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Max is back.

I spent the day alternating between wondering if I would ever see her again, and thinking of ways I could go after her if she didn't return.  I was actually sitting at my computer trying to locate and hack into Manticore (or whatever name they now go by) in an attempt to find out what was happening, when I felt her presence and turned to see her standing there.

"It was a trick. Lydecker let him escape so he'd lead him to the others."

My heart dropped at her words and for a moment I half expected Lydecker to step around the wall holding a gun on her. Instead, as I rose to go to her, Zack strode into view. He stopped dead for a moment obviously startled to see me on my feet.

"Long story," I offered as my only explanation to him.  He shrugged and let it go; more concerned with the fact that Lydecker had tricked him into revealing the whereabouts of the other escapees.  I left him and Max to it for a while, not sure of how welcome any attempts to help might be.

When Zack blew up at Max in frustration and stormed off I couldn't stay out of it any longer.  Going over to Max I found out that the problem was that Zack had made himself "forget" how to contact the others and warn them that they had been compromised.  The solution was obvious to me, but the look on Max's face when I offered to do an Eyes Only hack to warn her siblings made me feel about ten feet tall.

Eyes only just made himself another enemy," she warned me.

"It was getting a little quiet around here," I assured her, not caring at that moment if the entire western world declared Eyes Only their sworn enemy.

The hack went perfectly and it seemed like everything was going to go off smoothly until Zack got a call from Tinga.  Lydecker had gotten to Portland before she got the word, and she was in trouble. To make a long story short I drove Zack and Max there and they were able to help her get away from his forces.

We found a car for Zack and Tinga and soon enough they had it hot-wired and were ready to head to Canada. There was an awkward moment when Tinga expected Max to join them, and Zack threw in a sarcastic remark about miracles but Max took it in stride.  I have to admit I was relieved that she wasn't going, even though I knew that in all truth she probably should leave Seattle. If I was less selfish I would have forced her into that car with the other two, but then again, you can't force Max to do something she doesn't want to.

The ride back to Seattle was silent for a long while. Max was deep in thought, probably about her all too brief reunion with another of her siblings, and I hesitated to disturb her.  I was still on a high, from a combination of her safe return and from the fact that she had chosen to stay in Seattle, so I concentrated on that, as well as on getting us back safely past any checkpoints.

"She was one of my "big sisters" you know," Max's sudden words caught me off guard.

"You mean Tinga?"  I wasn't sure where to go with this.

"Yeah. She's one of the older X5s, close to Zack's age." She paused, "I remember when I had seizures she'd sit with me, and once she climbed into my bed and held me until they stopped." Her voice was wistful, "I wish I could have spent some time with her."

"You could have gone with them."

Max's voice was soft yet fierce, "You know I wouldn't do that. Not now."

"Zack's right. Seattle isn't safe for you." 

"The world isn't safe for me, Logan. I have a life and friends in Seattle and I'm not giving them up.

I don't want to run anymore."

"I know." I waited a beat and when she didn't respond I added, "I'm glad you're staying."  She didn't answer but instead reached over and took my hand in hers. The rest of the ride was silent but it was a comfortable silence, and in a way I would have been happy for the trip never to end.

When we got back to Seattle and pulled into the parking garage it was late.  Max's motorcycle was parked in a corner and I glanced over at it.

"Want to come up?"

Max shrugged, "it's up to you. I don't need sleep but if you're tired…" I smiled and took her hand and pulled her toward the elevator.  The ride up was short and soon enough we were inside my apartment.  When I closed the door and turned back to Max she was just standing there looking at me.

I couldn't wait any longer to do what I had wanted to since the moment she had returned safely, and in seconds I had her in my arms and was drowning myself in her.  Long moments later I broke our kiss to take a breath, and, keeping her close, I rested my chin on the top of her head.

She gave me moment to recover before she pulled back enough to look at me. "Missed me?" her tone was teasing and she was smiling.

"Damn right I did." I looked down at her. "You scared the hell out of me."

"I had to go, Logan." 

Max wasn't giving an inch on this one and I sighed.  "Yeah, I know." That was enough – sometimes I do know when to quit, and this was an argument I could tell I wasn't going to win. Max smiled, and reached up to pull me back down for another long kiss. Things progressed from there and we made our way to my bedroom in a very short while.

Maybe it was a result of my relief and Max's lingering adrenaline high from Tinga's rescue but our lovemaking was fiercer and more passionate than it had been yet. Max made it clear she didn't want gentleness from me and after minimal foreplay I was plunging into her hot, welcoming depths. It was hard and hot and fast, and I barely lasted past Max's climax.  Once I felt her convulse around me I let go and I came with an intensity that matched hers. Finished, I pulled her close to me and amazingly enough she didn't protest but curled up against my side as we both fell asleep.