door, and coasted to a stop in front of Normal. ""Got anything else for me Normal? I figured I��d do one more run on my way home. I��ll give you the signature sheet tomorrow.""

Normal moved only his eyes up to look at Max, and shoved a package into her waiting hands. ""Here, but if I don��t get that signature, I��ll dock you for two runs, you hear me?""

""Whatever."" Max got off her bike and leaned it against the front desk, and headed towards her locker, where she could see Original Cindy pacing back and forth. ""Hey boo? What��s up?""

""Max, that guy Devon is seriously getting on Original Cindy��s nerves.""

""Tell me about it. At least you don��t have him staring at you all day. I feel dirty just being in the same building as him.""

""Yeah, well, he��s seems kind of loco if you ask me. You should watch out for him.""

""Why? Did he say something to you?""

Original Cindy contemplated telling Max about their earlier confrontation, but decided against it. ""No, Original Cindy just don��t get a good vibe from him, you know?""

""Yeah, I know. Don��t worry, he��ll forget about whatever fantasy he has in a couple of days and everything will get back to normal. In the meantime, I��m heading home. I just have this one run to do. See you tomorrow?""

""Yeah, see ya boo.""

Max turned around and headed back towards her bike. She looked around the place to see if she could see Devon. Maybe I��ll smack a bit of sense into him. He was nowhere around however, so Max shrugged her shoulders, grabbed her bike, and headed off towards her final destination for the day.

********************

Logan sat at his computer and quickly hacked into the Jam Pony mainframe. He called up all of the employees, and started to go through each one to see if he could find Devon��s profile. Logan stopped when he got to Max��s and smiled at her picture. He looked beside his computer at his own picture of Max and smiled. Mine��s better. Logan kept going through the profiles, and finally landed on the one he was looking for. Hmmmm. Name, Devon Morris. Date of birth, April 19, 2001. Same age as Max. Eh, nothing there, most of the people at Jam Pony are the same age as Max. Height, 5��11"". Hmmm, I��m taller than him. Weight, who cares, previous jobs, window washer, caretaker, nothing there. Place of birth, Wyoming. Wyoming? Why would someone from Wyoming be here in Seattle? He can��t be from Manticore can he? Why is he here? Is he looking for Max? No, I can��t jump to conclusions like that. What��s this? Comments. Must be Normal��s take on his employees. Nice kid. Girl crazy. Noticed a small scar on the back of his neck. Probably gang related. Shouldn��t last too long. Small scar? Could it be from a tattoo removal? Maybe I should warn Max. This is just too odd.

**********************

Max parked her bike outside the run-down apartment building that had the address that was on her package. She walked up the two flights of stairs, and went to knock on the door that the package was to go to. As she was nearing the door, her pager went off. She looked down at the number. It was Logan. I��ll swing by there after I drop this off. She got to the door, and rapped on it twice, and could hear movement inside. ""Just a minute!"" Max could swear she knew the voice, but couldn��t place it before she could hear the locks being unlocked from the inside. The door opened, and there he was standing in front of her with a smug grin plastered across his face. Devon. ""See? I told you I could get you to come to my place. Why don��t you come in?""

""I don��t think so Devon, I��ve got to be elsewhere. Here, I need your signature."" Max thrust the signature sheet into Devon��s hands.

""I won��t sign it until you come in.""

""Look. I��ve had a really long day, and all I want to do is go home and go to bed, so if you��ll please just sign this...""

""Fine. I know you��ll come in eventually."" Devon started to open his package.

""The signature?""

""Oh! Sorry."" Devon tucked his half opened package under his arm and signed the piece of paper.

Max took the paper and shoved it into her bag. Don��t want to lose any pay. This signature isn��t going anywhere. Without even looking up, Max turned around and started to head down the hall. ""I��ll be going now."" As she said this, Max could hear the sound of the cardboard box she had given Devon fall to the floor, and the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked behind her.

""I don��t think you��ll be going anywhere Max."" Devon��s voice was cold and solid.

Max slowly turned around and came face to face with the barrel of the loaded gun that she had just delivered to Devon.

*************************

*************************

Max��s first reaction was that of fear. Then, reality set in. Crap. Can this day get any worse? ""Devon, you really don��t want to be doing this.""

""On the contrary Max. I really do want to be doing this.""

I really don��t need this right now. ""What are you going to do, shoot me? You do realize that if you want a girl to come over, it��s generally not a good idea to point a gun at them.""

""Yeah, well, I figured this was the only way to get your attention. Besides, what are you going to do now?""

""You��d be surprised at what I can do.""

""I know you��re fast Max. I��ve been watching you for a long time now, but even you can��t avoid a bullet.""

""Like I said, you��d be surprised."" Max looked down at the floor. Should I do this and risk blowing my cover? Damn straight I should. Otherwise I could be here all night, and all I want to do is crash at Logan��s. As much as I want to avoid a conversation with him, I��d much rather be stuck in a room filled with tension than spend five more minutes with Devon here. Ah well, here goes nothing. With a speed that only a person like Max could muster, Max lifted her leg in a front kick that sent the gun flying out of Devon��s hand, and into her own. She quickly unloaded it, and threw it down the hallway. She looked to Devon��s face, expecting to see one of shock, but all she saw was one of amusement. As she continued to watch him, he slowly raised his hands and began to clap. What the hell is he doing?

""Very good Max. Very good.""

""Excuse me?"" Max narrowed her eyes at Devon. When it became obvious that he wasn��t going to answer her, Max took the opportunity to ask him another question. ""What I want to know is, why is a delivery boy getting a gun delivered to him? And how did you know that it would be me who delivered it to you, because I��m assuming that gun was meant for me, or did I just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?""

""I let Normal keep my day��s pay and in return, he made sure that you had this package on your last run.""

Max was starting to get annoyed at this conversation. Her pager started beeping again, and she didn��t even have to look at the number to know that it was Logan. I know Logan, I��ll be there in a bit. She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight onto her left leg. ""That still doesn��t answer why you had a gun delivered to pull on me.""

""Lydecker sent me.""

Max froze instantaneously. She stood straight up, totally rigid. ""What?"" Her voice was completely deadpan and her face betrayed no emotion at all.

""He knows you��re here Max.""

Max couldn��t believe her ears. This guy, Devon, knew Lydecker. And now, he knew her. Rather, he had known her, but now she knew that he was more than just a simple delivery boy that was trying to hit on her. ""How...?""

""...do I know Lydecker?""

Max could only nod her response. Even with her level of confidence, once the name Lydecker was uttered by anyone��s lips, that confidence was quickly shattered.

""He��s my dad.""

Every clear thought and image evaporated from Max��s brain. She acted on pure instinct. She moved at a blinding speed and lunged towards Devon. She grabbed his left arm and twisted it around his back as she spun around him. Reaching around with her free arm, she encircled his neck and applied pressure until she could feel him go limp in her arms. As he slid to the floor, she pulled him in to his apartment. She laid him on the floor as she quickly looked around the room. The room was sparsely furnished, as if Devon had only meant to be there for a short time. Straight ahead was a window that looked straight into the building across the alleyway, and right below it was a very well used couch. To her left was a mattress with a few sheets and pillows on it, and a small duffle bag beside it. To her right was a door that must��ve led to the bathroom, and a small kitchen. In the kitchen Max saw what she was looking for. A single wooden chair sat near a table. She walked to the chair, picked it up and brought it to the middle of the room. Max then quickly looked around for something that could be used to tie him up, but saw nothing. Her eyes focused on the small duffel bag beside the mattress, and she went to investigate. She knelt down beside it and looked inside. There, she only found a few clothes. Frustrated, she got up and walked over to the bathroom, stepping over the unconscious form of her co-worker as she passed him. She opened the door, and like the rest of the apartment, there was little in there. The only personal effects were a bottle of cologne, a brush, a toothbrush, and some toothpaste. In the shower was a small piece of soap. Well at least he washes. That��s a lot more than I can say for a lot of people I know. Max walked back into the apartment, her mind racing, trying to think of something she could use to tie Devon up with. This won��t hold him for long, but it��ll have to work. Max walked back over to the duffle bag, once again stepping over Devon in her travels, and pulled out two pairs of socks. She picked Devon up, and threw him in the chair. Using a sock on each leg, she tied his lower body to the legs of the chair. She stretched one of the remaining socks as much as she could, and after pulling both of Devon��s arms behind the chair, secured his hands together with the sock. She walked around to the front of him, and shoved the remaining sock in his mouth so that he couldn��t scream for help. Semi-satisfied with her work, Max spun around and high-tailed it out of there, as her paged beeped at her once again. I��m coming Logan! I��m coming!

***************************

Logan paced around his apartment. Where the hell is she? She never ignores my pages for this long. Something must have happened. No Logan, you can��t think like that. Everything is fine. She��s probably at Crash or something, and forgot to change her pager to vibrate so she can��t even hear it. But she has super sensitive hearing! She could hear it a mile away. Something��s wrong. I can feel it. Logan didn��t know what to do. He kept pacing, and shoving his hands through his hair, as though doing this would somehow make an idea come into his head as to where Max was. Just as he was about to go to the phone to call her pager again, his front door burst open. ""Max! Where have you been! I��ve been...""

""I know. I know Logan! Trust me, I would really have liked to have been here sooner!"" Under normal circumstances, that last utterance could have meant something totally different, but now, it was in all seriousness. ""We have a problem, or, actually, I have a problem. You know that guy Devon that I��ve been telling you about?"" Max brushed past Logan on her way to the couch. She was exhausted from her ordeal, and needed to sit down.

Logan turned with Max, and followed her to the couch, and stood in front of her. ""Yeah, I actually did some research on him. That��s why I was paging you. I think he may be from Manticore.""

""You��re kind of late on the info there Logan. He is from Manticore. And do you want to know how I found out?"" Max sprung up, and began to pace around the room. ""I was leaving work, when Normal gave me another package. I went to deliver it, and keeping in with the luck I��ve been having today, the receiver was none other than Devon. Now, wanting to get out of there as fast as I could, I turned to leave, but do you think I could? God no. That would be too easy for a person like me. No, I had to hear the sound of a gun, from the package I had just given him, being cocked inches behind my head!"" Max was furious as she recalled the events to Logan. The second that she mentioned the word gun, Logan became nervous.

""Are you ok?""

Max stopped pacing to look Logan right in the eye. ""No Logan, he took me in to his apartment, and shot me. Of course I��m ok! I��m standing here talking to you, aren��t I?""

""Well, I was just...""

""Whatever Logan. You weren��t the one with a gun to your head a few minutes ago.""

Logan watched Max as she started to pace again. He could see that even though she seemed furious, she was genuinely scared. Something was not right here, and he wanted to find out what, and quick. ""What happened?""

""I disarmed him, and knocked him unconscious. But not before he told me something that I really did not want to hear.""

""That being...?"" Logan was getting apprehensive now. He wanted to know what kind of danger Max had fallen into this time.

""He��s Lydecker��s kid.""

Logan froze. ""Lydecker has a kid?""

""Exactly what I was thinking. I know someone was insane enough to actually marry him, but have a kid with him? I mean, come on, that��s just wrong.""

""Max, you��re looking at this the wrong way. He could be another one of Lydecker��s creations.""

""Logan, I��m not an idiot. I thought about that, but this kid put up no fight whatsoever. He is a flesh and blood human, with no fighting skills at all."" Suddenly feeling tired again, Max made her way to the couch. Logan followed her, and absent mindedly, she laid her head on his lap.

""What did you do with him?"" Logan was surprised at Max��s show of affection, but he wasn��t going to complain. He began to stroke her curls, and run his fingers through her hair, just as he had done the night before.

""I tied him to a chair with his socks."" Max started to chuckle. That is pretty lame.

Logan couldn��t help but laugh too. ""You tied him to a chair with his socks?""

Still laughing Max answered him. ""I know, I know. But the kid had nothing in his pad! I mean, everyone should at least have a telephone cord or something! All I can say is, I am so not going into work tomorrow. Normal can deliver his own packages for a change. I think I can get a sick day from him.""

""Would you like to spend the night here?"" Please say yes! Please!

""Yeah, I think I will, if you don��t mind. I am so exhausted from my piece of crap day. I don��t think I can even remember where I live at this point in time.""

Thank you dear god! ""I��ll go set up the guest bedroom for you then.""

Max turned her face towards him, and suddenly realized that she had laid her head in his lap. She shot up, and got off the couch. ""Thanks Logan. I think while you��re doing that, I��ll take a shower. You don��t mind do you?""

Logan was a little surprised at Max��s abrupt movement, but like with everything else with Max, one has to expect the unexpected. ""Sure, that��s fine. You know where everything is."" Logan got up, and headed towards the guest bedroom as Max wondered over to the bathroom.

**********************

Max came out of the bathroom to find Logan fast asleep on top of his bed. She felt the urge to cover him up with a blanket since he seemed to have passed out before he got the chance, but her instincts made her just walk on past. On second thought. Using all of her strength, Max walked over to the bed, and pulled a blanket over the sleeping form of Logan. She leaned into his face and whispered into his ear. ""Goodnight Logan."" Max stood back up, and walked into the guest bedroom, and climbed into bed to hopefully sleep away a really bad day.

***********************

He felt like the luckiest man alive. No, he knew he was the luckiest man alive. The events of the past evening were reeling through his head as he drove. They both had decided to leave town for a few days after everything that had happened, and were now on their way to his uncle��s cabin for some much needed R&R. He looked down at his sleeping beauty, whose head was nestled gently on his shoulder, and smiled, knowing full well that she was finally his. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, and began to gently caress her arm. He was careful to keep an eye on the road, but kept sneaking glances at his girl. Whether it was the slight bumps in the road, or the feel of his hand upon her arm, the girl awoke and lifted her head so that she could look into the eyes of her man and smile. Her smile turned into a wicked grin, and she leaned back into his neck, this time with her lips. She began to suckle his neck, and after a few moments she stopped and pulled back to look at her handiwork. Where her lips had been only moments before, a small purple bruise was starting to form. She smiled, and dove in for more. This time, she reached over with her hand, and started to stroke her man��s inner thigh as she attacked his neck. He reached with his free arm, and held her head to his neck as she sucked. Her hand started to move higher and higher along his thigh, causing him to become more and more excited.

*********************

Logan woke up with a start. He quickly scanned the room to see that he was in his own room, and not the one at his uncle��s cabin. He let out a sigh, and then became very frustrated. ""Damn it! What is with those dreams?""

""What dreams?""

""Max! What are you doing here?"" Logan, startled by the voice in his room, especially HER voice, propped himself up on his elbows to see Max leaning against the doorframe to his room. He looked down at his disheveled blanket, and slowly the night��s events came back to him. That��s right. She came here after her encounter with Devon, and while she was taking a shower, I must��ve fell asleep here on the bed. But how did I get covered up? Max must��ve done it. Wow. Oh my god, why did I ask her why she was here? That was just stupid!

""Well good morning to you too! I was just coming to check on you to see if you were awake or not. Since you are, I��m going in to work. I figured I might as well keep my mind on something other than Devon, and what better way than to be around Normal and think of all the ways that I can tell him off. See ya."" With that, Max spun on her heels and left, leaving Logan to think about his dream, and what exactly the day will bring him with Max.

**********************

**********************

Max walked into Jam Pony, feeling slightly disappointed with Logan��s reaction to her this morning. Maybe it��s just because I��m not over there a lot. I wonder what he meant about those dreams? Maybe I��ll ask him tonight. Yeah, I think I��ll drop in on him.

""Hey boo!""

""Hey!""

""Did you hear the good news?""

""No, what��s that?""

""Normal��s stick is further up his butt than usual, and his boy Devon never bothered to show up, so Normal fired his ass! That kind of sucks though, because now Original Cindy can��t lay the smack down on his ass.""

Max could only laugh at her friend, and her own seemingly good fortune. Not only does it look like she won��t have to work with Devon, he seems to have skipped town. Maybe he��s off telling Lydecker where I am. Max froze with this thought.

""What��s wrong sugar?""

""Hmmm? Oh, nothing.""

""Well, it seems like something.""

""Oh, I was just thinking that now with Devon gone, Normal��s going to be busting our chops even harder than usual!""

""Yeah, well, we don��t work for him normally, so what��s going to make us do it today?""

""True, true.""

""Max! Hot run! 1215 Correl Street!""

Max caught the package that was thrown her way, rolled her eyes and smiled at Cindy. ""It��s going to be a fun day!""

""You got that right. So what��s the dealio with you staying at your boy��s place last night. Original Cindy knows all.""

""Well, if you know all, you don��t have to ask, do you."" Max smirked at her friend.

""Hmmm.""

""Meet you here for lunch?""

""Sounds good.""

""Coo, see ya boo.""

""Bye!""

Max turned around and walked out of Jam Pony for her first run of a very long day.

***************************

After lunch with Cindy, it became obvious to Max that if she kept taking packages that were the furthest away from Jam Pony, she could take her time, and Normal wouldn��t say anything about it. As the working day drew to a close, Max took one more package and headed out the door. She made her way through the sector checkpoints and eventually was on her way back when she neared one of the many outdoor markets that Seattle now had. Max decided to stop and look around. Maybe there��s something here that I can get for Logan to cook tonight. Max slowly walked her bike through the rows and rows of vendors. She looked up from the vendor that had some fresh fruit, when she noticed Logan walking towards her. They made eye contact and he began to walk over to her. ""Hey.""

""Hey yourself. Shouldn��t you be at work?""

Max shrugged and looked away. ""Nah, I just finished my last run, and I kind of got distracted.""

""Hmmm. Well, since you��re here, would you like to help me shop?""

""Um, sure, I just have to make a phone call. Wait here, k?""

""Ok.""

Max turned with her bike and headed towards the payphone that she had past moments ago, careful not to smile until her back was turned towards Logan. She put her money in the machine and dialed. After a few rings, someone picked up. ""Cindy?""

""Yeah.""

""Hey boo, it��s me. I was wondering, could you tell Normal that I got held up by the sector police or something and that I won��t be bringing in the signature sheet until tomorrow?""

""Sure boo, how come?""

Max smiled into the phone. ""Something came up that I have to take care of.""

""Whatever, hope you have fun! Later.""

""Bye."" Max hung up the phone and walked back to where she had left Logan. ""Ok, that��s done. So what are we looking for?""

Logan handed Max a canvas bag that she slung over her arm. ""Just some fruit, vegetables....maybe some chocolate if we can find it."" Logan looked over to Max with a sly grin plastered all over his face. He wanted to see her reaction, but she simply looked away to begin canvassing the vendors around them.

After about an hour of looking, the pair had filled up the two bags with groceries, and were on their way back to Logan��s apartment. They chatted idly about nothing in particular, and finally made it to Fogle Towers. The two of them rode the elevator to Logan��s apartment, and arrived at the penthouse floor. Max and Logan walked into his apartment with the bags of groceries from the market place and walked side by side towards the kitchen counter, where they put the bags down. They both started to empty the contents when Max finally broke the silence. ""I can��t believe all this stuff keeps happening to me.""

Logan stopped unloading the bags�� contents and looked at Max. ""What do you mean?""

Max stopped as well, leaned on the counter with one arm, and put her other hand on her hip that now cocked outwards slightly, thus moving her into a position that she was able to see Logan with fully. ""I mean, this whole thing with Devon. Why do these people keep looking for me?"" Max turned back to unloading the groceries, and noticed that Logan did the same. ""Why can��t I just be like a normal person, with no one looking to kill me, and with people who care about me.""

""You do have that Max.""

""I don��t feel like I do.""

""I��m sure I could find an entire room of people who care about you.""

""Yeah? Well when did you start to care so much about me.""

""Probably the day I fell in love with you."" Logan couldn��t believe that he actually uttered that out loud. He grabbed a few of the food items that were in front of him and started walking towards the fridge to put them away.

Max stopped pulling things out of her bag. Did he really just say that? It took Max a second to compose herself, but finally she did. ""Do you know what you just said?""

Logan came back from the fridge to gather a few more items to put away. He stopped and looked at Max, and then continued on. ""Yeah, it kind of slipped out.""

Max looked at Logan��s back as he was busy putting some fruit in the fridge. The tension in the room became too great for her, and once again, she relented to the little voice inside her head that told her to run. Putting down the items of food that she had in her hand, she grabbed her coat that she had thrown on the kitchen table, and started to walk out. ""Um, I forgot Logan, I��m supposed to be meeting the girls at Crash. I��ll be back in a few hours."" With that Max turned, and high-tailed it out of there. I don��t know if I can handle this.

Logan tensed when he heard Max��s voice after his lame excuse of it just slipping out. It didn��t just slip out. You wanted her to hear that. But now she��s gone. She said she��d be back this evening, but I wouldn��t count on it. Logan kept his back to Max as she walked out of his apartment, and when he heard the front door open and close, Logan stepped away from the fridge, and let out a very large sigh. Admitting defeat for the moment, Logan continued on with putting away his groceries.

******************

Max leaned heavily against Logan��s door, and breathed out a huge sigh of relief. I really don��t think I could have stayed in there much longer. Did he really mean what he said? He couldn��t have, could he? He was pretty upset that I left so suddenly. I mean, what am I doing? I��m not meeting the girls at Crash. What am I going to do? Max let her body go on auto-pilot because she figured that that was the best way to make decisions; go with your gut instinct. Max found herself back at her own apartment changing into her cat suit. I think I��ll just go over there and observe him. I won��t let him see me. I just want to see him. Looking at her watch, Max noticed that a couple of hours had already past since she left Logan��s. Now is as good a time as any to go over there. She hopped on her ninja, and roared over to Logan��s. Careful not to let him hear her, Max decided to push her bike the last couple of blocks. As she stepped into his elevator, panic over took her. I��m not going to talk to him. Nothing can happen. Just get in, see how he��s doing, and then leave. To ease her tense muscles, Max pulled out a stick of gum from her vest pocket, and shoved it in her mouth, chewing rapidly. Max exited the elevator on Logan��s floor, but took the stairs to the roof. She stealthily crept along towards his skylights, and peered in, looking to find him. She moved from window to window, until she saw him. There he was, sitting in his computer room. Now knowing where he was, Max walked to the window furthest from the computer room, and silently dropped into his apartment. She walked slowly to the room that he was occupying, and her breath caught in her throat when she looked more carefully at him. He was sitting in his old wheelchair; the one she thought he had thrown away the day he could fully walk again. Not only was he sitting in his old chair, but from behind, his shoulders were moving in the pattern that could only evolve from a person crying. Max moved a bit so that she could see him more from the side instead of from the back. She looked at his eyes, and instead of being on the computer screen like they normally were, they were looking down, at something that was in his lap. Max used her enhanced sight to see that it was her picture that she had given him that he was looking at. Suddenly his voice broke the silence that hung over the room.

""I��m sorry Max. I shouldn��t have said that out loud, but it��s the truth. I know it scares you, and that��s probably why I��ll never see you again.""

Why is he talking to the picture? Because he knows that if he ever tells you anything that is of any emotion whatsoever, you��ll turn and run, just like you did tonight. Max started at this thought. That��s true. She would always bail on ANYONE if they started to talk about deep emotions. She wasn��t built to handle those, and no matter how hard she tried, she could never deal with them. It was just easier to run. Tearing herself away from her thoughts, Max began to listen to what Logan was saying. Even with her advanced hearing it was difficult to hear his words because he was speaking so softly.

""I can��t even fathom how stupid I sounded this morning asking you why you were here. I just woke up from the most amazing dream. In it, you and I were driving towards my uncle��s cabin. It was our honeymoon, and you were asleep on my shoulder as I drove. I couldn��t believe that you were actually standing in front of me, after waking up from something as amazing as that dream. That��s all I want Max, is to wake up and have you standing there. Always. You��re all I want Max.

Max was close to tears after hearing Logan��s confession. She couldn��t handle it. I can��t believe it, he��s serious. And he��s been dreaming about us together too? Maybe it is fate. Maybe we are supposed to be together. Max couldn��t move, but what she saw made her feet go on their own. Logan slumped down in his chair, an arm falling down beside each side of the chair, and the hand that was holding Max��s picture, let go, and let the picture fall to the floor with a light thud. Logan seemed to have admitted defeat to his own self. Max couldn��t take it anymore. She quickly burst out of the shadows of the room, and walked right up beside Logan. He turned and looked at her, surprised that she was there, and slightly embarrassed knowing that she had probably heard his entire confession. He couldn��t bear to look at her, but finally, after much pain, he looked up into her eyes. Her eyes. Her beautiful, brown, chocolate colored eyes were filled with tears. He couldn��t believe it. Then, the unthinkable happened. She opened her arms to him, silently pleading with him to stand up and embrace her. Even with his hope standing right in front of him, he couldn��t bring himself to get out of his depression- his wheelchair. Instead, he did the same as Max, and opened his arms to her, inviting her in for an embrace. An invitation that she willingly, and knowingly accepted. Max rushed the few steps it took to get to Logan, and climbed into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pulling him into a kiss.

Before he knew what was happening, Max was in his lap, and kissing him furiously on the lips. All of his dreams were coming true, and he wasn��t one to give them up. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Logan pulled Max closer to him, if that was even possible, and returned her kiss with all the passion he could muster.

Max, feeling Logan kiss her back, was relieved, but it only fuelled her desire even more. She shifted positions, and cupped her hands over Logan��s stubble. She pushed herself even more into him, which may have been a bad thing. Suddenly, Max could feel herself falling, but she didn��t care. She and Logan ended up in a heap on the floor, after his wheelchair tipped over from their activities. Neither of them seemed to notice however, as they continued kissing, and letting their hands run over each other��s bodies. Max��s body was fully over top of Logan��s, using it for support. Finally, after her heart seemed desperate to actually leap out of her throat, Max pulled away. She placed one hand on either side of Logan��s head and looked down at him, her hair falling from behind her shoulders, and brushing against the sides of his face. As she looked into his eyes, she could see that he was searching her eyes for something. She went to start chewing on her gum again, to once again calm her nerves, and chewed for a second before she realized that it was no longer in her mouth. She looked at Logan and smiled. ""I think I��m going to need my gum back.""

Logan looked up at her and gave her a wicked grin. ""You��re going to have to come get it then.""

Max couldn��t believe that Logan, her Logan, the one who kept himself away from the world, only to protect it so fiercely, was teasing her in this way. Her face broke out into an even wider grin. ""Oh really."" Max attacked Logan��s mouth once more, in search of her gum, and something much more.

******************************

******************************

Finally, although reluctantly, Max pulled away from Logan��s lips. She kept her eyes closed to help trap the moment in her mind that much longer. She went to chew on her gum, which she had finally managed to take from Logan��s mouth, and realized that it no longer held its natural flavor. Instead, it held the flavor that was distinctly Logan, and Max greedily drank it in. ""We have to celebrate.""

Logan, who was feeling the pangs of removal from Max, couldn��t quite grasp her question. ""What?""

Max looked down into Logan��s eyes and smiled. ""We have to celebrate.""

Logan cupped both of his hands on Max��s face and slowly traced her lips with his thumbs. ""Care to elaborate on that?""

Max closed her eyes slightly as she leaned her head into one of Logan��s hands and let out a small sigh. ""Yeah, I just had the most kick-ass day.""

Logan chuckled at Max��s comment.

Max opened her eyes to look into Logan��s. ""What?""

""Oh nothing. I just love how you put in that little bit of slang, no matter the situation.""

Max smiled at that. ""Yeah well, a girl��s gotta have the words to survive in this world.""

Logan laughed again, and pulled Max��s head down until her forehead touched his. ""So what made this such a kick-ass day?""

Max pulled her knees up further along Logan��s body so that she could fully rest on top of him, laid her head on his chest, and wrapped her arms around his. ""Well, first of all, I finally figured out the best possible way to avoid Normal for most of the day, and at the same time, only have to go out on a few runs each day. Then, I had a great lunch with Original Cindy, and she let me in on this new girl in town. Always an interesting conversation when Cindy gets to talking about a new girl. Then, as I was heading back to work to hand in my last signature sheet, I ran into this really great guy that let me go shopping with him.""

Logan pulled Max��s head up so that he could look into her eyes. ""Oh really? And who is this great guy that you just so happened to run into?""

Max rolled her eyes upwards and smiled. ""Just this guy, who happens to have eyes that look remarkably similar to the ones on those Eyes Only broadcasts.""

""Really. Well, it must be an imposter then!""

Max looked back down into Logan��s eyes. ""I don��t think so. Only one person can be Eyes Only, and I seem to recall that being you.""

Logan smiled up at Max. ""Good.""

""Yeah, but that��s not even the best part of my day!""

""Ouch, that one hurt.""

Max chose to ignore Logan��s comment and continued on. ""Yeah, the best part of my day was that I found out that Devon never showed up for work, and apparently has skipped town. I guess his landlady found him, and he told her that the reason he was tied up to the chair was that he was the victim of a sex-capade gone horribly wrong.""

""Did you leave something out of your description of that night��s events to me when you told me? Because I seem to recall you being the one that tied him to that chair.""

Max sat up and playfully slapped Logan across the chest. ""Yeah, you wish.""

Logan laughed, and caught her arm, pulling her down into another kiss.

As Max felt Logan probing her lips with his tongue, she abruptly pulled back.

Logan looked into Max��s eyes to see what had spooked her. ""What��s wrong?""

Seeing the worried look on Logan��s face, Max��s face broke out into a wicked grin. ""I��m not really one into losing my gum twice in one day, thank you very much. Besides, we just went shopping, and I want to celebrate, so why don��t you go and cook up some culinary miracle?""

Logan was about to protest, but then he saw Max start to pout, and there wasn��t anything in the world that he wouldn��t do for her when she did that face. ""Alright. And while I��m making dinner, why don��t you call up Original Cindy and Kendra, and we can all sit around and watch a movie tonight and have a little celebration.""

""With junk food?""

Logan chuckled. ""Of course with junk food.""

Max jumped off of Logan and ran to the phone. ""Aiight! I told you this was a kick-ass day!""

Logan slowly climbed up off the floor, and brushed his fingers along Max��s neck as he walked past her. She shot him a mock glare, and continued on with her conversation. Logan walked into the kitchen, and stood for a minute before deciding on what to make for dinner that evening.

************************

After about half an hour, Logan was busily putting different foods together, and was slowly rolling his shoulders to try to work out some of the kinks in them that had started to develop after landing so hard on the floor a little while ago. He was so deep in thought that he didn��t hear Max come in. Seeing Logan roll his shoulders, Max came to the conclusion that it was partly her fault that they were sore, so she decided to help fix them. She walked right up behind him, and started to gently massage his shoulders and back. She felt him tense when she first touched him, but he immediately loosened his stance after he realized what she was doing. ""Hmmm, that feels good Max.""

Max stopped massaging, and wrapped her arms around Logan. ""I know. So what are we having tonight?""

Logan turned around to look at Max, as she pulled away from him and jumped up on the counter to hear what he had to say. ""Well, since we��re going to be having a lot of junk food tonight... we are right?""

Max nodded her head. ""Kendra just got back from a quick date with Mr. Multiples. Apparently he had to go out of town again, and he had to leave tonight, so she was free, and Original Cindy��s night came to a screeching halt when she found out that the new girl in town she was hitting on, was married.""

""Ouch.""

""Yeah. So what��s cookin��?""

""Well, since we��re going to be having a lot of junk food tonight, I thought I��d keep it light. I made us grilled chicken quesadillas, topped with a fresh fruit salsa, and a salad on the side. How does that sound?""

""Well, I can��t say that I��ve ever had that before, but I��m more than willing to try it. How long until it��s done?""

Logan looked at the timer on the stove. ""Well, it should be just about ready. I��ll just put them together, and we��ll be ready to eat! Why don��t you go and set the table?""

Max jumped down off of the counter, and walked over to the cupboards to get the plates, but not before running her finger along Logan��s neck as she passed him. Smiling at the way that her touch sent shivers racing down Logan��s spine, Max was content with the way that the day was going, and the way that her and Logan��s relationship was finally going. Max carefully set the table, trying to make everything perfect, which wasn��t hard with her attention to detail, and was just finishing lighting the candles when Logan placed the food on the table. The two of them sat down for their meal, and laughed and talked through the whole thing. When they were finished, they cleaned up the kitchen, and started to get all the food ready for that night. After they had gathered up all of the snacks, they set in on trying to decide which movie to watch.

*****************************

A couple of hours later, Logan was in his computer room, doing some much needed hacks, and Max, Original Cindy, and Kendra, were all curled up in front of Logan��s TV screen. In front of them lay the basic requirement of snacks for any type of party. There were potato chips of all flavors, sliced vegetables with dip, pretzels, cheezies, ice cream, cookie dough, and plenty of different things to drink. Kendra was snuggled up in one of Logan��s chairs, and she had her legs draped over the one arm, so that she was right in front of the TV, but had her back to Original Cindy and Max, who were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Max leaned up against the arm of the couch, and pulled her legs up beside her. All three of the girls were so engrossed in the movie that none of them heard Logan walk up behind them. Even Max, with her enhanced hearing, failed to hear him come in. Logan slowly walked up behind Max, and placed his hands on her shoulders, carefully massaging them. Max jumped in her seat, and Logan leaned down and placed a feather-light kiss on her barcode, something that he knew that drove her wild, before whispering in her ear. ""Relax."" Max leaned her head back against the back of the couch and looked up at Logan and smiled. She then quickly looked at Original Cindy to make sure that she hadn��t witnessed this little event, and thus wouldn��t be able to tease Max the next day at work. Pleased that Original Cindy��s eyes were still plastered on the TV screen, Max carefully reached up and entangled her fingers within Logan��s, whose were still on Max��s shoulders. After detangling their fingers, Logan walked around the couch and sat in between Max and Original Cindy.

Original Cindy looked over at Logan, and looked him up and down before speaking. ""You get your work done there boo?""

Logan looked at Cindy and smiled. ""Yeah. Told you I wouldn��t be gone too long.""

Kendra turned her head to the rest of the group. ""Shhhh. Some people are trying to watch this!"" With that, she looked back at the TV, but not before commandeering a bowl of potato chips.

Original Cindy was about to complain to Kendra about the stolen bowl of chips, when something caught her eye. She looked across Logan��s lap, and noticed that his hand was entangled within Max��s toes, massaging her foot. It seemed that Max had no qualms with this, and was fully engrossed in the movie. Original Cindy knew those two were going at it. My homegirl can��t hide a thing. We might just be having some serious convo tomorrow. Original Cindy leaned back into the couch cushions so that she could attract Max��s attention, without arousing Logan��s. When Max finally looked over at her, Original Cindy looked down at Max��s feet, which were being carefully attended to, and then turned her gaze to Max��s eyes. Original Cindy raised an eyebrow and gave Max a smirk which was replied by Max simply rolling her eyes and then turning back to the movie. Original Cindy then turned her eyes back to the movie, and tried to pretend not noticing Logan��s hand as it slowly rubbed higher and higher up Max��s legs.

**********************

Soon after the movie ended, Original Cindy and Kendra left Logan��s. The three girls stood at the door to say their goodbyes, while Logan hung back in the apartment. He figured that he shouldn��t be around those three, or the situation might just seem awkward. Max had told both Kendra and Original Cindy that she had planned on staying for a couple more hours, and so the two girls took turns in giving Max a hug and saying goodbye. As Kendra hugged Max, she whispered in her ear. ""I��ll see you tomorrow."" She pulled back from the hug, winked, and laughed while she headed out the door, because she had managed to leave Max with a very confused look on her face. Original Cindy was next and also whispered into Max��s ear. ""You and Original Cindy are going to be doing some serious talking tomorrow."" Max could only shake her head and laugh slightly. Original Cindy turned around and shouted another goodbye as she headed out the door. As the two girls left, Max closed the door, walked back into the apartment, and found Logan standing and waiting for her in the hallway. As she walked by him on her way to the living room to put away the remainders of the snackfest, he slid his arm around her waist, and she placed hers against his back. They both headed towards the couch and sat down. Max curled up beside Logan and laid her head on his chest, and rested her one hand beside her face, on his shoulder. Logan leaned down and kissed her lightly on the head. ""Do you want to watch some TV?""

""Yeah.""

Logan grabbed his remote control and turned on the TV. He idly flipped through the channels until he stopped on a channel that was playing old episodes of COPS. Both of them were enjoying the antics of several of the criminals until suddenly his TV flickered, and the Eyes Only broadcast came on. Both Max and Logan stiffened and focused every miniscule amount of their energy on listening to the message.

Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a Streaming Freedom Bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city, and this voice is for Max. You know who you are, and I��m sure you know who this is. I know where you are Max, and I��m coming.

The broadcast ended, and regular scheduled programming commenced. Max looked at Logan, and Logan looked at Max. All he could see was pure terror in her eyes.

***************************

***************************

Max sprang up from the couch, and looked into Logan��s eyes. All of the terror that had previously been present in her eyes, rushed away and was replaced with rage. ""Is this some kind of sadistic joke? Because I��m not laughing.""

Logan was shocked that Max could think he could ever do such a thing. And especially, to her. He reached out to take her hand, but she pulled it away, and waited for his answer. ""God no Max, how could you think that I would ever do such a thing?""

All of the rage left Max as quickly as it came, and she apologetically looked at Logan, and then hung her head. ""I��m sorry. I know you wouldn��t have done something like that. It��s just that...""

Logan stood up, and took Max in his arms, enveloping her in a hug. He stroked her hair, and tried to calm her down. ""It��s ok Max. I know, that scared me too.""

Max at once felt safe in Logan��s arms, but thoughts started to tumble out of her mouth. ""It had to be Lydecker, but how did he do the Eyes Only hack?"" Max pulled away from Logan as the worst possible thought struck her. She looked up into his eyes. ""Do you think he was here? Do you think that��s what he meant about knowing where I was? Oh my god Logan, if he was here, you��re in danger, we have to get moving. We have to...""

Logan could see the ideas spiraling through Max��s head. He pulled her back to him, and once again tried to calm her. ""Max, calm down. He wasn��t here. He doesn��t know that you know me, and he doesn��t know that I��m Eyes Only.""

""But then how did he get your hack?""

""He could have copied it from another broadcast, and simply added his own message instead of the original one. If it makes you feel better, you know me, I have programs all over the place that track everything that goes on on my computer. I can check them to see if he was here, but I highly doubt it. If he was, don��t you think he would��ve taken you by now?""

Max knew that Logan was right. Lydecker would have taken her the first chance he got, so obviously he doesn��t know that she was at Logan��s, only that she was in Seattle. But maybe he was playing mind games with her, so that it would be easier to capture her in the long run. Lydecker would never do that though. That would go against his mission, and things could always go wrong. No, if he knew she was at Logan��s, Lydecker would have had her back to Manticore by now. She took in a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down. Feeling Logan��s strong arms around her, helped even more. She pulled away just ever so slightly so that she could look into his eyes. ""Could you check? I know it��s nothing, but just to be sure.""

Logan smiled at Max, seeing the fear slowly draining from her eyes. He put his hand under her chin, and brought her lips to his. ""Of course. Come on."" The two walked hand-in-hand to his computer room, and Logan sat down at his chair, with Max leaning over his desk, so that she could see both Logan, and the computer screen. Logan brought up all of his files, and like he suspected, the last broadcast made, was one that he had done a few days ago. Both he and Max let out a sigh of relief and looked at each other and smiled.

""Do you mind if I stay here for the rest of the night? I don��t really feel like walking out into a trap.""

Logan placed his hands over Max��s. ""Of course.""

Max gave Logan a quick smile, and then abruptly got up. She quickly walked by him, but not before giving him a long look. ""See you in the morning."" Max continued on out of the computer room, and headed towards the guestroom.

Logan was left feeling the slight pain of Max��s abrupt departure, but her last look had sent his heart soaring. And then, to himself he muttered, even though he knew she could hear him. ""Yeah. In the morning. Goodnight Max.""

*************************

The next morning, Max strolled into work feeling very well rested. One thing she could say about staying at Logan��s was that she always got a good night sleep, and hearing Logan��s goodnight wishes to her had helped her escape to that wonderful dreamland that almost always seemed to elude her. She was only at her locker for a few seconds before Original Cindy spotted her. ""Hey boo, Kendra called me this morning to say that you never came home last night.""

Max looked at Original Cindy and smiled. ""Something came up..."" Original Cindy smiled with an all knowing look, and it took Max a few seconds to realize the undertone meaning of what she had just said, causing her to blush.

Original Cindy laughed. ""Original Cindy knew something was going to happen, and that��s why Kendra and I split so fast after that movie. We didn��t want to be postponing anything for too long.""

""We didn��t! That��s not what I meant!""

""Sure, sure, and that��s why you��re turning every shade of pink in the book right now. Original Cindy is just happy that you had fun! Later boo!"" And with that Original Cindy turned and left Max standing bewildered. Max turned towards her locker, and let out a sigh. There was no way she was going to get away with anything when she had friends like Original Cindy and Kendra. Max looked at the floor as she was thinking, and something caught her eye. A cockroach. Max calmly squished it beneath her boot. Damn things. Even the pulse couldn��t kill them. As she opened her locker, a note fell to the floor. Max leaned over to pick it up, and started to read, hoping that it was from Logan.

Max,

Max swore that her heart was determined to keep stopping on her these last few days. She read through the note several more times, and tried to understand it, and more importantly, who sent it. After a few moments of staring at it, Max realized that the note was getting to her, and without a signature, she didn��t know who it was from. Never assuming anything, Max took the note to heart, threw some of her things in her locker, and walked over to Normal to grab a package. Soon she was out the door, and was on her way to make her delivery. No sooner had she turned the corner of the building, she could see a black hummer drive by Jam Pony. Max pulled her hat over her eyes, and waited to see what they were going to do. If they were going to go into her work with guns a blazing, she��d have to stop them, even if it did threaten her own safety. Max watched carefully as the vehicles parked. Only one man got out, and went into Jam Pony. A few minutes later, he came out, and motioned for the rest of the squad to continue on. Obviously they weren��t there for a fight. They just wanted her, and since she wasn��t there they moved on. The note was right! If I had hung around like I normally do, they would have found me! Who could��ve put it there? Only the people who work with me know which one is my locker. And, none of them have anything to do with Lydecker. Except for Devon. But why in the hell would Devon be warning me? I don��t think a simple crush would go above and beyond betraying your own lineage, but maybe with him? No, it couldn��t be, but who else could��ve put that note there? Max shrugged her shoulders, and rode off towards her destination. Well, I guess I won��t be going back to work today, that��s for sure. I don��t want to come back to only have a team of men appear out of nowhere to get me.

***************************

Logan sat absently mindedly at his computer. He knew that he should be doing some more work for Eyes Only, but he just couldn��t get his mind off of the fact that someone had used his hack for their own private use. Especially to get Max. Normally the fact that Max was in danger, worried Logan to no end, but now, especially in light of recent events between the two of them, Logan was petrified for Max��s safety. And, it didn��t help that she insisted she go into work today, even though there was a very strong possibility that Lydecker was in town, and an even stronger one that he was set up on Jam Pony. Logan was about to start a search on the location of the broadcast he had witnessed the previous night when the phone rang. ""Hello?""

""Logan, it��s me.""

Only Max would ever just say ��it��s me�� because no one else was close enough to Logan to do that. ""Hey. What��s up? Are you ok?""

""Logan, I��m always ok.""

Logan could hear a slight pause. ""What is it Max? I know you better than you think.""

""Wow, if that isn��t comforting, I don��t know what is.""

Logan only smiled at the tone of sarcasm that Max was using, but still, there was something up.

""Truth is, something is wrong. I went into work today, and when I was at my locker, I found a note. And don��t worry, it wasn��t a love letter from any of my secret admirers.""

""Well that makes me feel a hundred percent better. Wait a minute, you have secret admirers?""

""Doesn��t every girl? But seriously Logan, the note told me to get out of Jam Pony right away. I believed what it said, and as soon as I left the building, a whole bunch of army-type hummers pulled up outside, and a man went in. He was obviously looking for me, because he only stayed inside for a few minutes, and then he and the cavalry left. What does all of this mean?""

Logan��s reaction to Max��s monologue went from amusement from her comeback, to his ever present worry for her because of this obvious display of Manticore. ""Are you planning on going back to work today?""

""Hell no. I don��t really feel like getting into the whole escape and evade game today. As much as I used to like it, I think I could do without it for once.""

""Ok, then why don��t you come back here. Maybe together we can find out just what the heck is going on.""

""Sounds good to me. And Logan?""

""Yeah Max.""

""I��m technically on my lunch break now, so I was wondering...""

""I��ll have something ready for when you get here.""

""Thanks Logan. You��re the best.""

And with that, Max hung up, leaving Logan with a smile spread across his face. Leave it to Max to think about her stomach when she could possibly be in danger. Not wanting to face her fury if nothing was prepared, Logan reluctantly got up from his computer desk and went into the kitchen to whip up a little something for lunch.

*****************************

Devon paced back and forth in his small apartment. The chair that had held him, still sat in the middle of the room, taunting him, but he couldn��t seem to move it. For some reason, he wanted to keep it there to remember Max. He couldn��t get her off of his mind. He knew he shouldn��t have left her that note, but for some reason, he didn��t want his father to find her. He never knew his real mother. She had left soon after he was born, and so he was raised by his father. When he was about ten, he noticed that his father was becoming increasingly despondent. He seemed very on edge and agitated, more so than normal. When Devon had finally gathered up the courage to ask what was wrong, he got the talk that he would never have imagined in a million years. His father had sat him down, and told him that he had a brother and a sister, named Zack and Max. The reason why he never saw them was because they were sick when they were born, and they were kept at a special place that cared for them. Devon had asked his father why he never got to see them, and his father had told him that it was because it would have been detrimental to their progress to see a child that wasn��t sick. He then explained to Devon that the reason why he seemed so moody lately was because Zack and Max had somehow gotten loose from where they were staying, and no one knew where they went and he was worried about them. They needed to be found so that their treatment could continue. Devon had always accepted this story, because, why shouldn��t he? His father was always good to him, so why would he ever lie to his son? As he grew older, Devon��s father had started to use him to help find his siblings. He would be sent somewhere, and would try to fit in, to see if he could find either Max or Zack. On his latest mission, he was successful. He had found Max. The only problem was, she didn��t seem like his sister at all. She looked totally different than him, and the more time he spent with her, the more he came to realize that he was developing a crush on her. Something that wouldn��t happen if she really were his sister, because that just doesn��t happen. Excited that he had finally found one of his siblings though, Devon had eagerly contacted his dad to tell him the wonderful news. The only problem was, his father seemed to want Max brought home under any circumstances. Even dead. That was why he had sent the gun, and why he had forced Devon to get Max to deliver it to him. Then everything went wrong. Max somehow seemed to have these superhuman-like powers, and knocked him unconscious before he even got a shot off at her. He woke up realizing that something was indeed not right, and so when his father had contacted him and said that he no longer needed to worry about bringing in Max, that the situation was under control, Devon did something that he may wind up regretting for the rest of his life. He left Max a note, warning her that she was close to being captured and that she should leave. The only problem is, now his dad may find out that Devon warned Max, and Devon could only pray that by being the son of Lydecker, his life will somehow be saved.

**************************

**************************

Max arrived about half an hour after she called. Both she and Logan sat down to eat some lunch that he had thrown together, but neither could sit for very long, because they were both itching to search Logan��s files. After a few minutes of tension, they both decided that they would eat in the computer room and search files at the same time. ""I parallel process and multitask like there's no tomorrow, remember?""

Logan smiled at Max��s remark. How could he forget a statement like that? They both picked up their dishes, and walked into the room. Logan sat in his computer chair, and Max sat in the chair that she had to almost hop into. She loved that chair. Max held onto Logan��s plate while he typed, and balanced hers on her lap, so she could eat. Logan and Max furiously searched everything that Logan could dig up to try and figure out where the broadcast had come, but nothing was coming up, and it was frustrating the hell out of both of them. After they had finished eating, Max took the opportunity to leave the tedious work to clean up the dishes, and the mess they had left in the kitchen. Upon returning, she found Logan with his eyes still glued to the computer screen. He didn��t even look when she came in, so Max just hopped back up on her chair, and slouched down. Her patience totally shot, Max started to spin the chair around in circles. Logan finally looked away from his computer screen, and leaned back in his chair, grinning wildly at Max. She sensed him watching her, and stopped. ""What?""

""You.""

""And what exactly do you mean by that?""

Logan leaned forward so that his face was right by Max��s knees, and he looked up to meet her eyes. ""That you��re just so cute when you do things like that.""

""Well, I��ve got to be cute once in awhile. Besides, we both know my level of patience, and I can truthfully say that it has been fully spent today.""

""I think I can do something about that.""

Max shifted in the chair and leaned forward so that her nose was almost touching Logan��s. ""Oh really, and what pray tell, would you do?""

""Something like this."" Logan leaned the rest of the way into Max and pressed his lips against hers.

Max smiled. ""Hmmm, I think my patience will last a long time at this task.""

""Good."" Logan put his hands behind Max��s head, and pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss. He lightly traced his tongue over her lips until he could feel her get off of her chair. She broke the kiss, and he looked up at her questioningly, never letting his hands fall from their grasp on her head. ""What��s wrong?""

Max chuckled at Logan��s consistent worry. ""Nothing, I just want to get more comfortable."" Max climbed into Logan��s lap, crossed her arms behind his neck, and laid her lips on his. This time she was the one to trace his lips with her tongue, and he opened them up willingly. Their tongues wrestled together until Logan had to come up for air.

""Max, you��re amazing.""

""I know."" Max once again dove for Logan��s mouth, but he turned away, and held her head back so that he could look in her eyes.

""Max, as much as I want to be doing this, and trust me, I do, we really have to figure out what is going on here. I don��t think it would be the best thing in the world if Lydecker suddenly came crashing into my apartment, and we weren��t ready because we were... indisposed.""

""Logan, you��re breakin�� my heart!""

""I know, but you��ll heal fast!""

""How do you know that?""

""Because I am the powerful Eyes Only who knows everything about everyone!""

Max smiled and put her hands on Logan��s ever-present stubble. ""So much ego, for such a little person!""

""Ouch! That hurt!"" Logan grinned back at Max. He loved their banter. No matter what was going on, he always knew that the banter would be there.

""I��m sorry, I think I can fix it though."" Max leaned in to kiss Logan, but once again he stopped her.

""Sorry Max, but we��ll be doing this soon, I promise.""

""K fine, but only because you promised."" Max climbed off of Logan��s lap, and back into her chair. Logan watched as she sat down and could see the playful look on her face be quickly replaced with a look of serious concentration, with no other emotion visible as she turned to face the computer screen.

""Let��s get this bitch over with.""

Logan was amazed at the sudden change, but with Max, you had to expect things like that to happen. As he tried without too much success to push the last few moments out of his head, Logan went back to pulling up anything that might help him determine where that broadcast came from. After a few minutes, he noticed that Max was getting antsy beside him again. He turned to look at her, and could see that her mind was off in another land. ""Max.""

Max slowly dragged herself out of her thoughts, and looked at Logan who was once again staring at her. ""What?""

""I can see that you don��t want to be here. Why don��t you go do some recon on Devon��s place. Give you something to do, while I look over some more files. By any chance do you have anything that would have Devon��s handwriting on it?""

Max thought for a second. ""Actually, I do."" She got off of her chair, and walked out of the room, returning seconds later with her Jam Pony bag in her hand. ""Being the incredibly efficient person that I am, I never gave Normal this. Here��s the signature sheet from when I delivered him that gun. It��s got his writing all over it. Oh, and here��s that note I was telling you about.""

""The one from your secret admirer?""

""Yeah Logan, from my secret admirer. Now don��t go and burn that or anything, I think I might want to keep it!""

Logan reached up and grabbed the sheets of paper. ""This is great Max, and I think maybe just this once I��ll let you keep your love note that is from someone not me."" Logan looked at the signature sheet. ""I guess it pays not to do your job all the time.""

""That��s what I think everyday.""

""Well, these will help a lot. So like I said, why don��t you go do some recon? Burn off some, but not too much energy!"" Logan flashed Max a wicked grin.

Max was a little caught off guard by Logan��s statement, but returned his grin. She started to head out of the room, thankful for anything to do other than sit here and stare at Logan staring at the computer screen. Not that that is a bad thing to do, but I need to get out. ""Aiight, and I think I��ll hit Crash for a few hours with the girls. And at the same time, try to explain everything to them.""

""What do you mean by that?""

""You probably don��t want to know."" Max returned to Logan��s side, and leaned down to give him a quick peck on the cheek. ""Later."" Max turned and walked out of the computer room, and was almost out of the apartment before she heard the familiar warning to ��be careful��. Smiling, she shut the door behind her, and headed towards the elevator.

********************************

Max decided to hit Crash first, because then she could blow off a lot of her pent up energy on dancing, but not too much, and then release her frustrations that will inevitably come from the thousands of questions the gang will be asking her, by muttering obscenities and such under her breath as she watched Devon. Before going to Crash, Max stopped off at her place, so that she could change out of her work clothes into some more appropriate ones for dancing and stalking, and to trade her work bike for her baby. Max threw on her leather coat, and was out the door in a matter of minutes. After racing around Seattle for awhile, Max pulled up beside Crash, and parked her bike. She took the keys out of the ignition, and shoved her glasses back on top of her head. She strolled up to the door, gave a bouncer a mega-watt smile, and headed inside. At the top of the stairs, she could see everything, and spotted her peeps at their usual table. From the looks of it, they had already guzzled down at least two pitchers of beer, and Max could see Original Cindy returning with another one. Max smiled, and started down the stairs. She walked up to the bar and bought herself a cup of coffee, because the whole alcohol thing wouldn��t be the best thing to have just before she had to do recon, and then headed over to her friends. ""Hey guys! What��s the good word?""

""Max! Why aren��t you with your boyfriend?""

""Wow, I feel welcome.""

""Sit, sit! We want all the details."" Kendra pulled a chair from the table behind her, and motioned for Max to sit down.

Max looked around the table, and could see all of her friends had ended their conversations, and were fully focused on her. Let��s make them squirm. This��ll be fun. Max started to talk, and made sure that her voice contained just enough sarcasm that they would pick it up only after she finished telling her story. ""Well..."" Max decided to look at each person as she told the story, telling it in chunks to please each and every one of them. She looked at Kendra first. ""We started out with a little something to eat, but my patience just flew out the window, and we were banging the gong in seconds after I jumped him. And let me tell you, it is now in my experience that you can bang the gong for twelve hours straight."" Max turned to Sketchy and Herbal after seeing that the first part of her story had clearly shocked Kendra. ""Then, one of his old girlfriends came over and as soon as she saw us, she stripped down to her lingerie, and she and I had a pillow fight, while he watched, and soon after joined us."" Max could barely contain her laughter as both Sketchy and Herbal��s jaws were on the table. She then turned to Cindy to finish up her story. ""And then, his old girlfriend and I got down to some serious business when he left to make us some food. I fell asleep in her arms, and when I woke up, I came right here."" Max looked around the table at all of her friends, who were rendered completely speechless. Original Cindy was the first one to catch on to Max��s story. ""Boo, that ain��t even funny.""

Max couldn��t hold it in anymore, and totally cracked up. Everyone around the table finally came to realize that she was completely making it up, but Sketchy��s mind was still on the pillow fight.

""Max, you are so strange sometimes."" Kendra let out her breath that she was holding. ""If you don��t want tell us fine. But you don��t have to go into stories like that!""

""Hey, it got you guys off of my back, now didn��t it? You know I don��t talk about a lot of things with you guys, and this is one of them!""

""Ok, so wait. You mean, you didn��t have a pillow fight in your lingerie?""

Max smiled at Sketchy. ""No Sketchy. Sorry to disappoint you."" Max looked around the table. ""Anyone up for dancing?""

""Sure boo, why not?"" Original Cindy got up with Max, and they both headed out on the dance floor.

*************************

Max smiled thinking back to her little story. I think Sketchy��s heart will never slow down. That boy is too easy. But the looks on everyone��s face was priceless. I think I��ll have to tell Logan about that. Maybe not. Somehow I don��t think he��ll see the humor in it. Max was perched across the street from Devon��s building. She was watching through his window, but couldn��t see any signs of life. From what she could see, nothing in his apartment had changed since she was there, except for the chair that was sitting in the middle of the room. That had to be one of the best moments of my life. Tying the poor guy to the chair. Just then, her pager went off. Max quickly turned it off, berating herself for not putting it on vibrate, and looked at the number. Logan. Nothing��s happening here. I��ll just swing by to see what he has to say.

*************************

""Logan?""

Max walked into the apartment, and found Logan still at his computer. When he saw her walk into his room, he got up and went over to give her a hug. ""Hey.""

""Hey, so you find anything interesting?""

""Actually I did. How was Crash and your recon?""

""Recon sucked. Nothing there. Devon was absent, and I didn��t feel like sneaking in to his place, only to be surprised. Crash was, well, fun.""

""What do you mean?""

""Oh, just providing some images in the heads of my peeps. Very fun to do. So what did you find?""

""Well..."" Logan broke their embrace and headed over to his printer that had just finished printing something. ""According to this, the signature on your signature sheet matches the writing on the note. So, it was Devon you alerted you.""

""I kind of figured that. Why he would do that is really the question here.""

""My thoughts exactly.""

""So, do you think I should set up shop in his apartment tonight and see what kind of info I can find?""

""Just as long as you don��t engage in any of those kinky sex games with him this time.""

Max feigned hurt as Logan��s joke. ""Don��t you trust me?""

Logan, knowing that their banter was once again starting up, started to feel a bit of excitement rush through his body. ""I just don��t know, but I guess I��m going to have to!""

Max smiled and gave Logan a hug. ""Yeah, I think you will. Just give me something to remember you by while I��m sitting there for all those long hours.""

""I think I can do something for you."" Logan said as he looked into her eyes. He leaned down towards her, and pressed his lips fully on hers. He grabbed both of her hands with his, and pulled them up beside her head. While kissing her, he pushed her back until her back was pressed firmly against the wall. He held her hands up, and grinded his body against hers. He finally pulled back. ""How��s that for you.""

Max stood with her eyes closed, and a grin plastered across her face. ""I think that��ll do."" She opened her eyes, and looked into Logan��s. She pulled his face down to hers once more, and gave him another passionate kiss. ""Ok, I gotta go."" Max gave Logan a hug, and then walked out the door, giving him a lingering look as she left, leaving Logan with pride swelling in his chest.

**************************

Max laid crouched in the shadows of Devon��s apartment. She kept relaying her kiss with Logan over and over in her head. There wasn��t much else to do since Devon still hadn��t returned. Suddenly, the door opened. Max slinked back further into the shadows and watched Devon. He went into the bathroom for a few minutes, and then came out. He started to nervously pace around the room. ""What am I going to do? What am I going to do?"" Devon just kept muttering under his breath. Max continued to watch Devon as he continued to pace. The shrill ringing of a cell phone made Max jump a bit. Devon answered the phone, and Max honed her hearing so that she could listen to both sides of the conversation. ""Hello?""

""That was not a bright idea Devon.""

""Dad, I had to.""

""You don��t have to do anything. Especially not that. That was not wise.""

""Dad, she��s my sister.""

Max tensed up. What? He��s not my brother. What is going on here. Does he know that I��m here? Is he making this up?

""Even so, but this little breach is going to cost you.""

Max heard the click on the other end of the phone.

""Dad, what do you mean by that? Dad??""

Max felt kind of bad for Devon, since it was he that had warned her, but how could he be her brother? Of course, Lydecker��s kid. He must have told Devon about us, and that we were related in a sick kind of way. Max��s thoughts were very rudely interrupted when she heard the unmistakable sounds of SUVs coming from the streets below. Oh shit, Lydecker is here to get Devon, and he��s going to find me.

***********************

***********************

Max could hear the soldiers coming up the stairs, and decided to throw caution to the wind. There was no point in her getting caught, even if Devon did save her. She just didn��t have the time to save him right now. Max jumped up from her hiding place, and sprinted across the room, not even stopping as she heard Devon call her name. She was going to make it to her destination, and nothing was going to stop her. She reached the window and crashed through it, just as Lydecker and his men crashed through Devon��s door. Max landed softly on the ground below, and ran to her bike, hopped on, and sped out of there as fast as she could. The further she got away from Devon��s place, the slower her heart was starting to beat, but the more her conscious was starting to eat at her.

***************************

""Sir, do you think that this is wise?""

""Are you questioning my authority soldier?""

""No sir. It��s just that...""

""Just what soldier?""

""It��s just that... this is your son! And besides, what will torturing him accomplish?""

""First of all, this is war, and there are no family ties in war. Secondly, he��s managed to build up an alliance with my dear little Max. Now unless you want me to come down on you for allowing her to escape right now, I would suggest you leave my sights immediately.""

""Yes sir!"" The soldier saluted Lydecker and turned out of Devon��s room to meet up with his team and Devon downstairs.

Lydecker walked up to the broken window, looked down at the bustle of activity below, and smiled. ""I know you too well Max. You��ve become too human, and have let your emotions control you. You witnessed this happen, and you��ll fall right into my trap the second you try to help my boy.""

**************************

Max quickly got into Logan��s apartment, slammed the door, and then leaned heavily against it, closing her eyes, and breathing a sigh of relief. Any contact with Lydecker was stressful, but almost getting caught really took a lot of a person.

Logan heard the door slam, and immediately got up to check it out. It couldn��t be Max, because she always comes and goes without a sound. Logan came around the corner, and saw Max half slumped, half standing against the front door. His heart skipped a beat and he rushed to her, fearing the worst. ""Max! What��s wrong? Are you OK?"" Logan bent down slightly and grabbed her into an embrace. She reached around his neck and pulled herself to him. She felt good being held after what had just happened. Logan put a hand behind Max��s head and pulled it to his chest. ""Max, are you ok?""

Max closed her eyes and sighed, reveling in the feeling of Logan��s strong arms around her. ""Yeah, just had a close call is all.""

""Do you want to talk about it?""

""Could we maybe sit down and talk about it? I��m kind of spent, and I need to just relax, and now that I��m here, I can do that.""

""Of course Max."" Logan allowed her to pull away from him slightly so that she could walk over to the couch, but he made sure that he still had a tight grip around her waist. She may have said that she was ok, but she always did that, and he was still extremely worried about her. She normally wasn��t this drained after any kind of event, so this had to have been particularly tense. Logan led Max to the couch, and let her flop down. He watched as she clutched a pillow to her chest, and saw her eyes close, allowing her to rest. I wonder what happened. This is not good if it drained her this much, both physically and emotionally. I want to ask her, but I��ll let her rest. Maybe I��ll make some soup for her and it��ll be ready when she wakes up. Logan walked into his bedroom, and grabbed an oversized fluffy blanket that he intended to cover Max with as she slept. As he went to lay the blanket over her sleeping form, something caught his eye. As he leaned in to get a better look, Logan noticed a few shards of glass sticking out of her clothes, and could see a bit of blood oozing out of the cuts. How did I not notice these when I hugged her? I would��ve felt them, wouldn��t I have? Logan looked down at his shirt, and noticed that it was ripped slightly, but nothing overwhelmingly noticeable. Being extra careful so as not to wake her, Logan removed the shards of glass from Max. As he was removing a large one, Max winced in pain. Logan��s hand flew from the glass and he looked at Max with worry in his eyes. ""Max, I��m so sorry, are you ok?""

Max looked down and could see the pieces of glass sticking out of her. ""Actually, now that you mention it, I��m in a little bit of pain."" She looked up at Logan and smiled, easing his tension a little bit. ""Just take them out Logan.""

""I don��t want to hurt you though.""

Max reached up and put her hand on his cheek. ""It��s ok. I��m built for this, remember? Just get it over with."" Max closed her eyes, and braced herself for the pain. Logan was extremely gentle, and only a few of the shards caused a feeling of fire to run through her body.

""We��re going to have to clean these wounds Max, I��ll just get some peroxide and some bandages."" Logan got up, and walked to the kitchen so he could throw away the shards of glass that he held in his hand. He then headed into the bathroom, and gathered up all the items necessary to clean Max up. He returned to her side, and sat down beside her. ""Ok, this is going to be kind of tricky, because I can��t really see them through your shirt.""

Max looked at Logan and smiled. She could see that he was trying to gather up the courage to ask her to remove her shirt so he could get at her wounds more easily. She decided to make it easier for him, and started to pull her shirt off. The cuts hurt more than she had thought though, and she got stuck half in and out of her shirt.

Logan chuckled at Max. He knew that she knew he was having trouble asking her to strip in front of him, so she decided to help, but now she was stuck. ""Here, let me.""

Max relaxed, and let Logan carefully pull her shirt the rest of the way off of her body. She looked into his eyes, and all she could see was compassion. His eyes simply made her melt inwardly.

Logan smiled at Max, and went to work on patching her up. After he finished, he tucked her in on the couch, and got up to make her some soup. He came back about an hour later, and placed the bowl on the table in front of her.

Max felt Logan come back in to the room, and opened her eyes as she smelled the wonderful soup he had made for her. ""Thanks Logan."" Max sat up and reached for the spoon that Logan had put beside the bowl, and started to eat.

Logan sat in the chair across from her, and watched her eat. As soon as she finished, he saw her lean back on the couch. ""Do you want to tell me what happened now?""

Max looked at Logan and smiled. ""Only if you come sit by me.""

""I think I can do that."" Logan got up, and went to sit by Max. As soon as he sat down, she leaned up against him, putting her one hand over his heart, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Logan in turn wrapped his one arm around her shoulders, to hold her close.

""Well, I went over to Devon��s, and hung out there for what seemed like forever. He wasn��t there, so I just waited. Finally, he came back and all he was doing was muttering about how he didn��t know what he was going to do. Then his phone rang, and guess who it was. My own personal anti-Christ. I guess he found out that Devon had warned me earlier, and wasn��t too pleased. Soon after that, I heard an army of trucks pulling up outside. I knew it was Lydecker, and I was going to get caught, so I blew my cover, and jumped out the window, and blazed over here. How��s that for an interesting afternoon.""

Logan squeezed Max even closer to him. She had almost been captured, but something still didn��t add up. She had been close to being captured before, but it never seemed to bother her this much. ""What else is going on in that mind of yours Max?""

Max pulled away from Logan so that she could look into his eyes. ""You know me too well Logan.""

""Well?""

Max laid her head back on Logan��s shoulder. ""My conscious is eating at me. I mean, Devon saved me, for some reason, and I let him get caught. I feel I owe it to him to help him. God knows what Lydecker is going to do to him, and it��s all my fault. I have to help him, but I don��t know how, and I don��t know where to start.""

Logan leaned over to kiss Max��s head. ""Why don��t we start on it in the morning. Even Lydecker won��t move that quickly. You can crash here tonight, because you seem pretty comfortable where you are.""

Max looked up at Logan again and smiled. ""You know, I��m going to have a very difficult time explaining to Kendra why I haven��t been home in what, two days now? And then to try to explain to Normal why I should be allowed to keep my job. I don��t think even someone with my kind of background in negotiations can deal with those two.""

Logan grinned at Max. ""Well, I can��t help you with Kendra, but I think I can persuade Normal to let you keep your job. Leave that up to me. Now as for you, where do you want to sleep tonight?""

""I think right here is good.""

""Right here it is then.""

Logan and Max hugged each other, and then both drifted off into a very peaceful sleep, while holding each other in each other��s arms.

****************************

Devon woke up stiff and disorientated. He tried to open his eyes, but even when he did, everything was dark. It took him a moment to realize that he was blindfolded. His arms were tied behind his back to some kind of chair with a heavy rope. Not nearly as soft as his socks that held him to this position only days ago. Devon tried to move his legs, but found that those too were bound tightly to the chair.

""Ah, I see someone is awake.""

Devon whipped his head towards the sound of the voice, but his brain seemed to swim in his head, and he momentarily felt as though he would quickly loose consciousness again. They must have pumped me full of some kind of drug. ""Why are you doing this? Where��s my father?"" Devon felt the abrupt pain shoot through his body as the person in the room with him, backhanded him across the face.

""You don��t even deserve to call him that after what you did.""

Devon spit out some blood on the ground. ""At least I didn��t let her escape. I only warned her. You were the one that actually let her go."" Devon winced as a swift backhand was dealt to him once again.

""Very cute, but the colonel is not impressed with you one bit. Have you anything to say for yourself?""

""Not to you."" Devon once again felt the fire burn through him as yet another blow was dealt to him. His already swimming mind was screaming to shut down, and cause him to loose consciousness.

""Enough!""

Devon felt a wave of relief pass over him, but then thought better. It may be his father, but he did not tolerate any kind of diversions from the plan, and Devon had done just that. By being his son, he might even be given a harsher treatment. Devon could hear his attacker leave the room, and a door close, leaving him alone with Lydecker. He could hear his father walk up to him, and his breath hitched in his throat, preparing for the inevitable beating.

""Why did you do it son.""

Devon was taken aback by his father��s quiet tone. It was enough to get him talking. ""I couldn��t let you do it father, she��s my sister, and she seemed fine. She didn��t appear to be sick or anything. But she was different. She was fast. Faster than a normal human.""

""It��s her illness that causes that son.""

""I��ve never heard of anything that does that. Can you untie me dad?""

""Just because you��re my son doesn��t mean I��m going to take it easy on you. You disobeyed a direct order, and warned the suspect, allowing her to get away. I won��t let you free until you tell me why she was in your apartment, and where she is now.""

""I don��t know why she was in my apartment, I didn��t even know she was there!"" Devon once again felt the pain in his face that came from another well placed hit. He could feel the blood start to flow from his nose. He couldn��t help it, but he started to loose it. He was scared for his life, and even his own father was beating him. Tears started to freely run down his battered face.

""Are you crying soldier?""

""I��m not a soldier!"" Devon screamed at his father. A mistake, but he couldn��t help it.

""Where is she now?!""

""I don��t know!""

""Is she at her apartment? You know where she lives. Is she at work?""

""She wouldn��t be at her apartment. She��s almost never there. I overheard a bunch of my co-workers say that she had some rich boyfriend somewhere. She��s probably at his place.""

""Where does this boyfriend live?""

""I don��t know!""

""Why don��t you know! Do you know anything?""

""I tried following her there a bunch of times, but she always took her bike there, and she��s so fast on it, I always lost her.""

Lydecker backhanded Devon again. ""That��s not acceptable.""

Devon was freely crying now. ""Dad! Stop it! You��re hurting me! I tried to do as you asked. I tried! I really did!""

Lydecker turned away from his bloody son, and started to pace around the room. As he did, an idea began to form in his head. As it did, he left the room, to get things ready. He was going to capture Max, and he was going to use Devon to do it.

**************************

Max strolled into work, late as usual, and made it over to her locker, with a smile plastered on her face. She desperately tried to remove it from her face the whole way from Logan��s to work, but she just couldn��t get it to leave. She was just too happy. Nothing could compare to falling asleep in Logan��s arms, and then waking up in them. It was the best feeling in the world. As she sat down by her locker, she could sense Original Cindy come up behind her.

""Hey boo, someone didn��t get home last night.""

""Yes, I stayed at Logan��s, and no, we didn��t do anything.""

""Right, and that��s why you��re looking like a clown with that grin of yours.""

Max looked at Original Cindy as she sat down beside her. ""What? Can��t a girl just be happy?""

""Not when it comes to you and Logan. Something had to have happened for you to be this happy.""

Max leaned in and whispered in Cindy��s ear. ""That may be, but I��ll never tell."" Max leaned back from Cindy, and smiled at the reaction that she had caused. So, are you going to go on some runs with me, or what?""

Cindy shook her head. ""Course boo, how could I miss out on the opportunity of you slipping and telling me something?""

The two girls got up and started to head over to the front desk to pick up some packages. On their way, just as they were walking by the phone, it rang. Original Cindy looked at Max and grinned. ""Maybe it��s your boy.""

Max just rolled her eyes and answered her friend with her ever present sarcastic tone. ""Maybe you should just answer the phone.""

""Whatever you say boo."" Original Cindy picked up the phone as Max headed to the desk to get their deliveries. She knew it wasn��t Logan, because if he wanted to get a hold of her, he would��ve just paged. Max walked back over to Original Cindy and became interested in who was on the phone, since Original Cindy was yelling at whoever it was. ""No, she does not want to talk to you!... I don��t care if it��s important... She��s already got a boyfr... No I will not put her on!""

Max was shuffling through the assorted envelopes she was holding and when she locked eyes with Original Cindy, Original Cindy rolled her eyes.

""No! For the last time, I��m not putting Max on the phone!""

Max looked up at Cindy again when she heard her name. ""Who is it?""

Cindy put a hand over the mouthpiece. ""It��s that creep wannabe Devon.""

Max dropped the envelopes and package the she was holding and grabbed the phone from Cindy.

""Hey, hey, hey! Those packages aren��t yours to drop there missy!""

Max ignored both Normal��s yelling and Cindy��s look of utter bafflement, and turned away from them both so she could talk to Devon. ""Devon?""

""Hey Max! So, what you up to?"" His voice was dripping with sugary sweetness.

Max got very annoyed, very quickly. Devon wasn��t in any danger as far as she could tell. ""Working, like you should be doing, but oh yeah, Normal fired your lazy ass.""

""Well, now that I have some more new found free-time, and you had to see me so badly that you were waiting for me to get home... how about you and I hook up later tonight?""

""I don��t think so Devon."" Max turned and smiled at her friend. ""Like Original Cindy said, I have a boyfriend. Goodbye!"" Max was about to hang the phone up, when Devon��s pleading voice stopped her.

""Max! Max, wait! Don��t hang up!""

Max listened closely to Devon��s voice, and with her enhanced hearing, she could make out the sound of a gun being cocked very close to his ear, probably his temple, and a voice telling him that he better not let her hang up. Max turned her back to Original Cindy once again, and got very serious. ""Where do you need me?""

""Meet me at the abandoned warehouse on 15th in sector four at 10:00 tonight.""

""Ok, I��ll see you then."" Max hung up the phone and turned to see a very confused Original Cindy.

""Girl, that just whack.""

Max ignored Original Cindy��s comment. ""Can you cover for me today? I have to go see Logan.""

""Oh, so rich boy is still in the picture?""

""Thanks."" Max flew by Cindy and out the door, on her way to Logan��s.

*************************

""I know it��s a trap! Don��t you think I know that?"" Max was furiously pacing around the room. She had made it back to Logan��s place, and first of all she had to waste time waiting for him, because he was uncharacteristically not home when she got there, and then when he did arrive home, and Max had told him everything that had happened, he replied with one of the stupidest and most cliche lines in this line of work possible: ""Max, it��s a trap."" Max continued to pace while Logan sat on the couch and watched her. ""I have to do it Logan!""

""Why? Why do you have to do it, when it could get you killed? I highly doubt Lydecker would kill his own kid.""

""That��s how sick this man is! He would do anything to get one of his precious X-5��s!""

""Exactly why you shouldn��t go!""

""Logan, he saved my life. I have to reciprocate.""

""Maybe it��s all part of a plan, and Devon really is still working for his father, and they just did that whole set up to get you to trust him, thus luring you into this trap.""

Max stopped her pacing and looked right at Logan. ""Logan, bad guys don��t get that technical with their plans.""

Logan knew that Max was right. Defeated once again, he sighed. ""So what are you planning on doing?""

""I get in, grab the guy, and get out. Purely a box job.""

""Max, I don��t have to tell you to be careful, do I?""

Max smiled, walked over to Logan, and leaned right down into his face. ""I always am."" She closed the gap between the two of them and gave Logan a kiss on the lips. She pulled back, smiling at him. ""Now, I��m going to get changed, and no peeking while I��m doing it! I need some actual concentration tonight!"" Max walked around the back of the couch, and went into Logan��s bedroom to change into her catsuit. She made sure to leave her black lace bra under his pillow. A little gift for him because she knew that she��d be away most of the night.

************************

Devon sat nervously in his chair. He couldn��t believe that Max was going to come and get him. Maybe she isn��t coming. Then I��m as good as dead. Devon sat in the darkness of the small room he was in. I hope I actually am at the warehouse I told Max to meet me at. I don��t even know if I am. I haven��t been able to see anything.

************************

Max sat crouched a few blocks away from the warehouse, and went over the plans of the place in her head again. Logan had downloaded them for her just before she left. The warehouse design was relatively straightforward. The front door opened into the main, large room. Near the back were three small rooms that were used as offices. A short hallway in the back led to a back door, and a staircase that would take a person to the upstairs loft. The loft only reached halfway across the ceiling, so there was ample room for a squadron to lye undetected. As well, there was a catwalk that ran the length of the walls that the loft did not cover. There was a window on each side of the warehouse, one on top of the catwalk at the front of the building, and one on the back door. From her vantage point, Max could see through the front window to the loft, and could see no one there, so unless they were all waiting for her just inside the door, there was no one in there, except for Devon. Definitely a trap. Max quietly crept through the streets to the warehouse. She scanned everywhere, and couldn��t see a sole. No one was out and about tonight. Max walked up to the front door, and listened. She decided against going in the traditional way, and instead, rounded the building, and went in one of the side windows. Sure enough, near the back, Max could see three doors. Knowing that she didn��t have the time to look in all three, she went straight for the door on the right. Max had previously guessed that this was the room that most likely held Devon. She came to this conclusion by using simple logic. Lydecker would never put him in the middle room, because that is the door that most people would choose out of a group of three. She then chose the right door because in a decision between two objects, people tend to choose the one equivalent to their dominant hand. Since Lydecker was right handed, he would��ve gone for the door on the right. Max quietly crept up to the door, constantly checking to see if anyone was around her, and she keeping her senses to their peak abilities so that if anything went sideways, she��d be ready for it. Max tried the handle, but of course, the door was locked. She quickly picked it, and was in. There was no light in the room, but she could easily see Devon tied to a chair, blood still oozing out of numerous wounds on his face. Max rushed over to untie him, and as soon as she did, the door to the room slammed shut. Max tensed up, and held the swaying form of Devon close to her. Max listened carefully, and could hear the doors of the warehouse explode open, guards pouring in. She was trapped, and there was no way out.

**********************************

**********************************

Where the hell did they come from? I didn��t see them anywhere. Ok, can��t think of this right now. I have other things to worry about, like as in, how the hell am I going to get out of here? Max scanned the dark room, and in the far corner of the room, she could see a small air vent. Ok, if I didn��t have Devon here, this would be a snap to get out of, but I can��t leave him again. They��ll kill him this time for sure. Max could hear the soldiers shouting orders to close off the building, and to check out the rooms in the back and the loft for anybody. Max listened and could hear a couple of them come near her door. ""Outta time."" Max held Devon close to her so that he wouldn��t fall, and kicked the chair that he was once tied to, towards the door. She placed it perfectly, and it lodged just under the handle of the door, effectively jamming the door, and allowing her a few more precious seconds of time. Max once again looked up at the air vent. Well, here goes nothing. Max half dragged, half carried Devon to the corner with the air vent, and propped him up against the wall. Seeing that he was able to semi-stand up by himself, Max launched into the air, and kicked out the grate covering the vent. As she landed, she turned towards Devon. ""Devon! Devon, look at me!"" Max looked at Devon��s eyes and could see that he could only barely register what was going on. ""I��m going to lift you up, and you have to pull yourself inside that vent, ok?"" Max waited for a response from Devon, but only saw him slightly nod his head. Good enough. Max was about to lift Devon up when the door to the room started to shake. There must have been at least three soldiers pounding on it at once. Max was just hoisting Devon up when the guns started to go off. Devon managed to climb into the vent, and Max quickly jumped in after him, barely avoiding some stray bullets that made their way through the door into the room. Max looked at her situation, and cursed at herself. Not only had she made the mistake of letting Devon go first into the vent, now she was going to have to crawl over him to take the lead, so that she could pull him along, because she was certain he wouldn��t have been able to do it himself. I don��t want to be doing this, but I don��t have the time, or the options to do anything else. Max started to climb over the body of Devon, but then stopped. She looked him straight in the eye, and made sure that he was listening. ""Let��s get something straight here buddy. I may be trying to save your life, and I��m grateful that you saved mine and all that, but if I feel those hands of yours touching ANYTHING that they shouldn��t be? I��m leaving you in here. Fully unconscious. I don��t care what you did for me. Got it?"" Max waited once again for Devon to respond, but he was too drugged to do so. Oh well, maybe he won��t be ��rising to the occasion�� then, which is just fine with me. Max struggled to fit through the little space between Devon and the ceiling of the vent, and finally made it over him. Just as she did, the constant banging on the door ceased when the men finally made it through. Max cringed, expecting the absolute worst, but then half a second later, everything stopped. An explosion ripped through the front of the building, blowing into the room, but stopping short of the vent. Max put her hands over her ears and ducked behind Devon. Better him getting hurt than me. Max looked quickly over at Devon to make sure that he wasn��t bleeding profusely or, at all, for that matter. What the hell was that? Max started to grab part of Devon��s shirt. I��ll think about it later. Max took the opportunity of all the chaos to quickly drag Devon through the maze of vents. Why couldn��t this be easy, and the vent just go straight from the room to the outdoors? I swear, I never have any luck. Soon she could feel a cool breeze that could only come from outside air. She made it to an opening, kicked out the grate that was separating her and Devon from freedom, and looked down to the ground below. Somehow the vents had angled up, and she was now about a story and a half up. No problem. Max turned herself around, dropped out of the vent, still holding on to Devon, and landed on the ground below, but slumped slightly because of the extra weight of Devon. The cool air seemed to do him good, and he finally started to come around.

Devon looked up at the person supporting him, but couldn��t quite get his eyes to focus. ""Max?""

Finally hearing him talk, Max spun her head to look Devon in the eye. ""I don��t have time to explain. Can you walk?""

Devon nodded. ""I think so.""

""Ok, ��cause we have to get moving."" Max took a second to get her bearings, and realized that she was on the opposite side of the building from where her bike was. Damn it. Nothing��s ever easy for me. Max looked in front of her, and saw an alleyway. She and Devon quickly walked down it for a few blocks, away from the warehouse, and then turned towards the street where Max had earlier left her bike. As they crossed the road that the warehouse stood on, Max stopped briefly to look at the melee of people in front of a brightly burning building. There were two humvees that were on their sides, obviously having been blown over by the blast. There was a group of soldiers standing around the two of them apparently trying to get people out of them. The street itself was littered in debris from the warehouse, which was no longer a warehouse, and men running, screaming instructions and orders into radios that they held in their hands. Max stared in awe at the once huge building which was now a pile of rubble, save for the rooms in the back. The sides of the building were largely still intact, but were burning rapidly and wouldn��t last too much longer. Using her enhanced vision, Max looked towards the middle of the building, and could see the charred remains of several bodies, some of them being the soldiers that were so close to getting her moments before the blast ripped through the place. A movement among the wreckage caught her eye. Max looked towards it, and could see Lydecker. He was walking through the rubble, and then stopped and turned towards one of the soldiers, whom he promptly started yelling at. It��s not the poor guys fault that the building suddenly erupted. Speaking of which, how exactly did that happen? Logan. Had to be. Max felt a smile creep across her face, but she quickly erased it as she got her mind back on the task at hand. Still holding up a not-too-with-it Devon, Max made her way down several blocks to her bike. Once there, she helped Devon get on, and revved the engine. Hmmm, let��s make this fun. Max turned her bike around, and headed straight towards Lydecker. Revving her engine even more, so as to make as much noise as possible, Max came up on Lydecker, and threw him a quick smile and a wave, and rode off into the depths of Seattle. After almost an hour of driving, Max made it to one of the streets in downtown Seattle that was virtually impossible to get to in a car. She stopped by a makeshift hut, and turned her engine off. She dismounted her bike, and helped Devon to get off as well. At this point, the drugs in his system had begun to run their course, and he was feeling much more with it. ""Ok Devon, this is where I let you off.""

Devon climbed off of Max��s bike, and turned to look at her as she dismounted as well. ""Max, wait. What do I do now?""

""Well, I would suggest lying low here for awhile. I��ll get a friend of mine to get you some sector passes, and a new identity. Then, I think going to Canada would be a good place to get away from your father.""

""Shouldn��t you be running too?""

""Nah, I��ve got some things that will be keeping me here for awhile. I��ll be fine.""

Devon looked away from Max��s stare. He couldn��t look in her eyes as he prepared to ask her some questions to which he desperately seeked the answers. ""So Max, are you really sick?""

""Is that what Lydecker told you?""

""Yeah, he said that you and some guy named Zack were really sick, and that��s why he kept you at the hospital.""

""Let me tell you, we weren��t the sick ones at that hospital.""

""So then, I guess, you aren��t really my sister then are you?"" Devon looked up at Max with sheepish eyes.

""No, I��m not."" Max watched as a devilish grin started to creep it��s way across Devon��s face.

""Well good then, because I think I can think of a great way to thank you...""

Max looked at Devon with disgust. ""Ugh, goodbye Devon."" Max started to get on her bike. ""Meet me tomorrow on South Market street by the bus stop. Until then, just hide out or something."" Max shooed him away with her hand and after watching him uncomfortably sink into the shadows of the night, Max revved her bike and headed off towards some much needed comfort.

*********************

""So I guess I have you to thank for saving my ass out there today."" Max came up behind Logan, who was sitting at his computer desk, and ran her hands down his shoulders, allowing them to come to a rest on his chest. She rested her chin on his shoulder, and closed her eyes, knowing that she could finally relax.

Logan, had heard Max come in, so he was expecting her and didn��t jump when he felt her hands on his body. He leaned his head against hers, and rested his hands on top of hers. ""Why, what happened?"" Logan smiled even though he knew Max couldn��t see it.

Max pulled away, playfully slapped Logan on the back, and watched as he turned around to look at her. ""Oh please. I think Eyes Only must��ve had a little something to do with that massive explosion that took out an entire building in sector four today.""

Logan feigned surprise. ""An entire building? Wow, maybe I should check up on this. It could be a great story!""

""Or..."" Max sat down in his lap and put her arms around his neck. She felt a warmth spread through her body as he wrapped his arms around her waist. ""You could do me a favor.""

Logan leaned in and started to nuzzle Max��s neck. ""Anything.""

Max jumped up from her seat and put her hands on her hips, leaving Logan looking lost. She smiled at him. ""Good. I need you to put together a new identity and anything else that Devon would need to get out of the city and to start a new life.""

""Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don��t remember signing on to help out the guy that was hitting on you for so long.""

Max walked over to Logan��s computer desk, and leaned suggestively over it. ""I��ll make it worth your while.""

Logan looked at her, and instantly broke his resolve. ""Fine, but only for you.""

Max stood up and hugged Logan. ""Thanks. I think I��ll get a snack while you do that.""

Logan chuckled. ""Help yourself.""

""You know I will!"" Max was about to head out into the kitchen when she stopped. ""And I think I��ll crash here tonight. Sound good?""

Logan turned to look at her. ""Of course. Oh, and, thanks for the little present you left me by the way.""

Max smiled, and left to make herself a snack and to settle in for the night.

******************************

The next morning, Max was once again standing in Logan��s computer room. She went to take the package from Logan that he was holding in his hands. In it was a passport, some ID, a ticket to Canada, and some money. Before she could get her fingers on it though, Logan pulled it away. ""What are you doing?""

""I thought that I��d come with you, that��s all.""

Max stood straight up, and put a hand on her hip. ""Logan, I think I can handle giving Devon this myself.""

""I know, but I just figured that it would give us some time to get out, go for a walk or something. Maybe pick something up for dinner tonight.""

Max sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing that no matter how much she protested, Logan wanted to come with her for some reason. Probably wants to check out this guy that��s been hitting on his girl. Oh well, it could be an interesting scene. Max laughed under her breath, but Logan caught it.

""Care to let me in on the joke?""

""No, I think this one is for my enjoyment only.""

""Oh really?""

Max nodded her head.

""Well if that��s the case, are you ready to go?""

""Logan, I��ve been ready since I got here.""

""Right."" Logan stood up, and he and Max left the apartment. After making it to the street, they both climbed into his Aztec, and drove off towards South Market. Once there, Logan pulled the car over to the side, and the two got out to walk the rest of the way to the bus stop, casually stopping at vendors here and there to see if anything struck their fancy.

After a few minutes of walking, they finally came within eyesight of the bus stop, and Max scanned the crowd for any signs of Devon. She saw him near the front of the bus, hiding behind a baseball cap that he had pulled down over his eyes. ""There he is.""

Logan looked up to see where Max was pointing. ""Where?""

""The guy with the cap on, over near the front of the bus."" Max turned towards Logan and stuck out her hand. ""Can I have the passport now?""

Logan once again pulled the envelope out of Max��s reach. ""No, I want to meet this guy.""

Max sighed. She didn��t feel like arguing in such a public place, and she knew that they didn��t have time to do it anyways, because Devon��s bus was set to leave in mere moments. ""Fine. Come on."" Max grabbed Logan��s hand, and pulled him towards Devon. ""Devon! Hey, this is my friend Logan. The one who got you your ID and everything.""

Devon looked up at the man in front of him. ""Hey, thanks man. I really owe you one.""

Logan sized the boy that was standing in front of him up. Definitely no match for me. I don��t care how egotistical that sounds, because I��m the one with the girl, and he��s the one fleeing the country. Logan then turned to Max. ""Hey Max, I think I saw a booth over there that was selling fresh chickens. Why don��t you see if you can get us one?""

Max looked towards where Logan was pointing. ""Where? I didn��t see it.""

""Right over there! Quick, I think there��s only one left!""

""Whatever, I don��t see it, but I��ll go look anyways."" Max turned to Devon and gave him a quick hug. ""Good luck in your new life Devon.""

""Thanks Max. For everything.""

""No big dealio."" Max looked up at Logan who was trying to make his face contort into one that showed anxiousness for getting a chicken. ""Ok, ok, I��m going. But I still don��t see it."" Max walked away, and left the two boys standing there together.

""Ok, in this package is a passport, an ID, your ticket to Canada, and some money."" Logan handed the package to Devon, who took it.

""Thanks man, I don��t know what I would��ve done without you and Max.""

""Yeah, about that."" Logan looked at Max��s retreating form, and when he felt that she was far enough away that even with her enhanced hearing she wouldn��t be able to hear him from where she was, he turned back to Devon.

Devon looked up from the package which he had been sorting through to see the once friendly blue eyes of Max��s friend, staring him down. ""Hey man...""

Logan leaned in and grabbed Devon��s shirt with one hand, pushed him against the side of the bus, and leaned into his ear. ""Listen kid. Let��s get some things straight here."" Logan inwardly smiled when he heard Devon gulp. ""First of all, the ONLY reason I��m helping you out here is because Max asked me to do it. If it was up to me, I would��ve let Lydecker keep you. Secondly, I do not want to see you in Seattle EVER again. Get into Canada, and then where ever you go from there, I don��t care, but if Max ever comes and tells me that you��re in town, and especially if she says that you were hitting on her again, I will personally find you, and kick your ass. Got it?""

Devon could only nod. He knew this guy meant business. ""Uh huh!""

Logan let go of Devon, and then walked around the side of the bus in the direction of Max, leaving Devon standing looking bewildered. When Logan caught sight of Max, he immediately put on his winning grin and walked up to her. ""Hey you.""

""You just threatened Devon, didn��t you?""

Logan feigned surprise. ""Me? What makes you think I��d ever do something like that?""

""Because if you did, I think that maybe that would make you an even manlier man in my eyes, thus creating a wonderful evening for you."" Max leaned into Logan, wrapped her arms around his body, and looked up into his face, grinning seductively.

Logan caught the underlying meaning in Max��s grin and gave her one of his own. ""Well, maybe I did then.""

Max pulled back. ""I can��t believe you did that!"" Her resolve to keep her statement serious, with a slight twinge of sarcasm, was lost when she broke out laughing.

Logan pulled her into a fierce hug. ""Anything for you. Speaking of which, did you get that chicken?""

""I didn��t see anyone selling...""

Logan chuckled, and pulled Max into a kiss, effectively shutting her up. They pulled away from their embrace in time to see Devon��s bus driving away. ""Well, there goes one more problem solved.""

""Good thing too, because I��m hungry, and we��ve got a long drive back to your place.""

Logan looked to Max and smiled. ""Well, let��s see what we can find for dinner than, shall we?"" Logan held out his hand, which Max quickly took in her own, and the two walked through the market for the remainder of the day, searching for anything that they could use for dinner that night.

***************************

***************************

Two weeks later:

Logan carefully kept his eyes on the road, but at the same time, kept glancing over at his love. He wished that they were on the road going to his uncle�s cabin for their honeymoon, like they had been doing in that dream that he had had not too long ago. They weren�t, but this was close enough. He had everything planned out, and knew in his mind that this would be a weekend that neither of them would ever forget. He had even promised Max that before they had left, causing her to give in and go away on this mystery weekend that he had refused to tell her anything about. Everything had finally calmed down in their lives, and they both felt that they needed some time away from the world for a change. It had been a couple of weeks since Max had managed to save Devon, and Logan had arranged a new identity for him, allowing him to basically drop off the face of the planet. Lydecker was put in his place once again by a smooth gesture from Max that she had described to Logan later on that night over dinner, and, with a huge sum of money coming his way, Normal was letting Max do whatever she wanted, thus allowing her to take a long vacation. According to Logan, everything was right with the world for a change. Logan smiled at the thought of this moment of peace that both he and Max deserved so much. Finally giving in to the beauty of the girl beside him, he broke the silence that was hanging in the air. "Like I promised Max, I�m going to make sure that this is a weekend that you will never forget."

"And why is that again?"

"Because, this has been my ultimate fantasy with you for as long as I can remember."

"Can you at least tell me where we�re going then? Let me in on this little fantasy dealio of yours?"

"I think I�ll make you wait." Logan turned to look at the girl beside him once more after making sure he was still in the proper lane on the road. This time as he looked at her, he took in every detail, even more so than he normally did. She sat slouched against the seat, no longer holding onto the rigidity that Manticore had once required of her. Her beautiful eyes were completely covered by a dark black blindfold that he had placed over them before he and Max had even left his apartment. Max sat facing forward, looking out the front window, and seemed to be trying with all of her might to figure out just where the heck they were going. A grin was firmly plastered on her face, as she turned to face her tormenter.

"Well, all I can say is, this better be worth all the secrecy."

Logan smiled at her, even though she couldn't see it, and slightly leaned towards her to place a quick peck on her head. He made sure that it was quick, because he had to keep his eyes on the road. "It is, trust me." After a few more minutes of driving, they arrived at their destination, and Logan stopped the car, put it in park, and pulled the key out of the ignition. He got out of the car, and made his way around to Max�s side so that he could help her out. He opened the door, and took her hand in his.

She carefully stepped out of the car and stretched, taking in a deep breath. "Hmmm, we�re at your uncle�s cabin!"

Logan looked to Max with surprise written on his face, but then shook his head and laughed slightly. "Damn those enhanced senses!"

Max chuckled at Logan. "Hey, what can I do? I can�t help it!"

"Ok fine, but don�t be using them too much. I don�t want you to totally guess what the surprise is!"

Max pouted her pout that she knew Logan couldn�t resist. Logan sighed, and pulled her towards the cabin, being extra careful that she wouldn�t trip on the stairs. Once inside, he led her to the couch, and sat her down. "Ok, now don�t move, and DON�T think about taking off that blindfold!"

Max opened her mouth and drew in a breath to get ready for her next words. "I�m not!"

Logan smiled, thinking back to the last time they were in this situation. He had stood up in front of her for the first time. He smiled, thinking back to that wonderful moment, but he quickly got back to the task at hand. Logan kneeled in front of Max, and placed his hands on her thighs. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on her forehead. "Good. I�ll be back in a bit. I just have to get some things together. Now, no snooping around! Just sit there and be a good girl."

"Yes sir!" Max gave Logan a mock salute, and smiled when he kissed her again. As soon as he left, Logan had managed to leave Max wondering about what he was going to do. He said that this was his ultimate fantasy with me. I wonder what it is? And we�re at his uncle�s cabin, so it could be anything! Maybe a dinner? No, we do that all the time. Flowers? Nah, that�s not an ultimate fantasy. I can�t even think straight. With all the training I�ve been forced to do in my life, I should be able to come up with something that he wants to do with me. I just can�t seem to do it right now. How anyone could have such an effect on me to make me not even think straight, I�ll never know.

"Ok, you ready?"

Logan�s sudden presence in the room and his words, dragged Max out of her thoughts. "As ready as I�ll ever be. Can I take off the blindfold yet?"

"Not yet. Don�t worry, I�ll tell you when!" Logan reached for Max�s hand, and pulled her to her feet. "Come on."

Max felt Logan�s hand touch hers, and her heart started to race. Then once again, she was being led somewhere. She used all of her senses, even though Logan had told her not to, but it was simply out of habit. She could feel the warm air of the night on her face as she and Logan went outside. After a bit of walking, Max could hear the sounds of water lapping up on shore. Logan was silent, and his hand on her leg made her jump.

"It�s ok Max, just lift your leg."

Max obediently did so, letting Logan guide her, and when she put her foot down, the ground moved below it. It�s a boat! Understanding what she was getting into, Max felt a bit more confidence as to understanding the situation, rush through her body. She fully climbed on board, and felt her way to one of the seats so she could sit down. As she moved to get more comfortable, Max could feel the boat shift in the water as Logan got in. The engine roared to life, and as they picked up speed, Max could feel the wind brushing past her face as they rode out into the darkness. Max closed her eyes, even though they were already blindfolded, and let out a happy sigh. This reminded her so much of her Ninja, and all the happy nights she spent on it, racing through the streets of Seattle. It was one of the best feelings in the world, and it was being re-created right here. Logan looked at Max in concern when he heard her sigh, but when he saw her face, he knew exactly what she was thinking about. Max could sense Logan standing right in front of her, steering the boat, so she decided to play. She reached up, and grabbed his lower half in a hug. She then pulled back so she could run her hands up and down his legs.

Logan tried as best he could to ignore Max�s ministrations to his legs, but he just couldn�t do it. Finally he gave up, and put a hand over one of Max�s. "Max, if you�re going to do that, I might crash this boat."

"Logan, as far as I can tell, we�re in the middle of a lake. There�s nothing to crash into."

Logan sighed. "Max, move over to the other chair."

Max smiled knowing that she had gotten to him. "Yes sir!" Max felt for the other chair, and slid herself across the space between the two seats, and sat down. After a few more minutes, Logan turned off the engine of the boat, let it come to a stop, and threw the anchor overboard so that they wouldn�t drift. Sensing that the ride was over, Max looked towards where she thought Logan would be standing. "Can I take off the blindfold yet?"

Logan laughed at Max�s over-eagerness. "Patience my dear Max, patience."

"Yeah well, I was once told that I don�t have a great deal of patience. But for you, I think I can make an exception." Max once again jumped when she felt Logan touch her. This time it was because his lips covered hers.

"Thanks." Logan stood up, leaving Max wanting more, and finished preparing his surprise for her. When he was finished, he sat down on the floor across from Max, made sure that everything was perfect, and finally looked up at her. "Ok, you can take off your blindfold now."

Max was so full of excitement for what was about to happen that it took her a few seconds to process Logan�s statement. Once it had rattled its way through her brain, Max slowly reached up and untied the piece of cloth that had kept her from knowing what was going on for so long. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, but once they did, Max was taken aback in awe. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a speed boat. One that was similar to the one that she, Eric and Hannah had escaped Sedro Island on all those months ago. She was facing forward, out towards the lake, and all around her, the only light that pierced through the night sky was coming from the hundreds of candles that were set up all around the boat, burning brightly, creating a most romantic mood. Logan was nowhere to be seen, so Max slowly turned around in her chair. There was Logan, sitting on the floor of the boat, leaning against the back, surrounded by candles. He was holding two glasses of red wine, and had his arms extended out towards her. Max couldn�t believe how romantic this setting was. She got up out of her chair, and crossed the few steps toward where Logan was, not once letting her eyes stray from his. She lowered herself down, took a glass from one of his hands, and snuggled up beside him. "Logan, this is an amazing fantasy. I can�t believe the things you can come up with in that head of yours." Allowing herself to fully relax, and become lost in the moment, Max looked all around her, and all she could see was water. Logan had taken them to the middle of the lake, and land, like all of their problems, was far, far away.

Logan looked down at Max, and could see that she was taking in all of her surroundings. Only a month ago, he would never have been this forward with Max, but tonight was something special, and he had promised her that this would be a weekend that she would never forget. "But this isn�t the extent of my fantasy."

Max put her wine glass down, and propped herself up so that she could look into Logan�s eyes. "No? Well, what is the full extent of your fantasy then Mr. Cale?"

Logan looked off into the distance, over Max�s shoulder as he responded. "Well, in my fantasy, I take you out to the middle of the lake, where it�s just you and me, and a lot of candles, and...." Logan looked right into Max�s eyes and grinned wickedly.

It only took Max a second to put together the rest of Logan�s sentence, and his grin helped to clarify everything. She raised an eyebrow, and seductively moved on top of Logan. "Oh really? Well, I think I can arrange that last little part."

"Good." And with that, after setting down his own wine glass, Logan grabbed the back of Max�s head, and pulled her lips down to his waiting mouth.

Max pulled away for a split second, but kept her eyes closed to preserve the moment. "You know, this all came about because of a stupid holiday, and some gifts."

Before capturing Max�s mouth once again, Logan answered her statement. "Yeah, but they were thoughtful gifts."

*************************

Sequel: Haunted Truths