When Dreams Become Reality (1/?)
By Guardian Angel ([email protected])

Setting: After Beneath the Surface.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Dark Angel (I only wish I did!)...so please don't sue! :-)

Author's notes: Well, this is the first piece of fanfic I've written that actually has more than the most basic of plots...I usually just write little romantic things. ;-) I have no idea how well this is going to turn out, we'll see how well I can pull of this whole plot idea, please bear with me! I'd LOVE comments/constructive criticism, knowing other people enjoy my work makes the effort seem worthwhile.

Rachel, Mandy, Erin: Thank you girls, for all your help with this, you're the best! The insights you gave me were greatly appreciated.

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Part 1

"Logan?" Max let herself into his apartment, after having stood outside the door for a few minutes waiting for him to answer the doorbell. Why can't he ever just answer the damn door? Is it really that difficult? I really should just stop bothering to ring the bell anymore...it's a waste of time!

"In here, Max." She followed his voice, finding him in his computer room. He turned to face her as she entered the room, giving her a cute grin. "Hey! I was wondering when you'd stop by. I have something for you." Max looked on curiously, wondering what the "something" was, while Logan rummaged in a drawer. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out something that jingled, and tossed it to her. Surprised, she acted more on instinct than anything else as she caught it. He had tossed a set of keys to her.

"I know you're perfectly happy to pick the lock every time you want to get in when I'm not home or not answering the door, but I figured this might be easier in the long run, both on you and on my door." He grinned again, appreciating the way she filled out a pair of jeans and the black tank top she wore. The weather in Seattle had taken a turn for the better, warming up considerably, and the tank top she wore had a low enough V-neck for him to see a hint of cleavage. Good thing Lydecker hasn't figured out how to make his soldiers mind readers yet! She'd never come see me again if she knew what I was thinking sometimes.

She smiled back, pocketing the keys. "Thanks, these'll come in handy. So, what's new in the exciting life and times of today's top cyber journalist, the infamous Logan Cale?" She walked over to him, glancing at the computer screen. There was nothing of interest there; he must have closed whatever he was working on when she came in.

She's in a good mood! Hmm...maybe now would be a good time to ask her.

Taking a deep breath, he planned to have her give him a flat "no" after hearing his request. Though their relationship had improved considerably in the last few days, ever since the night when Max had finally opened up to him during a walk, he did not think she was ready for something like this. "Max, I have a job for you, but I want you to listen carefully to the details before agreeing or saying no, OK? It's kind of complicated."

"Uh-oh, why do I not like the sound of this? OK, go ahead..." So saying, she took a seat across from him and settled down to listen.

"A few days ago I received an invitation from an unknown society, claiming to be an 'elite group of men dedicated to restoring control over society.' They want me to come stay at their resort in Hawaii for a week, to see what it is they do, and hopefully join them. I'm guessing they think that as the head of Cale Corporations I can provide some useful contacts for them. Anyway, the invitation made me a little suspicious, so I did some searching on the group. They call themselves the "Brotherhood For A Better Humanity," but in reality they are anything but. From what I can tell, their main goal is to gain as much control over our country as they can, to further their own interests. I have yet to uncover what those interests are." He paused for a second. So far she looked interested, but not enthralled. Here's where it gets nasty...

Max nodded. "OK, so I'm following you so far...where do I come in?"

Knew she was gonna ask that... His face was carefully blank as he continued. "Well, here's the complicated part. They said I was welcome to bring a companion with me, and by companion I've learned they basically mean my current lover. I want you to come with me, pretending to be my paramour. If you decide to go with me, we need to go shopping and buy both of us a new wardrobe, I'll of course pay for all of that. I'll be expected to dress like the cream of society, and you'll be expected to dress your part as well, to look like...pricey sin."

"Why don't you just call it like it is, Logan? You want me to dress and act like an expensive hooker."

"Well...yes, basically." He could tell by her face that she wasn't happy with this so far. He know that in a pinch she had no problems using her stunning looks to distract men and get what she wanted, but to pretend to be a prostitute for a full week? If he weren't so desperate he'd never have asked her to do this. "But that's not all. They're going to assume we've been intimate, and so there's a very good chance that we'll be expected to share a room." He couldn't help but smile at the blank look on her face at this comment; she obviously hadn't realized the import of them pretending to be lovers until he mentioned this.

"As long as the room is not bugged, I'll be happy to sleep on the couch and let you take the bed. If they do have us bugged, we can't afford to piss them off and arouse their curiosity by deactivating the bug, which means we'd have to share the bed. We won't actually have to do anything, except maybe kiss if people start to doubt our relationship, but we will need to keep up the pretense enough that they believe that we're an item." He stopped, looking at her intently to judge her reaction. Her face was serious. He was relieved, it meant that she was at least taking the time to weight the facts and make an educated decision.

Max rose from her chair to stalk about the room. After a few minutes she turned back to him, and from the look on her face he knew she was going to turn him down. Shit. I really didn't want to have to use this...

"Logan," she began, her voice edged with doubt and her face serious. "Do you actually have proof that they're doing anything illegal? I mean, sure, they may be creeps, but unless they're actually acting on it, there's really no reason for us to go in there."

He sighed, knowing she had a point. "No, I can't find anything concrete. But I feel it Max. They've got their entire organization under so many false names and cloaks that they must have something to hide!" His frustration was obvious in his voice. Max sat down again in front of him, only to jump up a few seconds later to pace as Logan dropped his final bomb. "But that's not the only reason I want to go. Max...they said that they knew of a way to cure me, to let me walk again. But I have to pass muster before they'll tell me anything more about it."

"I see." She grew suddenly quiet, her face shutting down as she pulled herself behind her mask. She walked over to the window, her back to him as she stared out at the city below. Her voice was icily quiet, but after being around her for so long he could detect the hidden fury. Her face was calm, but he could see the anger in her eyes. "Logan, if I had said yes a few minutes ago, were you going to tell me about that last part?"

He knew that if he lied, she would see right through it. He was stuck with the truth, as much as he knew she'd hate the answer. His voice was soft, almost a whisper, as he answered her. "Probably not."

She turned to face him again, angry now. Her eyes shot bits of fire as she glared at him. "And why the hell not? If I go in there with you, to protect your ass and do your dirty work, don't you think I deserve to know the entire story?" Despite her angry stance, her voice was deadly quiet. A bad sign, he knew. Max tended to rein in her emotions whenever they became too extreme in any direction, presenting an icy-cold front while her tumultuous emotions boiled away beneath the surface, waiting to erupt.

He was silent for a moment, forced to accept the answer he was about to give her himself. It was not something he'd ever consciously thought out, he'd just simply felt that it would be better not to tell her, and he had not allowed himself to analyze his feelings further. "Because I didn't want to disappoint you if it didn't work. I didn't want to disappoint myself. I guess...I guess I thought that if I didn't have to say the real reason out loud, if I told myself that there is no way they could fix me, and that I'm just going to find out info on their organization. It wouldn't be real, you know? I wouldn't have to face the disappointment if it didn't work. I want to walk so damn badly, to be whole again. I feel so useless bound to this chair; I'm holding you back. You're so strong, and I'm not anymore...I'm sorry Max, I know I should have told you." Knowing she was probably furious with him still, he refused to look at her, instead focusing his blue eyes downwards. He was waiting for the explosion he thought was coming.

She relaxed a little bit. "Damn right you should have." She walked over to him, dropping down to her knees in front of him and looking him directly in the eye. He was surprised to see that instead of the anger he had expected, in her eyes he read compassion and caring. "Logan, you could never disappoint me, as long as you're honest with me. And you're not useless; you're far from it in fact, so get that idea out of your head now." Smiling at him, she rose to her feet again, her hands on her hips. "So, when do we leave?"

She grinned at the blank astonishment on his face. "C'mon, Logan, you don't honestly think I would've turned you down if I had known the real reason, do you? You're my friend, and friends help their friends. We need to go shopping, right?" Her eyes sparkled at the thought of spending Logan's money on expensive clothes...all in the name of business, of course! "Tomorrow's my day off from work, so we could do it then. Ugh. Speaking of work..." Max made a face. "I need to convince Normal to give me a week off...crap, that's going to be hard, he's anal about that kind of stuff."

She rambled on, planning everything out. As she talked she glanced at the clock, frowning. "I need to get going, I promised to meet the gals at the club tonight for some R & R. How about I swing by tomorrow morning, say around 9 or so? You can cook me breakfast, and then we can go do our shopping. Sound good?" Without really giving him time to answer, she grabbed her jacket off of the chair she had dropped it on as she came in. Then, to Logan's utter amazement, she placed her hands on the wheels of his chair, leaning over to brush a whisper-soft kiss across his cheek before tossing him a quick wave and shouting, "Later!" over her shoulder as she rushed out the door. Despite the way that their relationship had started to improve over the last few days, ever since their late night talk, he never would have expected such a careless show of affection from Max; she simply wasn't a very demonstrative person. Besides, while their relationship was better, it was a long way from where he wanted it to be. He still was not sure if they had the same final goal in mind. Today had surely been a day for surprises!

Logan still had that stunned look on his face ten minutes later when Bling let himself into the apartment.

"Logan? You OK? How'd it go?" Concern was written on the large man's face as he watched his boss.

"Uhh..." Logan roused himself from his dazed thoughts- most of which centered on the one concept that, damn, Max kissed me! "Yeah, actually, it went good, I think...she agreed."

A grin split the across Bling's face at the news. "That's great! See, I told you she would...anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, there is...can you go get some bacon? I think we're out, and Max sort of invited herself to breakfast tomorrow before we go shopping. And some fresh bread. Yeah, that would be good..." So saying, Logan turned away from Bling to roll himself down the hall to the kitchen.

Because of this, he missed his friend's snicker as he walked towards the door. "Umm-hmm, sure...and he tells me he's not in love with her. Right." Whistling, Bling let himself out of the penthouse to go bring home the bacon.