Always Talking 'Bout Changing

Castaway: Chapter 15

Something had been bothering Max all night. She paced the length of the hotel room, pausing every so often to turn and look at her son, so small in comparison to the adult sized double bed. While it wasn't exactly a matter of life or death, it was important to her anyway, and she resolved to fix it first thing in the morning.

The other bed held her mate, curled in sleep. Max climbed into bed slowly, doing her best to not wake him. He did, barely, but only to straighten a bit, allowing her to press her back against his front. He murmured something against her hair, something sleepy and unintelligible, his arm wrapping around her. He mighta been asking her if she was okay, she really couldn't tell.

She counted back from a hundred, taking deep even breaths, forcing her limbs to limpness, but she got down to the twenties and was still awake. Maybe because her thoughts kept moving a mile a minute beneath her half-assed attempts at sleep.

Ames White. Dead. Familiars at war… or well… Logan had said they'd been at war while White was alive. Maybe it'd died out with his death. Another question. Great. Then, of course, there were the transgenics that'd sold themselves out to the military. Max had no idea how to talk to them, or to the other faction; the transgenics scattered to the four corners, hiding from everyone as best as they could… Coming back to society… she'd never have guessed that everything would be so different. Or that it would be so hard to disconnect from the situation. It was no wonder she couldn't sleep.

"Max, you're not gonna solve it all in one night," Came Alec's sleepy voice from behind her.

She smiled, shifting closer, whispering back, "It's fine. Go back to sleep,"

"How can I?" He grumped, "You're screwing up the air,"

Max's brow furrowed and she turned to look at him, but he was already asleep once more, her reassurance apparently enough to send him back under.

She slept, on and off, as best she could. Slipped out of bed around six in the morning to put her glorious plan to fruition. She got dressed silently, spun the combo of the wall safe and pulled out a couple of twenties. Alec wouldn't stir until close to six-thirty, nearly twenty minutes after she'd already made a break for it.

"Max?" He pushed open the bathroom, knowing before he'd even touched the knob that she was gone. Well. Dammit. Where the hell was she? If she'd gone to see Logan, he'd-

Jaime stretched slowly, woken by his father's movements in the small room. He blinked sleepily, sitting up to rub his eyes with small fists. The boy practically exuded sleepiness; Alec got tired just lookin' at him.

"Hey champ," Alec sat on the edge of the bed.

"Where's Momma?" Jaime was glancing around unhappily.

Where, indeed. Alec smiled tightly. "She'll be back later."

Jaime lifted his arms and, obligingly, Alec leaned forward, let his son wrap his arms around his neck, lifting the boy away from the bed. Breakfast could wait till Max got back and he gave her a good grilling. For now…

Time for some good old-fashioned TV wasteland.

He looked up, keeping his face very neutral when the hotel lock clicked and opened gently. Max smiled tightly at him as she slipped into room. It was almost seven fifteen. Max had a styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand and a white plastic bag in the other, and he did his best not to scowl at her.

"Where ya been?" He asked tightly, swinging his eyes, and hence his frown, back to the TV.

Max shrugged, coming to sit on Alec's side, the other side being occupied by Jaime's wide-eyed, TV locked form. She leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the cheap little coffee table.

Two heads whipped towards her in unhappiness when the TV clicked off. She arched one eyebrow at her husband, reaching into the shopping bag.

"What is that?" Alec asked, nose wrinkling, as Jaime made little protesting noises wanting to know where the colors and noise had gone.

"This," Max declared, loftily, pulling the item from the bag. "Is a book."

"I know that," Alec scowled. "What's it for?"

She was tempted to make a smart ass remark. She tamed it as best she could and responded, "I'm not letting my kid grow up to be an illiterate vegetable like his father."

Alec resisted the urge to grumble, 'cuz she made a good point. But come on… Seven o'clock was father-son-Transformers bonding time! "Maax," He began to whine.

"One of the joys of parenting hitherto unknown," Max pointed out. "Reading to your child." It'd hit her last night and refused to disappear; they were back in civilization, home of the TV, Jaime's new best friend… but it didn't have to be. Jaime could learn to read now, he could paint, draw, ride a bicycle (one day)... so many things that he'd never have gotten a chance to do if they'd stayed on their island. Max wasn't gonna let the damn TV take over her son's brain; there was still so much he could discover.

Alec pursed his lips, seeing her point. There hadn't been any books on the island, after all, so that was one parent-child bonding activity he had yet to partake in. Plus, Max had a good point. While they had occasionally spelled out smaller words in the sand for their son, he still had a long way to go. "Fine," He huffed, gesturing impatiently for the small child's book.

"Yeah, pretend to be grumpy all you want," Max rolled her eyes, thunking the book down in his outstretched palm. "I know you're all over the mushy father-son stuff."

"I thought reading was for nerds," Alec grumped, grasping his son with his free hand and pulling him into his lap. But Max saw the way his eyes brightened, the corner of his mouth quirking just for a moment. The two and a half year old squirmed for a few seconds, before finally giving in and leaning back into his dad.

"I feel like I should have reading glasses," Alec muttered in embarrassment, opening the book.

"Cat?" Jaime's finger smashed into a bright picture of said animal, and he looked up at his Dad, and looking at Alec smiling at Jaime, Max knew if she'd had a chance to go back and do it all different, still she wouldn't have changed a thing… well… except maybe she'd would have given into the amazingness that is sex with Alec a lot sooner… but other than that, it had all turned out pretty well.

There was one thing though. She held in for most of the morning, watching Alec read to Jaime, but it came out when the went for breakfast with Cindy. Jaime was taking a sip from a child-sized glass of orange juice, Cindy was leaning over him in the red booth of the diner, waiting to come to the rescue, when Max murmured de sotto to her husband, "I saw you glaring,"

"What," He asked, startled, looking up from the breakfast menu.

"This morning, when I came in the front door."

Alec sighed. "Max, I woke up and you were gone. Without a word. Excuse me for bein' a little put-off."

"It's not like I went to hang out with Logan," Max muttered darkly. Cindy's eyes shot up into her hairline, looking at the couple seated across from her. "I went to buy Jaime a kid's book from the convenience store down the street. Only of course they didn't have any so I had to hunt down a store that actually had reading material."

"Just the same-"

"You don't have any reason to be jealous-"

"Well, you could have said something-"

"And here I thought the pod people had replaced the real Max and Alec," O.C. said dryly. "All that lovey-dovey stuff was beginning to make O.C. nervous,"

Max's head snapped back to Cindy, Alec pulled his menu back up to stare intensely at it.

"First order of business," Alec said evenly from behind his menu. "Finding you a cellphone."

Max sighed and nodded.

"What?!" O.C. exclaimed in mock horror, "Sugah gonna finally enter the 21st century and give up on her pager?"

Her pager? Sometimes it was easy to forget that the thing had always been connected to her hip. Max rolled her eyes. With a kid, she needed to be reached, pronto, at anytime. She didn't want to have to hunt down a payphone before calling Alec to find out what his latest freak-out session was about (conveniently disregarding that she was the more likely of the two of them to freak out). Shoe in the toilet, most likely. Her kid sure did hate his shoes.

"What ever happened to that thing, anyway?" Alec questioned, letting the menu drop back down the table.

"Bottom of the ocean, s'far as I know," Max shrugged, thinking of the device that'd once been her lifeline to Eyes Only missions, transgenic rescues, and a failing romance.

His stomach rebelled at the idea of heavy, starchy foods so early in the morning; really, he was still trying to get used to the plethora of delicious but clearly not organic foods back in his system. So instead of eating he stuck to his orange juice, Max stuck to her coffee, and they watched their son stuff his face with pancakes. They didn't know if it was his voracious appetite, or just his love for sweets, but he hardly seemed troubled by anything he put in his mouth.

"So," Alec leaned back into the booth, his arm lifting across the back behind Max. "What's New York like?"

Cindy shrugged. "Bigger. Mo' sectors. Mo' people. Mo' jobs. Other than that the same damn-" She glanced at Jaime before preemptively amending, "stuff, that you see everywhere."

"When you going back?" Max's hands were wrapped around the dingy tan of her coffee cup, the cup that she was now peering into as if Cindy's words couldn't affect her. Alec smiled a half-smile and he nudged at her under the table. She glanced up at him, to glare briefly, before pretending disinterest once more. None of it was lost in Cindy.

"Honey, you want me to stay, you know all you need is ask."

Max sighed, leaning back into the booth, into Alec's arm. "No, I can't ask Cindy. I mean, you got your own life… it wouldn't be fair to ask you to drop everything, just for me."

Cindy tapped one long manicured finger against the table for a moment before leaning forward abruptly. "So don't ask, boo. Instead, why don't you and Hot Boy and Baby Boo… why don't you come back with me?"

"To… New York?" It was clearly a thought that had never occurred to Max, judging by the soft surprise. She had spent a large portion of her teenage years in Seattle. Living anywhere else once they'd been forced off the island had never really crossed her mind. She could tell Alec was intrigued by the way he'd gone so still. Jaime was gloriously oblivious.

"What you got that's gonna keep you here?"

"She's got a point, Max." Alec frowned. "There's nothin' left. T.C. is burned out. Transgenics are scattered or back in Wyoming. What's holding us here? I mean, you don't seriously want to go back to work for Normal do you, running Eyes Only missions and stealing on the side?" Max arched one eyebrow at him, because he thought he was sneaky but he just so wasn't.

Well, he'd started, so even in the face of her 'I'm so on to you look,' he opted to add helpfully, "I mean, that's even to say if Logan still does that. If he really is running Cale Enterprises, I doubt the guy's got time to expose the politicians that he probably has workin' for him."

Max sighed. Did they really need to go over this again? "I already told you, I'm not doin' that anymore. No more Eyes Only, no more world saving."

"Good, then it's one less thing to hold us here. So what's stopping us?"

Nothing. Nothin' but her memories.

Cindy smiled. "Just think about it girl."

"Yeah," Max nodded, her eyes glancing up at Alec.

He sighed, using his free hand to run through his brown hair. Max clearly needed some time. "Just… give us some time to think about it, I guess. Still kinda getting used to everything being so different."

"Well, y'all don't hold the monopoly on changin'. World kept on movin', even after you left." Max snorted, because that was the understatement of the century. Cindy smiled. "So think about it. And let me know. Cuz you know for sure if you come back with me, ain't no way you're stayin' in a hotel."

Back at their motel room, they didn't talk about it, not right away. Alec put Jaime down for a nap, turned, looked at her, and asked in a quiet voice. "What's holding you here?"

"Questions." Max responded, honestly, sitting on the edge of their bed. "I don't know how I'm gonna leave this place when there are still so many things I don't understand."

"Max, this place hasn't been home to you in years. Does it really mean that much?"

"It does, in a way." She answered, well aware that Alec did not have the same sentimental attachment that she did. "I started to grow up here, give up some of my own selfish motives to look at a bigger picture, you know? I took a stand against Manticore, and the public, and Familiars. I fought for something." She paused, silent for a moment. "Hell, as messed up as things were back then, I even got my start with you here. It seems so strange to leave our home to come back to Seattle and now leave it behind as well."

Alec sat next to her, his palm turned up on his thigh and she took his hand willingly. "Why do I get this feeling that we're not going anywhere until we figure out what's up with Manticore?

"Because Manticore didn't raise no dummies." She smiled in response. He'd been right yesterday: She had come around to his way of thinking and there's no way she was going to be happy leaving unless she got some answers. She glanced at him. "I suppose this means we'll need to go back and talk to Logan. Set up a meet."

"Or even Joshua." He agreed. "Wasn't he always spoutin' off about Sandeman being his 'father'? Maybe he can get us the inside connect."

The looked at each other for a long moment before Alec added. "Dibs, Joshua."

"What?!" Max exclaimed, pulling her hand from his. "Why do you get dibs on Joshua? You should be the one talking to Logan! You've always been better at handling him when he gets all weird."

"Max, I tolerated Logan's bullshit jealousy when we were younger because it wasn't true. We weren't in a relationship and goading him was like a little game to me. It's not the same anymore. If he says some crap to me now-" Alec trailed off moody, remembering the way the conversation had ended with the older man last night.

"What," Max asked in amusement. "You'll deck him?"

He shifted in discomfort. "I know he's not a threat. I know that." She just waited and he added, a little sheepishly, leaning back into his arms, "I just wish somebody would tell my cat that."

She snorted softly. "Fine, you big coward. I'll go to Logan's tonight with Jaime. You hit up Joshua."

"Bringing my son as a shield to an ex-boyfriend, and she calls me a coward." He murmured. It was better that Max bring Jaime with her anyway. He still had a few old contacts to hit up.

She must have sensed that he'd given in too easily because she swung her leg over him, straddling his lap. He fell backwards into the bed, looking up at her suspicious brown eyes with neutral green. "...Be careful tonight, okay?" She asked, as gently as she could. She'd told him no more stealing; it wasn't worth it in the long run. She didn't come right out and accuse him of anything, though.

"Always," He smiled. His head turned to the left. Looked at the other queen sized bed and Jaime, sleeping under its garish red and brown comforter, practically swallowed by the thing. "It'll be nice when he's old enough to have his own room."

No kidding. "Bathroom quickie?" She asked hopefully.

"Love to honey, but we're kind of out of condoms."

"What? How could we possibly be out?"

His level look told her she knew exactly how and her face colored. Right. They'd had quite of bit of spare time as they'd practically refused to leave the suite on the cruise liner. Plus, it'd been the first time that they had a door that they could actually shut.

"There's a convenience store down the street." Max offered helpfully.

He smiled and tugged her down. "Naps?" He asked instead.

Naps? Naps was good too, she thought, as she rolled off him, tucking herself under his shoulder, letting her head pillow on his chest.

Before she could fully go under, lulled by the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat, she could feel him smile. "If he tries to kiss you again, I get to kill him."

She just rolled her eyes. "Please, like he'd try again."

Alec made a small contemplative sound in the back of his throat, not answering one way or the other.

When he left later in the afternoon, shortly after Max had bundled up their grumpy toddler, he had already kind of known where Josh would be. The night they'd gone to see Normal the man had very kindly given them copies of their old sector passes, so he was able to cross town easily enough. The neighborhood was still shit, but some of the stuff that'd been laying around in his memory was no longer in the yard. The eaves were still hanging a little too low, the stairs up to the porch still lookin' a little dangerous. Joshua was reading a book in the den where the TV had used to be, his mouth slightly slack in interest as he flipped the pages, when Alec knocked gently on the wooden archway, having already let himself in.

"Had a feeling I'd find you here."

Joshua shrugged, laying down the book on a rickety coffee table. Sure, Joshua was keeping it cleaner, but Sandeman's place had changed very little in the intervening years. One of the back windowpanes had been busted out and there was a piece of plywood on the sill to keep out drafts. It was not the most comfortable place for a man to be living. Alec suppressed a small amount of guilt. He wondered how Joshua had got along all this time by himself.

Joshua, however, seemed amused by Alec's slightly pained expression. "Joshua has nowhere else to go. Don't look sad, Alec. I like it here. Reminds me of before; of you, of Max, of… happy."

It seemed like the larger man had finally released the pain of Annie's death, so many years ago. Funny that a place that had once chased him out with bad memories was able to draw him back in with the good ones.

Alec came the rest of the way into the room, settling into a worn chair near the larger man. "Yeah, but-"

"I can take care of myself, Alec. And Logan helps out some. Asha too, before she died."

Alec paused, surprised, at Joshua's words. He had never even considered what had happened to the thin blonde. Hadn't realized that Asha had even known about Joshua. They must have met after he'd left. It seemed funny to hear the words coming out of his own mouth, so slow and careful, "Asha's dead?"

Joshua smiled sadly. "S-1W and Eyes Only… Something went wrong and Asha was shot. After that-" Joshua sighed. "After that Logan stopped Eyes Only, went back to his father. Too much, I think, to lose both Max and Asha to missions. Better to work in secret with money than out front with blood."

The statement seemed strange, too carefully organized for Joshua's usual pattern of speech; it must have been something Logan had told Joshua, back when he'd been vying for chairman of his father's company. Alec didn't care much about that: Instead, he sighed at the unfairness of it. Asha had been a good kid. Optimistic. Idealistic. Too naive for her own good. But a good person, nonetheless. He forgot that this place did that, so often. Killed off the good ones. Then he thought of White and frowned. Killed off the bad ones too. Too much death in general, really.

"World's not fair." Joshua agreed to Alec's unspoken unhappiness.

"Josh, why are you here?" Alec looked up suddenly. "Sandeman's your father or something, right? Why aren't you with him?"

"Sandeman abandoned Joshua. To Manticore and the basement." Joshua stood suddenly, walking away from Alec, clearly distressed. "Took Joshua a long time to realize. Then father comes back, says earn your freedom, come back to New-Manticore."

Joshua glanced back at Alec, his eyes sad. "He told me Joshua still first, Joshua still special… but I can no longer believe him. Cannot watch him put transgenics back in cages. My family… my family is you, and Max, and Cindy, even poor Asha."

Alec swallowed and stood slowly, already kind of knowing that Joshua wouldn't have the contacts to get him into the facility in Wyoming. "Buddy, if we leave…" He paused and then restarted. "Josh, listen, Max and I are thinking of going to New York with Cindy. Why don't you come with us?"

The question seemed to surprise the larger man and he turned to face Alec fully. "This is my home, Alec."

"Years of livin' on an island has taught me one thing, big guy. And that's home is where your family is." Alec sighed and then added, "Wouldn't feel right, leaving you here."

Joshua shrugged. "It's not about how Alec feels, it's about how Joshua feels. And Joshua not always alone. Sometimes transhumans come visit, sometimes Logan." He paused for a long moment, made a small whuffing sound. "Let… Let me think. Lots of change in not a lot of time..."

Alec nodded grimly. It wasn't fair to ask everyone else to adjust their lives to his family, after all. Then Joshua's face firmed. "Why else is Alec here? Sandeman?"

"We need to talk to him." Alec admitted. "Before we go. If we go. Max needs answers while she can still have them."

"Joshua has not talked to Father in over a year," Joshua frowned in thought, confirming Alec's suspicion. He looked up though, wary, and it put Alec a little on edge. "If you go to New-Manticore… Be careful, Alec. Father wants to save the world. He shot White, his own son. He says Max is the key."

"Well, too bad for him." Alec scowled. "Because no one ever asked our opinion on that."

Logan had opened the door of his penthouse in surprise. The address he'd provided them a few days ago was not Fogle Towers, nor Sandeman's old home, but something even nicer, if that was possible; just as upscale and modern but about twice as large. She didn't know why she was surprised; he'd taken back over the family business, hadn't he? God only knew why. He'd told her once he'd never wanted to be like his father. Seemed like that was yet another thing in a long line of circumstances that had changed.

"Hey Max, I didn't think you'd get here so soon."

He was not in a business suit, opting instead for jeans and a green long sleeve shirt. He looked a little bit more like himself and less like the CEO of a major corporation. Especially with the checkered red and white hand-towel thrown over his shoulder and the smell of Italian sauce wafting from behind him. If she ignored the slight scar above his lip or the boy in her arms, this scene could have been something out of a book written five years ago.

She lowered Jaime from her arms but the boy did not bolt off as expected, instead clinging to her pant leg. Her hand ruffled his soft brown hair affectionately. "He was a bit grouchy, so I needed to get him out of the hotel room and into the fresh air."

It still felt a little strange, living so little of her life outside, spending so much time cooped up in little rooms, only venturing out to make the transit from one small temperature controlled environment to another. Maybe they shouldn't be considering moving to New York at all, maybe they should be heading for the Caribbean. It was a wistful thought, but not one that she was sure she would ever act on.

"You guys want something to eat?" Logan asked with a slight smile. "I was just whipping something up for myself, so…"

She'd have believed him if he hadn't made enough for all of them. She supposed she couldn't blame him for trying to make nice. She couldn't blame herself for being suspicious, either.

They sat at the low couches arranged around a black coffee table because Jaime couldn't reach the high polished countertops from the sleek stools without the help of a booster. Max sat next to her son and Logan sat across from them. But Jaime just picked sullenly at the bowl of bow-tie pasta and carefully seasoned meat sauce. He was still grouchy, and the reason why would become apparent very quickly.

"Jaime, Logan was very nice to share with us. Why don't you try some?"

Jaime's chin jutted out stubbornly. "Don't wanna."

"Just try a bite."

"No."

Logan looked vaguely amused. Max kind of wanted to grind her teeth in frustration. He was always more difficult when he was in a snit. "Jaime-" She started warningly.

Jaime became defiant in the face of her warning tone and his little arms folded across his chest. "Don't want it. Want monkey."

Logan's eyes widened as Max's face turned six different shades of red.

"Did he just say… did you guys…" Logan cleared his throat, before trying to smooth things over. "Monkey is a delicacy in some parts of the world."

"One less screecher!" Jaime shouted happily, in obvious mimicry of his father. Max's face deepened some more. Logan, well aware of her embarrassment, smiled smoothly at the little boy.

"How about some ice cream, then?"

Jaime's eyes narrowed in interest, his mouth soundlessly forming around the words that he hadn't heard since the cruise ship. Max had to roll her eyes. It's like her son had an instinctual knowledge of all things sugary. Probably got it from his dad. She needed to find a corner store that sold vegetables that didn't look like they'd been rolled over by a truck, and soon.

As he was tucking into the bowl, Logan smiled at him from across the room, from their spot next to the living room doorway, and he turned to look at Max. "Cute kid... Sugar always does wonders. I learned that trick from you, you know."

"Yeah." She glanced up at him smiling. "Guess we can't visit too often or you'll give my son diabetes."

For a moment, it was almost like old times. Maybe too much like old times because Logan's head fell forward, his lips coming much too close to hers for her own comfort. Max's eyes widened in shock, her hands coming up reflexively to shove the man away. He stumbled a bit, but righted himself easily enough.

"Mama, you's got a kiss!"

Max's eyes darted to her son, already back to his ice cream consumption. "What the hell was that?" She hissed to the man next to her.

"I'm sorry. I just-"

"Just, don't, okay?" She kind of wanted to beat his ass. The feeling was fairly liberating. Had he always been like this, she wondered to herself, or had the long separation made him stupid.

They lapsed into silence, Max glaring, Logan shifting in discomfort. "Sorry." He finally said. "That was out of line."

"You're damn right it was." She scowled back. "I didn't come here to make nice and pretend like it was the old days, Logan. I came here to ask you about Sandeman and Manticore."

He leaned back into the doorway. "If you really want to know, I could set up a meet. He's going to want to see you, eventually. I can invite him up to Seattle. It's probably better to do it on your terms than his."

Her chin jutted stubbornly and Logan was reminded of Jaime's earlier self same expression. "I want to go out there. I want to see what they've done."

But he shook his head in warning. "That's probably not the best idea, Max."

"I need to know, Logan. I need to see what they sold themselves to. I won't be able to sleep at night thinking that it's all back to the way that it used to be for them."

It wasn't just about Sandeman, after all. It was about the transgenics too. The ones who had gone back, who had bought back into the military and the institution she had fought so hard to destroy.

"Give me a few days." Logan frowned, crossing his arms, and it seemed like the stupidity of only moments ago was behind them. It was back to business once more. "I'll set something up. We can fly out there, you, me… and Alec."

Max nodded, forgiving him the reluctant tone for the fact that he was at least intelligent enough to add her husband to the equation. "Good." They lapsed into silence for a long moment. The sound of Jaime's spoon, clinking into the bottom of the bowl, fairly filled the room.

"I'd like for us to be friends, you know." Logan told her.

If he was serious, then he needed to face facts. "It's not just me, anymore, Logan. I'm a package deal now. You want us to be friends, it's not just going to be me coming to visit you. You need to get right with Alec, too." Time would only tell if something like that was even possible.

"Fair enough." That could have been it, but after a moment he added. "Max?"

She looked up at him, waiting for the question.

"I… just have to ask… Was it heat?"

Max stared at him in surprise. Then her face saddened, her annoyance forgotten. This was a man who'd loved her, many years ago. She owed him the truth, if nothing else. Her voice was still firm as she offered, "I don't know what to tell you, Logan. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," His head fell backwards, and he laughed with no humor. "God, you're sorry? I'm sorry. To be all alone out there, and go into heat-"

Oh, anger. There you are. Her laugh was clipped. "Excuse you?"

"Didn't you just say-"

"I said I was sorry." She replied, unable to suppress the angry emotion that was dripping through. "And no, no heat was involved when it comes to my Jaime. Alec's a decent guy; more than either of us ever gave him credit for. He refused to touch me when I was like that."

Logan shifted uncomfortably at this unexpected development. He looked away. "I'm sorry… I just… God, this is so unbelievable! Part of me knew you were alive… and, god… I waited for you, Max."

Max's eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Logan. I don't know what to tell you. But you weren't there, you don't know what we went through."

Logan laughed in response, low and pained. "Yeah, must have been real difficult, you two alone on a deserted island. Sure Alec was all tore up."

Her eyes lost their softness, narrowing. "You're damn right he was."

"That's why it took you, what, six months to jump into bed together?" He must have made a guess at Jaime's age and done the math for himself.

Still, so much for wanting to be friends. Max's narrowed eyes never left Logan's face. She had known that she and Logan would have to have this conversation eventually, or at least had suspected. She hadn't realized how annoyed that it would make her. "Jaime," she called, "Go get your jacket. Mommy has to say some not nice words to Logan."

"Kay," Jaime slipped off the chair, hands firmly over his ears as he headed towards the front room.

"Where the hell do you get off? What, you think Alec and I are animals? That we were alone for a minute before we started tearing each other's clothes off?"

He just leveled her with a look. "Come on, Max, six months?"

"Seven," Max corrected blandly. "But really, who's counting." Besides him, obviously.

His look was very carefully not annoyed. "Seven months? That's like nothing."

"A blink of the eye for you, maybe. An eternity for us." Max shook her head.

Logan conceded that, but persisted on, "Alec has always had feelings for you-"

"Yeah, annoyance and bitterness being the predominating ones. It took a lot of time for us to work through our problems. Time, which we had to plenty of to spare. Do you even realize how truly terrifying it was to be in that situation? Every moment was like an eternity. So, no, you don't know, you can't understand; cuz you weren't there."

"Not because I didn't want to be. God dammit, Max. I waited for you."

His statement was slightly offset by the sound of a toilet flushing in the background. Sounds like Jaime had found the front bathroom. She had no doubt that a massive amount of toilet paper was now making its way into Logan's drainpipes. Honestly, what did he expect her to say, though? Was his words supposed to mean something? Were they supposed to change everything she'd come to feel for Alec over the last four years?

"And I'm truly sorry that you did. But I have a son now Logan. I have a husband. What do you want me to say?"

He shook his head, his voice still slightly disbelieving. "We waited so long…"

Her teeth clenched. What did he freakin' want from her? A declaration of eternal love? A 'boo-hoo, if only I hadn't fallen in love with Alec and had his son, we could be together?' Come on, what did he think she was, some sap-brained school girl that would leave her partner at a moments notice, because some old flame showed up?

"I love Alec, Logan." She said it fiercely, with simple, brutal honesty. "Whatever it was you and I had… It was over a long, long time ago." Her eyes slid up to his, her jaw firm. "If you really want to be friends, than it's time that you got used to that."

Jaime returned, a slightly guilty expression on his face, but he had his jacket and that would have to do. Max scooped up her son and left Logan there. He didn't say anything as she left but she didn't care: What was there left to say?

"Daddy!" Jaime whooped as the transgenic swept his son up into his arms.

"You have a good time?" Alec asked, genuinely interested in his little boy's response. Max's eyes darted to their bed, where a black duffel sat, zippered closed. So, her suspicions were correct and Joshua was not the only person he'd visited while he'd been out. How he'd managed to talk to Joshua and rip someone off before she could even get back was a mystery to her. Overshadowing that, though, was the frustration. She'd told him only a short time ago: Never again. If he didn't want her to die for Eyes Only or Transgenic Nation, surely he could understand that she didn't want him getting shot for a few measly dollars. She couldn't open her mouth in annoyance, though, because Jaime was already responding to his father's question.

"I gots ice cream!" Jaime grinned like the cat that got the canary. Then his eyes widened in innocent sharing. "And Mama gots a kiss."

Alec stilled, his voice hardening a bit. "Did she?" He looked up at Max, whose head had snapped back towards him, looking like a deer in the headlights. "Did Mama like the kiss?"

Jaime shrugged, squirming to be free as he lost interest. Alec put the boy down, his eyes never leaving his mate.

"Well," Alec demanded. "Did she?"

"Jeez, Alec," Max rolled her eyes "One jealous male is enough for a night. Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

"Seeing as how I have more of a right to be jealous, why don't we talk about it now. You do remember how I told you I'd kill him." He added that last part as if he were trying to be helpful or something.

Max rolled her eyes. "He didn't even actually kiss me, I shoved him away too fast."

"Well that's a nice change." Alec's voice was only a little bitter.

"God, what is it with you two?" Max glowered. "Both of you, acting like I'm some fifteen year old that's going to drop everything and run back to him. He's not the only one that needs to grow up. You do too, Alec."

Alec glared at her for a moment. But she glared at him right back. "I love you, you big idiot. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that before you start believing me."

He could forgive her for calling him an idiot, because he knew perfectly well that he was one. He tried to force himself to relax, asking, "So, what happened?"

"We were just standing there, talking. It came out of nowhere." She scowled for a moment in remembrance. "How was I supposed to know he'd get all touchy feely when we were talking about your son? I only barely managed to avoid kicking his ass, so I got some aggression left, if you really want to go."

He looked a little annoyed at even the possibility of Logan's mouth touching his wife's. "Kind of, but that's not what I was asking about. I mean what did he say about Sandeman?"

Max relaxed a bit, wondering if Alec was really going to drop the subject so easily. Which is maybe why she was a little guarded as she said, "He'll set up a meet for us… But he made it sound like maybe I shouldn't be going out there."

Alec scratched at the back of his neck for a moment as he admitted, "Well, Joshua kind of hinted at the same thing. I worry about this guy, Max. Who creates a race of super soldiers to save the world and then abandons them to the government?"

"I guess we're going to find out."

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at their door. Alec grunted. "I'll get it." He clearly was so not over it because he added, "Go brush your teeth."

"I told you; he didn't kiss me." She scowled, but left anyway because Jaime was heading to the bathroom and she knew well enough what his nefarious plans were. They should have learned well enough by now to keep the door closed.

The motorcycle helmet that greeted him when he pulled open the door was not so much of a surprise, as Alec had invited Joshua to visit for the evening as he'd been leaving the older man's home. Joshua flipped up the visor, smiling toothily, as he held a pizza aloft with the other hand.

Alec graciously took the unexpected pizza from the other man. "Come on in, pal."

Max had shut the door to the bathroom, herding Jaime's sullen form before her. "Joshua!" She greeted, happily, before looking at Alec. "Hey, was Jaime wearing shoes when we came in?"

"No, why?"

Max sighed. "Because if not that means they're lodged in Logan's toilet. I forgot to check him before we left. It's just so easy to forget, you know?"

Jaime had caught sight of Joshua in the room and stared at the motorcycle helmet in wonder as the large man removed it. His bad mood was immediately forgotten as he walked carefully to the large man pointing at the thing in the universal sign of 'give me.' Alec watched in amusement as Joshua very carefully handed it to the boy.

"You know we're going to talk about this more later, right?" He warned Max, watching his son drag the helmet awkwardly across the ground towards the one small couch in front of the TV.

"There's nothing left to say," Max shrugged as Alec placed the pizza on one of the beds and walked over to her. "I set him straight. If you really want to keep beating a dead horse, we can, but don't think for a moment that I don't know that you're also trying to distract me from that duffel bag full of money on the bed."

His eyes darted towards it. "What, that? That's… nothing…"

She'd have believed him if it didn't look like he was trying really hard to concoct an excuse for where he'd gotten it and what it was. "Right. Let's not forget that your skin is practically a magnet for lead, okay? We need to find jobs… real jobs… when we get to New York."

He paused, staring at her in surprise. "What… really?"

"You're right, you know." She sighed, aware that Joshua was listening in to their conversation. "Except for Big Fella here, there's really nothing left to keep us in Seattle. Seeing Logan this afternoon really drove that home for me. We talk to Sandeman, we talk to some transgenics and when we're done… we go. There's no reason to stay."

Alec smiled grimly, pulling her in to kiss her forward gently. "Please tell me we're not leaving just so you can get me away from the seediness of Sector 2. I have the warehouses and safe combinations down there practically memorized."

"Yet another in a long line of reasons why we should probably go." Max sighed, pinching the skin of his side before pulling away. He yelped and mock glared at her. She just waved it off, glancing pointedly at the bag on the bed. "You're still in trouble."

He could have thrown something back, like, 'so are you;… but she'd warned Logan off, hadn't she? She'd told him she'd shoved the older man away rather than let him kiss her again. She was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He did need to grow up. Needed to stop fearing in his depths that the beautiful dream of the island was going to give way to some kind of terrible nightmare; that she would leave him for Logan or for the good of Transgenic Nation. And if she really was going to give up Transgenic Nation for his and Jaime's sake, clearly he needed to give up thievery as well. Lord knows he had the worst luck when it came to bullets. It wasn't fair of him to make demands of her and then not follow through on any of the ones she'd asked of him.

Still, a part of him thought of the upcoming meet with Sandeman and New-Manticore in trepidation. He'd told himself he'd trust her, and he would. He just didn't know yet whether or not Sandeman was someone to be trusted as well.