In fact, as he had admitted to her the second week she was back, finding her in his kitchen at 4:00 a.m. trying to take the edge off her voracious appetite after she'd worked thirty-eight hours straight at the facility and setting off his smoke alarm in the process, if she had been able to cook without burning down his home, he'd have decided right then and there that he'd truly gone over the edge and it was all just a demented fantasy.

I laughed out loud when I read that scene! You really have a talent for delving into the mind of our favourite duo.

I love Joshua's innocent smarts. Perhaps his lack of knowledge makes him hyper observant, but its fun to watch you create scenes for us to catch a new glimpse.

Digging the fluff attack :-)

WOW, this was great! Your wording has changed somehow. That is a great idea to have the old Manticore their home.

They, Max and Logan, haven't become "Lover" have they? Please explain.

More please...

Thank you for keeping Dark Angel stories alive. This was very sweet.

Nothing like some M/L fluff to lighten up a study afternoon. I just really like this universe, the gloominess of Terminal city, but it's becoming the past with everybody's effort – kind of in-between dys- and utopia...

"reminding them of his efforts to move from his solitary life to working within a community, with his growing awareness of others' needs and wants and schedules a part of that process."

Great point. I know I've said this before, but he is kind of the post-modern, dystopic version of Kaspar Hauser.

"one of the younger X-6 series, who was so shy that she had yet to speak with him even after all this time, came out bearing a large cake also proclaiming his birthday and decorated elegantly."

I really like this. There are so many ways to put those transgenic superpowers to work and just to imagine all the amazing things they could do..

"I mean ... can I think over the dress and Aunt Margo's? 'Cos I'm thinking Original Cindy will want to have a hand in all the planning, and I don't know how she'll feel about the whole, white dress, 1950's hetero thing..."

Ah, so sweet:-) For some reason I do like that it's happening in Terminal City, it kind of makes it more grounded in reality than some faraway future? The wedding for Logan's birthday next year? (Though who would want to make them wait a whole year for that:-)

Love this, thanks so much. There is never enough Max/Logan. I so so so hope that youll find the time to continue minimum contacts... (love it). Pretty please?

Thanks so much for this, Shy. I've been a long time away from writing, but never too far away to read. Great Birthday present!

I've always like the setting up of a transgenic community/Terminal City storyline and Logan would be the natural guy to take care of the tech, of course. Aaah, such a satisfying B-day.

'team geek,' as Alec had dubbed them he would.

"Thank you for doing all this – it's more of a birthday celebration than anyone has done for me in a very long time." Aww Poor Logan look like he had a very good birthday. \\it was a good birthday. He asked her to marry him and she said yes.

Yay!

Wow that was good. I love Joshua always did like him the best. He is so sweet and wants to do the right thing. I love that he and Logan are such good friends. And he want's to learn and have Logan be his teacher. And now he wants to get a birthday present for Logan too.

Would be great to continue. See what Max and Joshua come up with.

This was amazingly sweet and wonderful. Could you do me a favor and make this-I don't know-a three-shot? That'd be perfect.

Wow. Do you know how mad I was last night when I finished watching Season 2 for the first time ever and ... Um ... no cure for the virus was found? I was livid. So disappointed, too. This is perfect. Thanks so much! :)

I hope you'll continue this one. It's been a while since I've visited the transgenics and I really want to know what Joshua comes up with. Very nice story.

Amazing, amazing, amazing. [Think Julie Andrews in 'Eloise at the Plaza', add exited jumping and clapping.]

Definitely want more; heartfelt, warm interaction never gets old, especially between these generally lovelorn characters in otherwise dreary circumstances - and this is the cream of the crop.

Any chance of slipping DiNozzo in here?

(Sorry for being so late and even later for the Tony-story)

I know I’m too repetive with having said so in very review of ‘Designation’, but I just love this different version of Manticore coming down. Just the basics of a official shutdown vs. a breakout gives it a totally different dynamic (and sense of threat, some sense of control in what they can tell people, maybe avoiding the media paranoia about escaped monsters of S2)

And I love the focus on how society and state are supposed to deal with them, faced with the rare(trying to think of parallels) phenomenon of people growing up with no or only a very skewed idea of the world, the double-challenge of preparing people for them and preparing them for people.

And I really like the flow of this, starting with the overview, then zooming in to Joshua’s perspective and the specific birthday scene.

2They designated places for the community dining center, infirmary and information centers, though admittedly largely using what Manticore’s people had set up, and got to work on updating them. They quickly added a couple bars, a movie theater and even a bowling alley, with the help of Logan’s contacts and a little X-5 wheedling."

Makes so much sense to transform the infrastructure already there into something more civil. (Love the bowling alley detail)

(So Tony is back home by now and Max and Logan alone with themselves and the remainings of Manticore?)

"He’d found his niche in the technology center, where his long years of patching together randomly acquired, mismatched technology dovetailed well with the know-how of transgenics trained on state of the art equipment but baffled by how to repair rather than simply replace.

Max had long before stopped feeling guilty about “dragging” him out there with her"

I can just so see Logan there, happy that he has Max back and being in a place where he can use his skills to help and be a part of building a community. Just so him and can perfectly imagine him being happy and interested in meeting Manticore’s computer guys (and their equipment).

"However, once the debrief had been completed, the pair continued meeting regularly, with Joshua’s hunger to learn irresistible to Logan. They worked on language, on reading and writing"

And this connection between Logan and Joshua, can just so imagine too. It’s just the perfect fit in a way, Logan liking to share his knowledge and view of the world and Joshua eager and good natured and innocent, very different from the soldier-types and without any kind of soldier training. (I figure he would have had no training and education at all, which means no ‘the outside is bad’ propaganda beaten into his head either) And I guess that would make it easier for Logan to be relaxed around him despite his transgenic strength, giving him no feeling of threat or physical inferiority as one of the brainwashed X-series might.

(Why couldn’t we have your version instead the way they had Logan and Joshua met in ‘Berrisford Agenda’, so annoying and completely out of character. Your Logan is just right, open-minded and wanting to help, not snobbish and stiff)

"As a painter, Joshua worked long hours washing down the old, dingy walls and repainting them in light, airy tones, then going back and adding distinctive, creative trim, colorful touches or sweeping murals which even Mole grudgingly admitted made the place theirs."

I really like that you make him a painter in here too, something that’s just in him. (Painter developing into an artist? Not sure about the distinction of the terms in English, but if so that might describe the process of Joshua disovering paint and painting...)

"well aware of “differences” of the transgenics in their appearances and abilities, it hadn’t occurred to him that ordinaries could be “different” too – none of the ordinaries with Manticore had been."

Great point, Joshua’s idea of ordinary’s having been formed by the uniform mass of the Manticore staff.

"He was smart, and smart in ways that even the very smart transgenics were not. He was patient, and always listened with interest when Joshua spoke. He loved art and knew about painting; Max said he had very expensive paintings in his home, made by real artists. He could fix things and knew how a lot of things worked – he always said it was just the bad economy that made it necessary, but Joshua could see it gave Logan a sense of satisfaction to get his computers or other electronic things working "

One of my favorite parts, a simple, true and genuine characterization of Logan that describes him as much as Joshua’s perceptions and thinking. I really like how you made Joshua keen of other people’s character and feelings without losing his characteristics, the horizon of someone who spent his life in a basement. (The challenge of writing Joshua I guess... and then there’s the question of how much of his character (and intellectual abilities?) is caused by his life and how much is what they designed him to be...)

"so Joshua had just continued to watch. And read. And join the others in watching television once they had that hooked up as well."

I just like the thought of all of them catching up on the surrounding culture by reading and TV… and like how you show Joshua’s special status, being even more clueless than those transgenics who lived together in groups with a range of relationships forming.

"Today’s lunch of chili and cornbread – the latter a recipe from Logan’s neighbor, no less"–

So curious what kind of backstory you had in mind for this and which neighbor, Mrs. Moreno...?(And the chili and cornbread again, I’m starting to think of it as DA food)

"Joshua looked at his friend, noting Logan’s expression of simple, satisfied happiness, and thought about how the man who had looked so pale and disoriented when they met, still stunned with Max’s return from the dead, seemed so settled now, there among all of them. He was clearly pleased to be working on restoring the broken equipment, and was happiest when he could be of help.

Joshua knew that the reason Logan had been accepted as he’d been, the only ordinary who was considered one of them, was this part of Logan"

Another favorite part and a great observation I can’t remember seeing much before. Just love Logan flourishing... from having Max back, moving into so being at peace with himself, getting contentment from being able to help and being in a fair cause. (That’s just so Logan)

"Max had stood, wavering, in the door, as if afraid to come closer and face whatever had happened. The cold fear gripping him, Joshua turned to his friend, wondering what could have upset Max so much. But to his complete, utter surprise, Logan’s face had softened into a small, amused grin, watching Max at the doorway."

In oversight, from the perspective of the reader who knows it’s a birthday story this is just sweet to read, Max’s bad consciousness, Logan’s easy forgiveness and Joshua’s fear and confusion. Really like the cultural difference of Joshua’s outside perspective and his reaction to Logan explaining birthday traditions... so definitely please for the continuation. Would love to know what you had in mind…

(Somehow in my mind this plays out with your other birthday stories, especially the one where you had Logan’s birthday throughout the years...)

Sorry I could't review the other day, but FFN wasn't working for me. Thanks so much for remembering the LB-day. I really like the AU of Logan in the Terminal City world.

As usual, your story's consistent with the conversation that Logan and Max have in the series about the significance of birthdays. Max doesn't think birthdays are important, but she knows enough to realize that most people DO care about birthdays and that, maybe, Logan cares. Of course, no virus is always good!

You've treated Joshua with respect and given him a voice that's unfamiliar with the world outside Manticore, but not simple-minded. Thanks for this. Got to get my RL under control, so I can get some stuff out of the brain and into cyberspace. Thanks for holding down the fort.