Disclaimer: Dark Angel is owned by Charles Eglee, James Cameron, and Fox. I claim no rights to these characters.

Timeframe: The very beginning and end take place after Proof of Purchase. The main story takes place somewhere between Out and Art Attack.

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There was so much mail that morning, a few days before Logan's birthday, that the mail carrier buzzed for someone to come down and pick it up. Bling offered to go, and Logan, lost in work, nodded without even looking up.

Bling quietly closed the door and waited in the hall for the elevator, frowning.

He wasn't around Logan nearly as much these days, now that Logan was so much more independent. Being up and around part of the time meant he needed less physical therapy, though given the difficult situation with Max, he seemed to need a friend more than ever. Someone who could offer a shoulder to lean on and a foot firmly applied to his rear end when necessary. Which was why Bling had taken to dropping in now and then, unannounced, even if they didn't have any work to do.

Today the excuse was early birthday greetings. Logan had acted glad enough to see him, but Bling saw the signs of strain, too. The big pile of work on the desk, the messy hair, the used coffee cup on the desk with a skin of curdled cream. Fifteen minutes ago Logan had said he would be done working in five minutes, tops. Yeah, right.

Well, this pile of mail would give them something to talk about. He went back to the apartment.

Logan took the stack of mail and flipped through it quickly. Bills. Catalogues filled with things he couldn't afford any more. Birthday cards. Thick white and cream-colored envelopes from the Cales, bright blue and red and purple envelopes from his old college friends, pale yellow with Bennett and Marianne's return address in the left corner. Well, he wasn't exactly in a festive mood right now. This could wait until later. He pushed the bundle to the side of the desk and turned back to the computer. "Just give me one more second to finish this off," he said to Bling.

"What, you're not going to open them?" Bling asked lightly.

"No. I'm not."

"Might be a check or two in there, don't you think?"

Logan scowled, then, seeing that Bling wasn't going to budge, picked up the stack of cards and quickly slit them open. "Aunt Margo. No check. Aunt Clara. No check, long illegible note. Bennett and Marianne. House picture. Michael and Laura. Baby picture. Stephanie and Chris. Baby picture and house picture. And so on." Again he dropped the mail on the desk and turned back to the computer. Now maybe Bling would go away.

But Bling didn't move. "What's wrong with this one?" he asked, reaching for a plain white envelope poking out from under the messy pile. Logan tried to grab it but Bling was too quick for him.

"Smith," he read. He frowned at Logan. "This is from Samantha and David. Thought you'd be eager for news of Maria."

Exasperated, Logan pushed away from the desk. "Last I heard, Maria was doing just fine. And I'm sure Maria is still doing just fine. Now, are you going to stop acting like my mother and let me finish up here?"

"Hey, whatever, man." Shaking his head, Bling tossed him the envelope and went to the kitchen for something to drink. The office fell silent.

He returned there to find Logan still sitting next to the desk, envelope in hand, gazing towards the windows. Bling set his glass down on a pile of papers and sat on the corner of the desk.

"Hey. Want to tell me about it?"

Startled, Logan jumped. "Yeah, I guess." Sighing, he moved back to the desk and carefully propped the envelope against the keyboard, running his thumb gently over the return address before turning back to Bling. "It's pretty simple, really. I just don't want to tell them how it is now with Max and me."

"Not like it's your fault."

"Yeah, well, whatever. They had high hopes for us. As usual, I get to disappoint them."

"Didn't I just say, not your fault?"

Logan ignored him. "Remember that time Max and I went out to their farm? When the Langford corruption trial was happening?"

"Sure."

"I made some promises then. Promises it looks like I won't be keeping any time soon."

Bling folded his arms, settled onto the desk. "You never did tell me much about that trip. Want to do it now?"

Logan hesitated, then gave in. "Why not. Might as well live in the past. I'm not getting much else done today."

"You're doing plenty of feeling sorry for yourself."

"You're damned right I am. Do you want to hear this story or not?"

Bling grinned. "I'm all yours."

Logan began to talk.

It had started on a workday afternoon. The telephone rang and Logan, deep into some DMV files he'd finally accessed with another hacker's help, glanced at the display. Don't know that area code, he thought. I'll let the machine get it. He turned his attention back to his work, until he heard a familiar voice.

"Logan? Are you there? It's Sam. If you're there, could you pick up?"

Sam? Samantha Smith? Quickly Logan picked up the telephone. "Sam, I'm here. Hang on a second --" He hit the stop button on the answering machine. "Okay. Hey, how are you?"

"We're fine, Logan, thanks. " Static began to crackle through the line. "It's just that we haven't talked to you --" Her voice disappeared, then returned. "-- a little worried --" More static. "--Maria is scheduled to testify next week at the corruption trial and --"

The trial! Alarmed, Logan quickly copied Sam's number from the display. "This is a terrible connection. Hang up, Sam, I'll call you back." He didn't know whether she could hear him. To his relief, she picked up on his first ring, and the line was clear. "What's wrong?" he asked, the DMV files forgotten.

"Oh, Logan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Sam apologized. "I hate to bother you with this, but you never know .... David and I both think you should hear it."

"Is Maria all right?" Please, Logan thought, not another job gone wrong. He realized his hands were sweating.

"She's fine. It's just that ... well, she thinks someone is following her. " Sam sounded embarrassed. "David and I have done everything we can to reassure her. We've driven her to school. We've checked all the farm buildings before we go to bed at night. We lock the doors." She sighed. "Honestly, I think it's the stress of the trial, knowing she'll see people from the prison again. But she's absolutely convinced that something is wrong and nothing David and I say or do can calm her down. She's asking for Max. She thinks Max will protect her."

Logan relaxed. This was something he knew how to handle. "Tell you what, Sam. What if I could persuade Max to spend a couple of days out in the fresh country air? Think that would make Maria feel better?"

"Oh, could you? She would love it, and honestly, we would too. I know it's silly, but she's actually got us a bit spooked. And," Sam hesitated again, "why don't you come too? We haven't seen you since --"

She stopped, but it wasn't hard for Logan to finish the thought. Since you nearly got yourself killed. He hadn't gone along when Max took Maria to her new home. Max had been in the mood for a motorcycle trip and he'd been grateful for that. It had been a good excuse to avoid introducing Sam and David to this year's fashion accessory, the wheelchair. Which was something he still wanted to avoid.

"Actually, I'm in the middle of a huge project right now and time's kind of tight."

"Another time, then." Sam sounded disappointed. "But I hope Max can make it. Give me a call as soon as you know, okay?"

Probably would have been good manners to ask Max before I signed her up, he thought as he hung up the phone. But he had already seen the way she instinctively nurtured and protected kids, and Maria was no exception. Besides, Max would jump all over any excuse to take a good long ride out of the city on her bike -- for some reason, thinking about the bike made him uneasy for a moment, but he couldn't figure out why -- well, no time to worry about that now.

Better page Max before she made plans. Just like I'm calling her for a date, he thought, then sighed. Not much chance of that. He'd promised himself after Max came back to Seattle that he would not cross that line. What she had done that day had shaken him more than he liked to admit. It had been such a loving, generous, and utterly stupid thing to do. He was older and presumably wiser, which made it his responsibility to see that nothing he did or said from now on would ever encourage her to take another risk like that. Not for him.

When he turned around to reach for the telephone, Max was there, leaning against the wall and watching him with that little smile on her face.

This tendency of hers show up unannounced sometimes caught him off guard. Those were the days when he had to discipline himself strictly, act indifferent almost to the point of rudeness, just to keep her from seeing his feelings all over his face. But today was a good day. He'd been looking for her anyway, so he was able to say hello cheerfully, like a friend, instead of some pathetic creep who obsessed about her night and day.

"Hey, I was just going to page you. If you're not doing anything special for the next couple of days I've got a very nice offer for you." The minute the words were out of his mouth he wanted to take them back. They sounded like the lamest come-on line in the world. But Max laughed.

"That sounds interesting. What's up?" she asked, sauntering over to the desk.

He explained the call from Sam. Max frowned. "What makes you so sure someone isn't following Maria?" she asked.

"Who would care, Max? Our friend the warden was what the old-timers call a two-bit hack. I'm surprised they even bothered to prosecute his people."

She thought it over for a minute, then shrugged. "If you say so." He definitely had the feeling she planned to make up her own mind about it. As usual. Then she grinned. "A couple of days on the farm sounds great. Normal's too depressed to care whether I show up right now anyway. What time should I be here?"

"Be here? Oh. No. I'm not going."

"What, you're blowing them off again? I thought you said they were 'dear friends' of yours."

"They are." Why did she always make him feel so flustered? "I just have a lot of work and --"

"Yeah, work. Well, suit yourself. Just hand over my oil and I'll be on the road in no time -- What?" she broke off, watching him suspiciously.

Oh no. No, no, no. That was the bad thing about the bike. He'd promised Max a case of oil today as payment for a little favor. That's what she was doing here. She had come to pick up the oil. Which he did not have, because he had been too busy working to remember.

Seeing his face, Max gasped. "You didn't! Tell me you did not!"

"Max, I'm really sorry, I spent all day --"

"You promised!" She was really angry, and he couldn't blame her. She grabbed the telephone from the desk and thrust it at him. "Call somebody. Do it right now," she commanded. Meekly Logan dialed the number of the garage. No answer, of course.

"Listen." She leaned forward until her sweet-smelling dark hair was inches from his face. "I'll be back here at 3 PM tomorrow. You have twenty-four hours to get that oil for me, 'cause I'm spending tomorrow night in the country." With a last glare she was out the door, which slammed resoundingly behind her.

Well, at least for now he wouldn't have to worry about keeping his distance from her.

The three-PM-tomorrow deadline found Logan waiting outside Max's building, car keys in hand, dreading the moment when a very pissed-off Max would become even more pissed. The moment when he explained that his contact had rushed to his sick mother's bedside and couldn't possibly get his hands on that case of oil until Sunday at the earliest.

Which was how it turned out. Upon hearing the news Max cut loose with a spectacular tirade right there on the sidewalk, ending with the outraged question, "Now what am I supposed to do?"

In answer Logan held up the car keys.

"What's that mean? Are you lending me your car?"

"No," he replied. "I'm driving you out there. Get in."

Max stalked past him, jerked the passenger door open, then stood with hands on hips. "Where's your bag?" she demanded.

"Don't have one," he answered, trying to roll past her, but she blocked his way.

"You're not staying? You're going to dump me out there with no transportation?" Her voice rose indignantly.

"Max," he said, as patiently and quietly as he could, "get in the car, and let me get in the car, and I'll explain, okay?" After a final glare she threw her backpack on the floor and sat with arms crossed, refusing to so much as look at him. They passed the sector checkpoint and got on the highway in ominous silence.

Finally she said, "So are you gonna sit there, or are you gonna break this down for me about how you're not sticking around but you're not dumping me out there either?"

Logan glanced over at her. She was still furious, and she still wouldn't look at him, and in spite of all that his heart melted at the sight of her. For a moment he was tempted to hope that maybe just a little of that disappointment was about him, wanting to have him around for a day or two ... and then he caught himself. That was now forbidden thinking. His voice was colder than he meant it to be when he answered her.

"I'm not dumping you out there, Max. I'm dropping you off. If you need to go somewhere Sam and David do have a truck, you know. It's not like all they have is a horse and buggy."

"Would have been better with my bike."

"Again, Max, I'm sorry about your bike."

"And if it's so great out there, why aren't you gonna hang?"

Logan sighed. If only he had remembered to pick up that damned case of oil, he wouldn't have to answer that question, now or later at the farm when Sam and David asked it more politely. "You've seen the house, Max. It's old. Narrow doorways, two sets of stairs ... should I keep going, or are you getting the picture?"

For the first time since yesterday her face softened. "Don't be an idiot. I'll cover it. You shouldn't have to stay away from your friends on account of --"

He cut her off. "I don't want you to cover it. You're there for Maria, not for me, remember?"

"Ever heard of multi-tasking?" she snapped, and when he didn't answer she folded her arms again and resumed staring out the passenger window. Then, after several silent miles: "If we're not gonna talk, can we at least have some music?"

"You can check, but I don't think I brought any CDs."

Actually, he knew he hadn't, but searching would keep her busy, and give him time to collect his feelings, which were threatening to overwhelm him despite his earlier resolve. The last thing he wanted to hear at the moment was music.

He had more or less stopped listening to music since the shooting, even at home. He didn't like the emotions it provoked in him, or the memories of freedom and health and how it felt to dance, or any of those other things that were now gone from his life. He had made the mistake of music the afternoon he drove Max and Zack to the cabin to begin their flight to Canada, trying to cover the awkward silence in the car. By that night his heart had been breaking. The night he truly realized for the first time how much he cared for Max. Now they were always linked together in his mind, music and Max, and today he didn't want either one of them there. This trip, which he hadn't wanted to make in the first place -- and wouldn't have had to make if it were not for his own stupidity -- was going to be hard enough.

It might have been fun to make this trip with her, he thought regretfully. Working together to help Maria would have made it safe, would have set the kinds of boundaries and limits on his behavior that he had to struggle to impose on himself. But now, given Max's state of mind, he could kiss that opportunity goodbye.

And of course, the part of it he really wanted to kiss goodbye drew closer with every passing mile. That was the moment he had learned, in this past year, to dread. The moment anyone from his old life met him for the first time in the wheelchair.

No matter how hard they tried, no matter how good their intentions, they could never quite hide their reactions. Sometimes it was pity, sometimes it was sadness, sometimes it was discomfort. He had learned after the first few excruciatingly awkward times that he had to take the lead, because no one else ever really knew how to act.

Even tough-as-nails Max had been hesistant, tentative, unsure of him and herself, the first time. He had only been able to stand her unspoken sympathy by reminding himself that at least she had showed up, which a lot of other people, people he'd known much longer, hadn't been able to do. He had been cold and tough and it had done both of them good --

"You missed the turn," Max said suddenly.

"What?"

"I said, you missed the turn. Back there." Max pointed her thumb over her shoulder.

Enough wallowing. Trying to ignore his sinking heart, Logan made a U-turn and pulled into the lane that led to the farmhouse.

As it turned out, though, he wasn't the center of attention at all. That honor went to Max, who spotted Maria waiting on the porch and practically jumped out of the car as it rolled to a stop. By the time Logan shut off the engine David and Sam had joined them, and all Logan could see of Max was the top of her dark head as everyone embraced her. Watching from the car, he smiled. She looked so right in the middle of a loving family.

"Hey!" Over Max's shoulder David finally noticed him. He bounded down the porch steps, reaching in through the car window to grasp Logan's hand, grinning. "You devil! I thought you weren't coming!"

"Long story. I ended up playing chauffeur." Logan suddenly realized that despite his fears it was wonderful to see David again. He found himself returning the handshake gladly.

"Lucky you." David glanced up at the porch, where Max stood with her arm around Maria. "It's good to see you, man. Can I help you with anything?" There it was, the unavoidable. Logan sighed.

"You can grab that bag over there. I've got the rest, thanks." By the time David retrieved Max's backpack from the passenger side of the car and returned to the driver's side, Logan was nearly finished getting out of the car. He had learned early on that if he was quick and efficient about unloading and setting up the chair, other people were usually happy to stand back and let him do his thing without feeling obligated to help. Which was just the way Logan liked it.

Today, the whole busy process spared him from looking into David's eyes. He didn't really want to see what was there. Max, Maria, and Sam had already disappeared into the house. David set the backpack on the porch and said, "Can I show you around?"

"Lead the way," Logan replied with more confidence than he actually felt. There was a big difference between wheeling the chair over the smooth hardwood apartment floors and the sidewalks and parking lots in Seattle, and this hard, cold, bumpy, farmyard that actually sloped up to the barn. Logan let David walk ahead while he tried to adjust to the terrain. Good thing he'd been working out. Still, the effort, not to mention the anxiety, made him breathless and sweaty, even in the winter chill. He was concentrating too hard to listen to casual conversation.

"--fifty cows now," David was saying proudly as they stopped next to a pasture fence. Logan quickly put his hands in his lap to hide the trembling in his arms. "I'm almost afraid to say it, but I think I'm going to turn a small profit this year. Not quite what you'd have expected from me back at Yale, is it?"

"Yeah. Funny how things turn out, huh?" He hadn't meant that to be about himself at all, but somehow the bitterness crept into his voice anyway. Instantly David became serious.

"I'm sorry. Here I am babbling about myself and I haven't even asked how you're doing." But that's good, Logan wanted to say. You don't know how great it feels when people forget. But before he could find a way to tell David so, the door of the farmhouse banged open and Max was shouting across the yard.

"I'm starving! Dinner's ready!"

David waved back at her. "Well, let's go eat," he said to Logan.

Logan's heart sank. Sometimes forgetting could go too far. How on earth was he going to get into the house? He'd rather drive back to Seattle on an empty stomach than be carried inside.

"Hey Max, come out here a second. I need you," David shouted over his head.

Max appeared immediately. As she walked across the yard Logan couldn't help noticing that she had cheered up a good deal since the dismal car ride. She still wouldn't look at him, but at least she wasn't scowling any more. She looked beautiful. She was always so beautiful when she was happy.

"Over here." David slid open the door of a weathered gray shed built over a cinder block foundation and disappeared inside. Max followed him. What were they going in there for? Impatiently Logan checked his watch. If he was going to drive back to town hungry, he wanted to get it over with.

There was a scraping sound from inside the shed, then David and Max appeared carrying a long rectangle of wood supported by planks. In spite of his mood, Logan had to chuckle to himself. David had no idea, of course, that Max was allowing him to hold one end just for show. She could easily have carried it on her own. Maybe even with one hand. "What's that?" he asked.

"My tractor ramp," David told him, as Max began to walk backwards towards the porch steps. "We use it to drive up into the shed. If it can hold me and a tractor, it should hold you, right?" It took Logan a moment to realize that it was a serious question.

"Yeah," he answered after a moment. "Yeah. It should."

How about that.

Dinner was too much fun to spoil with a lot of excuses about why he couldn't stay for the weekend, so Logan kept his mouth shut and let Max take the spotlight. She ate voraciously, raved about how delicious everything was, asked a million questions about the farm and Maria's high school and the college days at Yale. The only thing missing was a bottle of wine, which, of course, Logan had been too preoccupied to think about bringing. Nice, he told himself. Rich friend of poor farmers shows up empty handed, with a hungry X-5 eating them out of house and home. Great guy.

After dinner Max leaned over and said quietly into his ear, "Your turn to socialize. I'd like to scope the place out before it gets too dark."

It was the first time she had spoken to him since the car ride. "Sure," he answered as calmly as he could, considering the way her warm breath on his cheek made him feel. Not that she was in that kind of mood. Even if it hadn't been for the unfortunate motorcycle incident, now she was the one focused on work.

In his opinion there really wasn't any reason to worry about Maria. She was probably dramatizing her fears to get some attention, which was perfectly understandable after all she'd been through. But if Max wanted to take the situation so seriously he wasn't going to stop her. He'd had enough of the wrath of Max for a while.

He offered to help clear away dinner, but Sam refused. "Go spend some time with David," she insisted, waving towards the porch, where David stood surveying the farmyard. When Logan opened the door he turned to hold it, watching with frank interest as Logan maneuvered onto the porch, positioned the chair, and snapped the brakes. With a nod of approval he said,

"You drive that thing pretty good."

Around them evening fell quietly over the farm. The cold air was clear and still. The crescent moon and a single briliant star hung in the darkening sky. Across the farmyard Max moved in silhouette against the last of the light. The beauty nearly broke Logan's heart. He looked up at David and said, "I hate it."

Their eyes met for a long moment. "I'm sorry," David said simply. Then he looked across the yard to Max and smiled. "But you've got her."

"It's not like that."

"Get out of here." David was genuinely astonished. "Is that some lame way of proving to me that you've still got a sense of humor?"

"It's not a joke," Logan said irritably. How many times was he going to have this conversation? "We work together. We're not a couple."

"But you're going to fix that."

"No, I'm not."

"What, she's already got a boyfriend? You've never let that stand in your way before."

"I'm ... just not, that's all."

"Well." David regarded him with considerably less sympathy than he had a few moments earlier. "That might make things a bit awkward tonight, because we only have one guest room. We just assumed you'd be together."

"It doesn't matter. I'm not staying."

Max was coming towards them, graceful and sure in the deepening dusk. David shook his head. "You know, if I wasn't worried about you before, I am now," he said. Then he went into the house.

Bouncing up the porch steps as the door closed, Max asked, "What's up with him?"

"I annoyed him," Logan said sourly.

"I hear that," Max said, but before he could respond, she motioned him to the far end of the porch, away from the lighted kitchen windows. "Looks like maybe Maria's imagination isn't so overactive after all," she told him quietly.

"Why?" Logan was beginning to shiver. As night fell the temperature was dropping quickly.

"You think maybe David's sneaking a smoke up there behind the barn when nobody's looking?"

"No. He hates cigarettes."

Max nodded towards the barn. "Up there, in that clump of trees, I found two fresh butts. Couple of used matches. It rained three nights ago, but this stuff is dry. Which means --"

"--it's new," Logan finished. He frowned. "Anything else?"

Max shook her head. "No, but you know something? I think I'll stay up a while tonight. And speaking of staying, think you could get over yourself long enough to give me a hand? If we don't find anything you can clear out of here first thing in the morning. I'll find my own ride back to town."

"They only have one guest room," he warned her.

Max shrugged. "I guess I can stand you for one night. I don't plan to sleep anyway." Then, with a sly little grin, her first in days, she added, "Too bad you didn't pack a bag. I'd love to see what kind of pajamas rich guys wear."

After the cabin he had promised himself he wouldn't even joke with her, but here in the darkness the temptation was too much. "What makes you think I wear pajamas?" he returned.

Max raised her eyebrows. "Gets awfully cold out in the country at night."

"If you can take it I can too."

At that Max laughed out loud. "Hey, I packed mine," she told him, and held the door open so he could go in.

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Before midnight the house was quiet. Max turned out the guest room light and they sat together in the darkness, Max at one window and Logan at the other. The moon was too small and low to provide much light, and Logan could see very little. Max watched alertly, aware of so much that was invisible to him.

He loved the feeling of being alone with her, even if surveillance wasn't the first thing on his mind in a dark room at midnight with a beautiful woman. Talk about Eyes Only, he thought ruefully. Propping an elbow on the windowsill, he rested his chin in his hand and stifled a yawn. The room was warm and peaceful. Gradually his thoughts wandered to what might have been, that night, if his life had turned out differently. If he could rise from that chair to go to Max, to touch her hair, to kiss her, to take her hand and lead her to the bed. Oh, Max, he heard himself whispering, oh, Max, I l--

He was jolted wide awake by a terrifying bellow. "Jesus!" Max hissed, and the next thing he knew she was beside him, eyes wide, rapidly scanning the yard. "What the hell was that?"

After the first shock Logan began to laugh. "That, Max, was a cow."

"A cow!" She sounded outraged. "Are you sure? In the middle of the night?"

"Cows can't tell time, Max."

She wasn't amused. "Yeah? Well, what made it do that? I'm going out there." She looked as serious as if she were about to break into a top-secret military installation on high alert status. Logan knew he shouldn't tease her, but really, it was too funny, seeing her go into battle mode over a cow. Reaching over to the bookshelf behind him, he picked up the heaviest book he could find and tossed it to her.

"What's this for?"

"When you find that cow, you have orders to take her out. With extreme prejudice if necessary."

She didn't bother to answer, just dropped the book on the bed and left the room without a sound.

It was a while before he saw her again.

Later, when she was clean and dry and curled up in a blanket on the guest-room bed, Max told her story to Logan. She wouldn't let him turn on a light, so they sat in the dark again, Max cross-legged in her blanket, whispering to Logan in his chair next to the bed.

She had crept out of the house to stand for a while in a pool of shadow, attuning her sight and hearing. Manticore training had taught her many ways to evaluate military sites, personnel, and terrain, but not very much about the nocturnal behavior of livestock. At first she believed the bellowing cow was right outside the guest room window, but quickly realized that cows were a lot louder than she had ever imagined, and their calls carried a long way in the still, clear winter air. The cry must have come from the barn, where David had shut the herd in at sundown.

Still, she wanted to check everything out. Recon completed, Max moved cautiously away from the house. She hadn't gone more than fifty feet when her ears caught the faint but distinct crunch of footsteps on the frosty grass, coming from the hillside behind the barn. Quieting her own steps until they were inaudible to ordinary human ears, Max moved soundlessly from shadow to shadow, eyes fixed on the barn. Though the moon was rising now, the hillside behind it was still dark.

Nothing except Max appeared to be moving.

Max stopped again to listen and this time heard only silence. Had it been an animal? No, she was sure it hadn't. Night maneuvers in the woods at Manticore had taught her how wild animals sounded in the woods and brush at night, and this was definitely not one of those sounds. There had also been a quick swishing sound she couldn't quite identify. Clothing? Sleeve brushing against body, leg brushing against leg? That didn't seem right, but it was the closest she could come.

She circled the barn, darting from hay bale to manger to fence post, always staying in shadow, until she was out of the moonlit area and edging along the far side of the barn. Just before the corner she flattened herself against the wall, listened.

Silence.

She moved away from the wall to look around the corner and as she did so something touched her left ankle. Stifling a curse, she tensed herself for a fall. Nothing happened. Then she heard a little cry and, looking down, saw a gray-and-white barn cat disappearing around the corner, a mouse limp in its mouth. "Good catch," Max told the cat approvingly. She didn't feel a bit sorry for the mouse. Just one of the little things feline DNA could do to a girl.

The cat disappeared into the barn and Max, back to the wall, turned the corner. Nothing in the dead grass behind the barn moved. No surprise, with two cats on the hunt, Max thought. Then a movement above her in the woods caught her eye. She froze.

A man stood in the shadow of a tree, his back to the barn and Max. As she watched he began to move up the hill, not very quietly, on a path that wound up through the trees into the darkness. Whoever this guy is, he's not professional, Max thought. He was loud, and his dirty tan clothing made him easy to spot in the moonlight. He was intent on something up the hill, never once looking around or behind him. Max smiled. Like the barn cat, she was going to make a catch tonight.

Staying to the edges of the path, she followed him easily. At the top of the hill, however, she swore softly. Instead of the moonlit hilltop she had been expecting, she found herself in an old apple orchard. Because the apple trees were so much smaller than the surrounding woods, and the moon was not yet high, the orchard was dark. For a moment Max could not locate the man, even in his light-colored clothes.

Then she saw him moving towards the far side of the orchard, still careless of noise or visibility. Under the low, bare branches of the apple trees Max followed him. He stopped just beyond the last tree, silhouetted for a moment against the night. Perfect. She waited a moment next to the last tree, then sprang.

She caught him, but they had been closer to the downward slope of the hill than she realized, and momentum of her jump took them both over the side and rolling downwards. Max held on tight as they bumped over rocks and bounced against small trees. When they stopped she would march him right back over the hill to the farm and find out just why he he was sneaking around out here in the middle of a freezing winter night.

They hit bottom and Max regained her feet instantly, hauling the man to a standing position by the back of his coat. She started to speak, but her words were drowned out by a second ear-splitting cow bellow. Started, Max jumped, and in that moment of inattention the man twisted away from her and began to run. Max turned to pursue, only to find her path blocked by a large black-and-white cow, head down, moving towards her much faster than she had ever assumed cows could move. She began to back away, talking calmly, but for some reason the cow seemed angry and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back in shallow icy water, the huge spotted face looming over her. Max rolled out from under the cow and sprinted back up the hill. The man in the jacket, of course, was long gone, and here she was tramping around out in the woods and falling into creeks in the middle of a winter night. And from the smell, she'd rolled through more than dirt on the way down the hill.

Disgusted, she returned to the house.

-------------------------------------

"Well," Logan said when she finished. He wasn't quite sure how to tell Max what he was really thinking, which was that her imagination was just as vivid as Maria's. The likely explanation for the night's events was, to him, pretty simple. The man was a homeless wanderer. There were plenty of them in the countryside these days, looking for a meal and shelter at any farm that would have them. David and Sam's barn was a warmer place to spend the night than the freezing woods. A drifter had found it a comfortable shelter for a few nights. A drifer who was smart enough to smoke outside rather than risk iginiting all that hay and old wood. Case closed.

"But that doesn't explain the cow," Max insisted when he told her what he was thinking.

"Easy. He let the cow out. Probably didn't mean to, but you said it was pretty pushy."

"Don't remind me," Max shuddered, more from annoyance than cold, Logan knew. With any other girl he would have been on the bed long ago, wrapping his arms around her for warmth, but Max, as always, was different. Despite her late-night swim, her body temperature had barely dropped. Her hands weren't even cold. She didn't need to be warmed or snuggled, and since he was in no position to climb casually on to the bed anyway, that was probably for the best.

"Look. I say we call it a night. We'll tell David first thing in the morning that he's got a cow on the loose and a stranger using his barn as a hotel."

Max slid off the bed, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "I don't know --" she began, moving to the windows to watch again. The moon had risen high now, and the yard was flooded with light. Everything was still.

Logan yawned. "If it makes you feel any better, we'll take turns watching. Go get dressed. You did bring something else besides pajamas, didn't you?"

"Right here." Max picked up her jeans and sweater from the heap on the floor where she had dropped them earlier that night when she changed into her "work" clothes, then slipped soundlessly out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. Logan sighed. The sight of Max retrieving her clothes was a fresh, sad reminder of what could never be. Of a night that could have been exactly the same, yet should have been so different.

In another life those clothes could have stayed on the floor all night.

Well. Better get moving. He needed to get on the bed and that still wasn't something he felt comfortable doing in front of Max, especially not with this old-fashioned wooden bed, much higher than what he was used to at home. But Max was gone for a long time, and by the time she returned he was not only lying down but sound asleep.

A wonderful smell of coffee and the muffled but insistent ring of his cell phone woke Logan the next morning. For a moment he had no idea where he was. Groping at the bedside table, he found his glasses -- funny, he didn't remember taking them off the night before -- but no phone. Finally he realized he fallen asleep fully dressed. The cell must still be in his pocket -- yes, there it was, dammit, it was wedged under his butt, still ringing -- he tugged at his jacket until it pulled free. But of course it was too late, and no message left.

Sighing, he moved to the chair and headed for the kitchen, where Sam and David sat drinking coffee. There was no sign of Max or Maria. David handed him a mug and said, "Heard about Max's little adventure last night."

Logan grinned. "Yeah, Max versus the great outdoors. She tell you about the cow?"

David laughed. "That was no cow, my friend. That was the bull. She's lucky she didn't get hurt."

The bull? No wonder Max had ended up in the creek. Logan shook his head. "Max can take care of herself. She, ah, she trained as a Navy SEAL for a while, you know." Now where had that crazy idea come from? He'd have to tell Max to back him up on it.

To change the subject, he said, "Did you check out the barn? Any sign of a visitor?"

"I always knew you were a smart guy," David grinned. "You were right on the money. A couple of loose nails on the door frame made it pretty easy to pull the whole plate right off without touching the lock. He must have been going in and out that way. We'll, he'll get a surprise tonight, because I've nailed it back in tight." David stood up. "You know, I wouldn't mind him sheltering in the barn, if it weren't for the smoking. Can't have that, though."

"Mystery solved, then."

"Thanks to you. So, now that you've cracked the case and made us all feel safe again, can I convince you to stay another night?"

Logan's telephone began to ring again and rather than answer David, he answered the phone. The static was bad and he didn't recognize the voice until he heard the words "case of oil." It was Frank at the garage! Good news. The oil awaited him. He dialed his own number. More good news. Bling was free and could pick it up. He dialed Max's number. Even more good news. Cindy was nursing a wicked hangover and would be at home until further notice. That gave him an idea.

Two more calls and it was all set. Bling would pick up the oil while Logan returned to Seattle, then together they would load the bike and the oil into Logan's car. Logan would then return in triumph to the farm with the bike, and spend whatever was left of the day enjoying Max's gratitude. Well, maybe "gratitude" was pushing it, but at least she wouldn't have any reason to stay cranky. They had worked well together in the night, but now that the adventure was over, she might just remember how badly the trip had started.

He snapped the phone shut and looked up to see David watching him. "You're not going to stay, are you?" he asked sternly.

"No, but I'm coming back," he said. Suddenly that didn't sound like such a bad idea.

------------------------------------------------

Rather than hang around the small kitchen bumping into cabinet doors and rolling over people's toes, he put his jacket on and went out on the porch to wait for Max to turn up.

He thought she was with Maria, but only a few minutes later her head appeared at the far end of the porch, over the railing. "Come here," she hissed. She was pointing at a spot in the dirt next to the porch. "Can you see that?" she asked as he craned his neck.

"No."

"Come down here then. I want you to see it."

"I don't want to come all the way down there. Show me again."

Max bent impatiently to the dirt. "See that? See the footprints?"

He did see impressions, but they didn't look much like footprints. "Are you sure?"

Max stood up, brushing her hands off. "Of course I'm sure. I learned this stuff along with my ABC's. Someone has been hanging around here." She tilted her head back. "Right below Maria's window, in fact."

Logan shrugged. "So that guy was checking out the house looking for some food. I wouldn't worry about it."

Max was unconvinced. "I want to take a little hike through the woods this afternoon. Can you man the house while I'm out?"

"No, I can't," he said, with a sinking feeling as Max began to frown. "I have to go back to town for something -- but then I'll --"

Too late. She was angry again. "You think just because I got knocked down by a cow that I don't know what I'm talking about! Fine. I'll handle this myself." In three seconds she was too far away to hear him call after her, so he didn't try. He pulled his car keys out of his jacket and went to the car.

----------------------

Back in Seattle, Cindy was cranky too, bleary-eyed and skeptical. "You sure you wanna do this?" she asked Logan, standing on the sidewalk outside her building in her winter coat and fuzzy pink slippers as Bling loaded the bike.

"Yes."

"I'm having second thoughts. I don't know if I want to sign off on this. Lettin' the bike out of my sight and all."

"Trust me. She wants the bike out there."

"Whatever." Cindy gave up, evidently too sleepy and cold to argue. "It's on you then. I'm goin' back to bed." Like Max, she turned her back on him and left.

Great.

-----------------------------------------

On the drive back to the farm, he started to have second thoughts too. What if Max was gone for hours, maybe even until dark? He'd be sitting there all afternoon like a fool, waiting to surprise her, while she hiked through the woods thinking about what a jerk he was.

Or what if she took it the wrong way? This whole just-friends act was a tough one. At the beginning, right after her return to Seattle, he had gone too far in the "just" direction. The fight over that one had lasted for days, Max accusing him of caring more about work than about her. He knew he had hurt her feelings, risked the friendship and the partnership. It was just so damned hard for him to open up to her at all without letting her see way too much.

That was the mistake he was in the middle of making. Letting her see too much. For a crazy moment he considered turning back. All that stopped him was the fear that Cindy and her hangover wouldn't answer the phone again, and there he would be, stuck on Max's block all night, while Max sat in Sam and David's guest room thinking about what a jerk he was.

Great.

----------------------------------------

By the time Max finally did turn up, David had unloaded the bike. It sat regally in the cold yard, the case of oil next to it. For a long moment Max stared. Logan practically stopped breathing.

Then she grinned.

For a minute he thought she was going to throw herself at him like a happy kid on Christmas morning. But she saved it for her baby, breaking open the carton right there on the spot, smiling to herself as she lovingly refilled the oil and inspected the bike for travel damage. "Hey, Maria, wanna go for a ride?" she shouted happily.

Logan watched her, forgotten but relieved. A satisified Max was always easier to live with than a disappointed, cranky, unpredictable Max. Maybe now she would admit that the farm concealed nothing more threatening than a bull and a hobo, and enjoy the rest of her trip instead of looking for assassins in the haystacks.

Later, he and David and Sam sat together in the house watching Max and an unexpectedly adventurous Maria ride the bike through the fields, Maria clinging behind Max with an expression of terror and delight. The kitchen was warm and smelled of good food cooking. David and Sam were lighthearted with relief and the pleasure of an old friend's company. For just a little while Logan relaxed, let go of the anger and bitterness that got him through his days. Then David said,

"So you went all the way back to town for her bike? I knew you still had it in you, buddy."

Logan felt the tension creep up his back and arms. Why, oh why couldn't everyone just leave him alone about Max? Why was everyone so determined to push them towards a romance that would only be a disaster?

David, seemingly oblivious to Logan's scowl, went on, "Now you just have to keep it going. You've been giving this girl all the wrong ideas."

"What do you mean?"

Sam watched Maria and Max for a moment longer, then turned to Logan. "We talked for a long time this morning. I like her."

"Yeah. Max is great," he said impatiently.

In the distance the bike revved, then faded. Sam smiled. "I'll confess to you right now, Logan, I was pretty nosy. She doesn't have a boyfriend. But she's not thinking of you that way either."

He hadn't known he could feel so much relief and disappointment all at the same time. "And that's a problem because ...?"

"Oh, I don't think she has a problem with it."

"Did you --"

"It's not like I asked her straight out," Sam hastily assured him. "But, you know, the conversation got around to college, and us moving out here, and I mentioned Valerie -- I guess they met --"

"Yes," Logan groaned.

"Well, anyway, I just remarked that she didn't seem to like Valerie, and she laughed. She said, 'I'm sorry his marriage didn't work out and all that, but I'm selfish. I don't need a Mrs. to mess up a good working relationship.'"

"She said that?"

"She said that."

"So?"

David had been silently watching Maria and Max circle a distant field. Now he spoke, exasperated. "Open your eyes, man. You're going to let that wonderful, beautiful girl get away from you if you don't start giving her a reason to think of you as more than a colleague."

Suddenly Logan couldn't hold back any longer. "My eyes are open! Want to know what I see? Look out that window there and then look here. Look at me," he said fiercely. "Is this what a 'wonderful, beautiful girl' deserves? To be tied down to this? I don't think so." He pointed out the window. "She is right where she needs to be." He stopped. He was afraid if he said any more he would make a mistake, say something about Max's past, about how important it was for her never to be tied down again, especially not by her feelings, especially not for him. That couldn't happen. Let them think whatever they wanted.

"Logan." David's voice softened, appealing to him. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Max doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who would give a damn about that."

Sometimes that's the worst part about it, Logan thought. "Get real," he replied impatiently. "People like her don't settle for people like me. That's the kind of baloney you see on TV."

"To paraphrase you, I am getting real," David retorted. "Maybe what you say was true in the time and the place where we grew up. But get over it, man. She's not that way."

There was no telling how much longer it would have gone on like that, except that Max turned the bike a bit too sharply on the frozen ground and skidded, dumping Maria rather dramatically into some bushes. Sam and David hurried outside to her, leaving Logan alone in the kitchen.

Relief. Disappointment. Frustration. He couldn't wait to return to Seattle and get back to work. As soon as he saw that Maria was all right, he turned away from the window to get ready for the ride home.

------------------------------

As always, however, Max had other ideas. "You're not going anywhere and we don't need this," she informed him cheerfully when he handed her the two bottles of wine he had asked Bling to stash in the car. She promptly dumped them back in his lap. "We've got work to do tonight."

"I do have work to do tonight, and it's in Seattle. So if you'd be kind enough to make sure Sam and David get these --"

Max laughed. "You're appealing to the kindness of my heart? Listen, I love you for bringing me my bike, but that's not gonna get you out of this. I need you here -- look out," she broke off, leaning over to catch one of the wine bottles as it began to roll off his knees.

"I kept my promise, Max, and I'm going home."

She picked up the second wine bottle and straightened up, blocking his way. "Do I have to go out there and mess up your car a little bit? Or can I count on your cooperation without having to get my hands all greasy again?"

"Sorry. Once again, I didn't pack my pajamas."

Max smiled. "Doesn't matter. You won't need them anyway."

He gave up. "I love you." "I need you." If staying awake all night on this job meant hearing those words, he wasn't going anywhere. He'd never have another chance like it, because he could never ask her to say them for real.

------------------------------

Not long after nightfall Max outlined her strategy and deployed her team. With the barn now securely locked, she argued, their visitor would have no choice but to approach the house. She refrained from mentioning the alleged footprints under Maria's window, saying simply that whoever the man was, hunger and cold would probably force him to take the risk of coming so close.

On the excuse that she needed a good vantage point with a clear view of the farmyard, Max took over Maria's upstairs bedroom and sent Maria down to the guest room. "Logan is going to stay with you just to keep you feeling safe," she told Maria cheerfully. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," Maria answered. Despite her experiences at Langford, her unquestioning trust in Max apparently extended to anyone Max trusted. If Max said Logan could and would keep her safe, Maria believed it. She smiled at him and he smiled back as confidently as he could. Neither Max nor Maria seemed to be at all concerned that if he wasn't much of threat to Maria he might not be much of a threat to anyone else either.

"Maria, why don't we go on upstairs and get your things," Max suggested, giving Logan, Sam and David a significant look over her shoulder as she followed Maria out of the kitchen. They waited until Maria was out of earshot and then Sam said,

"I know Max is trained for this kind of work, but David is staying upstairs with her anyway. I'll stay put in our room." She sighed. "Do you really think someone might try to hurt Maria?"

"Honestly, no I don't," Logan told her, lowering his voice just in case Max had her hearing cranked up. "If anything even happens tonight, I think all we'll end up with is one surprised hobo."

"We'll give him a meal and send him on his way," Sam said. "But it's sweet of Max to take all this trouble. It means so much to Maria, I don't mind losing a little sleep tonight, you know?"

Logan smiled. He did know.

Maria, worn out from her afternoon bike ride in the cold, fell asleep quickly. Logan left the light on until he was sure she was sleeping soundly, then quietly turned it out and took his place by the window. It was a cloudy night and all he could really see was blackness. It wasn't long before he began to yawn uncontrollably. Staying awake all night, he had discovered, was a lot harder when you couldn't get up and walk the sleepiness off. What is it like for Max, he thought drowsily, sleeping so little ...

Suddenly overhead there was a tremendous thumping and banging. Maria sat up, terrified. When she saw Logan move around the bed towards the door she cried out, "Don't leave me!"

"Shhh, don't worry," he answered automatically, opening the door a crack and peering out. His heart was pounding. Damn! All he wanted to do was rush upstairs to find out what was happening, but of course even if that had been possible he could not leave Maria, who was now kneeling on the bed clutching his arm in a painfully tight grip, also trying to look out into the hallway.

Suddenly footsteps pounded down the stairs. Maria gasped and Logan hastily shut the door. "Down on the floor, over there. Go under if you can!" he whispered, prying Maria's fingers off his arm and gently pushing her towards the far side of the bed. The footsteps were coming down the hallway now. He turned the chair sharply and rounded the corner of the bed as quickly as he could, stopping at the first window, the one across from the foot of the bed. He turned the chair again so that he was facing the doorway, then let his head flop over on his shoulder as if he were sleeping. "Maria, stay right where you are until I say turn on the light," he whispered, then closed his eyes and braced himself.

Floorboards creaked in the hall.

There was a click and a rush of cold air and he opened his eyes just enough to see a dark figure slip into the room. He held himself still, waiting. The figure stepped cautiously into the room, moved towards the far window, obviously looking for an escape route.

Whoever it was would have to squeeze between the bed and the chair to reach that window.

When he heard the bump of legs against his right wheel, he reached out, grabbed, and shouted, "Turn on the light!" There was a muffled "Ow!" from under the bed as Maria banged her head. Someone heavy fell against Logan's chest, then the light went on and the door opened to reveal Max and David, trailed by Sam, rushing into the room. In one stride Max was in front of Logan, hauling the intruder off his lap and shouting, "Don't fight me, dirtbag!" David stepped past Sam and grabbed the man from the other side. He was very young, Logan saw, wearing some kind of uniform, too dirty and tattered to identify.

"Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!" he cried in a Russian accent, holding his hands high in the air. At the sound of his voice Maria stood up from where she knelt next to the nightstand and said softly, "Sasha?"

All heads turned in her direction. "You know this guy?" Max asked incredulously, staring at Maria.

"Maria, are you all right? Have they harmed you?" cried Sasha, struggling against Max and David.

"Want me to harm you? I'd love that," Max growled, jerking Sasha closer.

"Sasha, I'm fine, these people are my friends," Maria said pleadingly, and Sasha stopped struggling. "Yes, I know him," Maria told Max.

For a long moment there was silence, and then Max yelled, "Somebody start talking!"

Maria and Sasha both started at once, talking to each other and to everyone else. It took a half-hour to get the story out of them, mostly because Sasha was too terrified of Max and anxious about Maria to make sense.

Maria and Sasha had met at the prison when Sasha was a guard in training, assigned to the cellblock where Maria and her mother were being held. He was good to them, Maria said with a smile. After her mother died and she moved to the warden's house, Sasha had volunteered to carry contraband and bribes from the prisoners to the warden, so h could see her.

"You didn't happen to come across any size-12 pumps, did you?" Max asked, then shook her head when everyone turned to look at her. "Never mind, go on."

The day Cindy and Max had broken out with Maria, Sasha had been on his way to the warden's house. He had seen them leave in the warden's car and fearing the worst, borrowed a bicycle from one of the other guards to follow them. Pedaling furiously, he managed to keep up until the car stopped and Max burst out of the trunk. That, and the warden being run over, convinced him that Maria was in great danger. He followed them back to town, back to Max's apartment, then lived for two days in a nearby alley until Max took Maria to the farm. He was able to follow them on his bicycle for a while, he said, but lost them in the country when Max revved up the motorcycle and took off.

"So? I like to go fast," Max said defensively when Maria looked at her reproachfully.

He had made it far enough, Sasha said, to narrow down his search. He had nothing else to do anyway. He couldn't return to Langford, and he had nowhere else to go, so he began to roam the countryside, hoping to spot Maria somewhere, some way. For months he had no luck. The weather grew cold and he took to sleeping in barns, stealing eggs and the occasional meal set out for a homeless wanderer.

One day it had occurred to him that maybe Maria had started school, so he began to hang out at the high school, and his search paid off. He saw Maria one afternoon and followed her back to the farm.

He stopped there as if the story was complete, but if anything, Max was even more suspicious. "What are you, some kind of psycho stalker?" she demanded, grabbing his arm again.

This time Sasha tried to twist away. "No, please, you don't understand. I know the warden was not kind to Maria. I thought you were bad too. I only wanted to protect her. So at night I watch and wait, to be sure she is safe from you."

Max frowned. "Then what were you doing climbing up to her window?"

"I see that you are here. You are the one who took her away. I need to see that she is safe, so I climb up to look in her window."

"Please, Max," Maria said earnestly. "I believe him, and you should too. He was so good to me at the prison. I know he didn't mean any harm." She looked at Max, pleading, and Max relented. She let go of Sasha's arm, though she didn't step away.

David and Sam exchanged glances. Sam said, "Young man, breaking into our barn and our home is wrong, no matter whether you meant harm."

"I am sorry," Sasha said meekly.

Sam looked at her watch. "You'll sleep here tonight, and in the morning we'll figure out what happens next."

Max took Sasha by the arm again. "Listen up. I'll be keeping an eye on you, so don't try anything funny. I'm a very light sleeper." Sasha glanced in alarm at Maria, who said,

"It's all right, Sasha. Max is my friend."

After that, Sasha allowed himself to be taken out of the room by David and Sam, to sleep upstairs under guard. It would be harder for him to try anything, like escaping, up on the second floor, Max pointed out. Then Max and Logan tucked Maria back into the guest room bed and sat together in silence until she fell asleep.

Max said quietly, "Good block you threw at him."

"Glad to be in the way," Logan smiled.

Max smiled back. "Fix your glasses."

"What?"

"Your glasses are crooked. Must have been knocked around."

"Oh." Logan reached up and settled his glasses properly. "Guess I should have taken them off. I was supposed to be asleep."

Max laughed. "You were asleep with them on last night," she said, standing up. "Anyway, later. I'm going upstairs to stand guard over our Romeo." She slipped out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Logan sighed. With Maria asleep in the bed, it looked like a long night for him. He took an extra pillow and a blanket and got as comfortable as he could, which wasn't very comfortable at all. Now, of course, he wasn't a bit sleepy.

A little while later the door creaked open and once again a shadowy figure silently entered the room. Max. On a sudden impulse he sat very still, eyes closed. She stopped moving for a moment, and the next thing he knew his glasses were gently sliding from his face. "Wonder if you do this every night," he heard her whisper, and then the door creaked open and shut again.

After that it took him a long time to fall asleep. He couldn't tell whether it was because he was happy or sad.

In the morning David made some calls, to friends and to local law enforcement, then announced that he would be taking Sasha to town after breakfast. The chief of police had promised to run a background check on him (and Logan silently made a note to do the same as soon as he returned to Seattle). If nothing turned up, a friend of David and Sam's on a nearby farm might be willing to hire Sasha as a farmhand in exchange for room and board.

Meanwhile, Max and Logan sat on either side of the kitchen table, drinking coffee and keeping an eye on Sasha and Maria. Max had escorted them to seats opposite each other at the far ends of the table, where they could see each other but not talk without Max and Logan hearing every word. As she had certainly meant it to, Max's presence seemed to intimidate them. They glanced shyly at each other every chance they got, but said very little. Sasha, clean and dressed in David's old clothes, ate ravenously, as did Max. Logan reminded himself to be sure he left the bottles of wine behind. It was the least he could do considering the amount of food Max had consumed this weekend.

As soon as breakfast was over, Max marched Sasha to David's truck while Logan, Sam, and Maria watched from the porch. Maria said nothing, but when Logan saw the longing in her face, he caught Max's eye and nodded towards Maria. Max looked at Maria for a moment, then back at Logan, then abruptly beckoned to Maria. Smiling, Maria went to the truck. Max closed the door firmly, said something to Sasha that Logan couldn't hear, and then came to the porch.

"You still don't trust him," Logan said.

Max shrugged. "He's a horny young kid. Should I?"

"Maybe not, when you put it that way."

Across the yard, David started the truck. Maria lingered for another moment, leaned forward slightly as if she were thinking of kissing Sasha through the open window, then seemed to remember herself and stepped away. Logan could not look at Max. She had once kissed him ...but that wasn't something either one of them could afford to remember now.

Then David put the truck in gear and began to pull down the lane, and the moment was gone. Maria watched until the truck disappeared down the road, then with a smile at the group on the porch, wandered away through the farmyard, lost in thought. Max said, "Awwww. I love happy endings."

"It's not over yet," Logan pointed out, suddenly feeling contrary. "It hasn't even started. Their first date, their first kiss --

"The engagement, the wedding," Max laughed, refusing the bait.

"Wedding?" Sam objected. "They'll be lucky if David and I let them have that first date. Chaperoned. By both of us." She shivered. "Come on inside where it's warm," she called as she went in. The door closed, leaving Logan and Max alone in the quiet farmyard.

"Maybe they will get married," Logan said, just to break the silence.

Max answered quickly. "That would be sweet. Think we'd be invited?"

"We'd better be."

"Cause I've never been to a wedding."

"You haven't?" Sometimes Logan forgot how much of ordinary life Max had missed, between Manticore and the Pulse.

Max shook her head. "Nope. Never danced either ... but it can't be that hard."

"It's not."

With a mischievous look, Max picked up a broom, bowed, and began to waltz across the porch. Logan smiled.

"You're pretty good. You sure you've never danced before?"

"I don't think so," Max replied, twirling. Their eyes met, and suddenly Logan felt strangely self-conscious. At the same time Max faltered and then stopped, making a show of carefully propping the broom against the porch wall. "Well, gotta blaze," she said suddenly. "You leaving?"

"No. I'll wait for David to get back. Make sure everything went okay."

"Okay. See you down the road, then."

He stayed on the porch until she zoomed away on her bike, waving.

------------------------------------------

David returned later to report that as far as the police chief could determine, Sasha was exactly who he said he was, a young kid struggling on his own. "No ties to the adminstration at Langford, or anything like that," he told Logan in the kitchen.

"Good. I'll double check when I get home, and of course Max will keep an eye on Maria when she comes back to testify. She'll stay with Max and Cindy, and Max will make sure she gets back and forth okay. I don't expect any trouble, though."

"Thanks," David said. He leaned back in his chair. "Max gone?"

"Yeah, took off on her bike."

"She loves that bike."

"She certainly does."

"Wasn't that romantic of you to go get it for her."

Logan met David's eyes. "You think it was romantic. I'm telling you it was strictly quid pro quo. She did me a favor, I promised her oil in return. I kept my promise, threw in a little bonus. That's all."

David grinned. "Funny you should mention promises. Because I'm not letting you out of here until you make a couple."

Logan folded his arms suspiciously. He had given in to Max twice in the last two days and it was probably time to draw the line. "And what might those be?"

"First, I want you to promise me that you'll start doing something for yourself besides working. I'd bet the farm that all you've been doing for the last seven or eight months is working night and day. Just like you did at Yale every time you got depressed. Just like you did after you split with Val."

Logan hesitated. There was something he hadn't told anyone so far, except for Bling. He felt painfully self-conscious about it, though he supposed he shouldn't. Last night he had been rather proud of how neatly and quickly he had maneuvered the chair in the small guest room, especially in a state of complete panic over Max's safety. That was clearly the result of months of hard practice at --

"Wheelchair basketball," he heard himself saying. "I've been playing."

"Seriously?" David asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm not great, but --"

"Good for you, man. I'm impressed. Invite me to a game sometime."

"Well, I'm still working on it, but yeah, maybe ..." He trailed off. His heart was pounding and his face was red. Funny, he hadn't meant to share that secret, yet here he was, all shy and embarrassed, confiding in David. It was something he hadn't done in a long time, and it actually felt rather good.

David was feeling good too, he could tell. For the first time Logan understood that his old friend had missed him. He had forgotten that other people felt anything for him besides pity and sadness. Not knowing what to say, he pivoted the chair from side to side, showing off a bit. David laughed.

"I guess you know where I'm going next," he said, still smiling at Logan.

"Max?"

"Max. Don't you think you're being a little hard on her?" David gently kicked the wheelchair. "You really think she's shallow enough to let this stop her? I just don't get that kind of vibe."

Logan sighed again, but this time without bitterness or anger. "Max is great. I'm crazy about her. But she's got a ... a complicated family situation, and she doesn't need any more complications. Unfortunately, the best thing I can give her right now is a lot of space."

David nodded thoughtfully. "Well, you know her better than I do. But I still want you to do something for me."

"What?" Logan asked warily.

"Try to have a little fun with her. Nothing heavy, no strings if that's the way it has to be. But lighten up, man. Sounds like both of you could use it."

Logan sighed. For a moment he wanted to tell David more, make him understand that his feelings for Max had gone a long way past the lighthearted and the casual. But he couldn't do that without revealing too much about Max, and to be honest, too much about himself. In the end it was easier to say, "I'll try."

"You promise?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I promise. To try," Logan added hastily.

"All right." David was clearly pleased. "I'm gonna hold you to it, you know."

"I know," Logan said, turning to find his jacket and car keys.

-----------------------------------------------

Bling shrugged.

"What's so bad about that? You kept your word, asked her to the wedding, and a good time was had by all. Right?"

"Yeah. Well, sometimes I think it's poetic justice. I worked so hard to keep my distance from her, and now I've got exactly what I asked for."

"Got any leads on a cure?"

Logan sighed. "One or two maybes. Nothing solid."

"Place to start, man. Place to start."

Once again, Logan folded his arms suspiciously. "That's it? That's all you have to say? No lectures about patience? No threats to kick my skinny ass? No promises?"

"Why? Because you're down?"

"That's usually what gets you started, isn't it?"

Bling laughed. "It's one thing to have to sit across the room from her. It's another thing entirely to keep your heart at a distance. That would get me started. But the way you are right now -- I know that ain't the case."

"No," said Logan after a moment. "No. It'll never be the case again."

"There you are. I'm not asking you for any promises 'cause you don't need me to hold you to them. You're stronger than that now."