Returns in Time

"Whoa, easy," she laughed, scooping her son up. "Let me breathe!"

"Yeah," Alec spoke up. "Mind the baby."

"Okay kids," Zane stepped forward to pull his daughter back. "Why don't you take Hope into Case's room? We need to talk."

"But we want to know what's going on," Serena objected.

"Yeah," Case added. "What's happening to Uncle Logan?"

Max ruffled Case's hair. "We'll fill you in later. Go."

"That a good idea?" Syl frowned as Case's door closed behind the children.

"We have to tell them something," Krit pointed out. "Case and Serena are old enough to understand that something is going on."

"We can worry about that later," Zane spoke up. "I want to know what happened."

"Clemente's cleared me of knowing anything about Eyes Only," Max replied. "At least, anything more than he does."

"What about Logan?" Syl asked.

"Someone tipped off the police that Logan's Eyes Only. Clemente has to investigate."

"What?" the others exclaimed. "How?"

"Someone could be taking a wild guess," Syl suggested.

"Maybe. But that still leaves us with the question of who could be settin' Logan up," Max sank down onto the couch.

"Who else knew that Logan was Eyes Only apart from us?" Krit wanted to know.

"Renfro," Alec replied promptly. "Anyone else at Manticore involved in the creation of the virus."

"Not necessarily," Sasha countered. "They would've just been told that the person the DNA belonged to was an enemy. There would have been no need to tell them anything else."

"Renfro still knew," Alec shot back.

"Renfro's dead. Moot point." Max ended the argument.

"I think Lydecker knew," Syl spoke up.

"He's out of the picture," Zane countered.

"He could be trying to make a deal," Syl shrugged.

"After two years?" Zane was sceptical.

Max shook her head. "Clemente would've told me if it was an official tip."

"What about this Bronck?" Alec asked. "He knew?"

"But he didn't know who Logan was," Max said. "Logan had no ID on him when he was caught. He never carries any when meeting an informant for that reason."

"I don't think any of this really matters," Krit hated to be the one to point it out, but it had to be done. "Logan was set up, and now he's in police custody."

"Your point?"

"That has to be what they want. Whoever 'They' are."

"They're gonna break Logan out under the cops' noses?" it was Sasha's turn to be sceptical. "Who could to that?"

"A transgenic could," Alec pointed out, remembering his rescue from police custody at Max's hands.

"But Eyes Only is a champion of the transgenic cause. A transgenic wouldn't be behind this." Zane shook his head.

"What about Zack?" Alec asked quietly.

"Don't go there, Alec," Max's tone was just as quiet. "It's not his style. Besides, Krit's right; it doesn't matter. Someone's after Logan and we need to be ready."

"Ready how?" Alec was suspicious.

"Keep an eye on Logan round the clock. Watch for any suspicious activity. It's what we were trained to do."

Zane nodded. "If anyone tries to break him out, we'll catch him."

"Clemente's not gonna like it," Sasha warned.

"He doesn't have to know, unless something happens," Krit pointed out. "Then it'll be the least of his worries."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Where do we start?"

Much to her disgust, Max found that though she could help with the planning, she could take no part in the actual watching. It wasn't that she physically couldn't do it; but she was six months pregnant and a fight could be dangerous. Alec didn't want anything to happen to his unborn child, and it was pointed out that Logan wouldn't want her to put herself or the baby at risk for him. So she spent the time with the children, permanently looking after Serena so as to free Zane for the mission.

After three days of constant "I wanna see Uncle Logan", Max finally gave in and took Case and Jack to where Logan was being held. As Krit pointed out, at ten, Case and Serena were old enough to realise that something was wrong; and it was better to come out and tell them something rather than let them scare themselves silly imagining the worst. All they were told was the barest truth: that Uncle Logan had been arrested for something that he didn't do, and the police were trying to sort it out. Both children seemed to realise there was more to it than that, but they accepted the story readily enough. Hence the constant requests to see him.

Clemente was none too happy to see Max turn up at the station with two children in tow (Serena was with Gem at the restaurant). "What are they doing here, Max?"

"Same as me, to see Logan."

"I don't think..."

Clemente was cut off by a commotion coming from the cell area. Shots could be heard, making half the people in the reception area instinctively duck for cover. The sudden noise and tension made Jack start to whinge, and Case turned round eyes onto Max. "What's happening, Auntie Max?"

"I don't know, sweetie." Max turned to the detective. "Want to take a guess?"

"Not really. I've got a pretty good idea." Clemente drew his gun from his holster, motioning to another cop. "Stay here."

Max wanted very much to follow Clemente, having a strong suspicion as to what was happening. But if she did there was no way Case would simply remain behind with Jack, and there was no way she was going to lead her children into danger. So she waited, hoping against hope.

She didn't have to wait long. After hearing sounds of more gunshots and squealing tires, Max saw Clemente come back into the reception area, followed by three cops looking worse for wear. The way the detective hesitated before looking at her told her all she needed to know. "Logan?" she asked anyway.

"He was taken," Clemente confirmed. "Alive, as far as I could tell."

"How?"

"We arrested a group of men earlier on D and D's. It appears it was a set-up, and they weren't drunk at all."

"And they broke him out from the inside," Max finished knowingly, having done something similar once. "One of the guards was probably on the take."

Clemente gave her a sour look. The thought had occurred to him, but it didn't mean he wanted her to voice it. "Let's not jump to any conclusions. For now our main concern is finding your husband. I've sent men out to follow, but whomever took him will be long gone by now."

Max's attention was diverted by the appearance of Krit in the reception area. "Max, Logan's gone," he said without preamble.

"We know," was her only reply. "Did you see where they took him?"

"They were prepared, they bundled him to a car pretty quickly. It was running, so it took off as soon as the doors closed. Alec barely had time to get on his bike to follow."

"But he is following them?" Max stressed.

"Yep."

Clemente was less than pleased to find that transgenics had the station under surveillance—as Sasha had predicted. "We figured something like this would happen," Max tried to explain. "We wanted to be prepared."

"And how do I know that you weren't gonna try and break him out yourselves?" the detective asked, quite logically.

"Trust me, we would've broken Logan out a long time ago if we were going to," Krit stated, and Max sighed. She didn't want to remind Clemente that transgenics were perfectly capable of breaking people out of prison. She also wanted to maintain some co-operation with the detective—Logan's life was in danger and she did not want to alienate someone who may be able to save him.

Luckily Clemente seemed to realise that the statement was meant to be reassuring and chose not to comment. Instead, he harkened back to Max's earlier comment. "What did you mean by you figured something like this would happen?"

The question startled Max, and she struggled to think of something to say that wouldn't incriminate Logan. The longer it took for her to come up with an answer, the more suspicious Clemente would become. The thing was, she knew he hadn't fully believed her when she said she didn't know who Eyes Only was. Saying anything now would only confirm that suspicion.

Krit sensed his sister's indecision and jumped in. "That Eyes Only hack, the one about S1W, that was obviously a set up."

Clemente frowned. "How so?"

"Think about it. Eyes Only has always professed to be dedicated to rooting out corruption and righting wrongs. Up until that particular hack, and even the ones since, everything that he or she said has been very full of proof. That hack was the exception."

"I don't know," Clemente shook his head. "Some of the ones he made about Bronck that time were unsubstantiated."

"Matt Sung was set up and fed false information," Max all but snapped. The whole situation with Bronck still made her angry five years later, and she had the uncanny feeling that it had something to do with the set up now. "Bronck wanted to capture Eyes Only and silence him for good."

"That's actually beside the point," Krit cut in before Max's comment could get her into trouble. "The point is that Eyes Only never made a hack where he didn't leave evidence to back it up."

"What's that got to do with the S1W hack?" Clemente wanted to know.

"That hack neither confirmed nor denied S1W's involvement in the recent explosion. Not Eyes Only's style. Besides which, why would anyone who needs to stay under the radar openly admit to criminal activity guaranteed to start a manhunt?"

"Eyes Only's anonymous," Clemente shot back. "Maybe he figured he was untouchable."

"But his informants aren't, and anything inflammatory is bound to result in them being questioned and possibly arrested. You arresting Logan proved that. Would someone who relies on their informants really work like that?" Krit raised his eyebrows.

"Probably not," Clemente conceded. "But this is all conjecture. We can't know what Eyes Only does, and neither can you unless you know who he is."

Max locked eyes with her brother, silently pleading with him to let it rest. Clemente's last statement was pointed, and she didn't want Krit's desire to prove Logan innocent to cast more suspicion onto the man instead. Krit got the message and fell silent, leaving Max to fill in the conversation blank.

"Look, none of that matters right now," she turned to look at Clemente. "We can deal with that later. Right now I just want to find Logan."

"We have people working that now," the detective said. "But if Alec is already following them, he'll find them probably before we do."

"Then what?"

"Depends on the information he finds." Clemente looked at Max levelly. "And if he comes to us with it."

Max knew what Clemente meant by that, but before she could comment, Jack started fidgeting. The little boy was restless, having been told that he was going to see his Daddy, but then just waiting without seeing him. "Daddy," he said, loudly and clearly.

"Not now, sweetie," she shifted the toddler to the other hip. "We can't see Daddy now."

"See Daddy now!" he insisted.

"Your Daddy had to go away for a bit," Clemente explained to Jack.

This didn't go down well with him, and he started wailing. Max alternated between trying to comfort him and looking apologetically at Clemente. "Sorry."

"Don't be, it's perfectly understandable. Why don't you take him home? There's nothing more you can do here, and it can't be good for the children."

"It's a good idea, baby sis," Krit said when he saw her hesitate. "Besides, Alec's more likely to contact us there first."

Reluctantly Max agreed.

Alec only had to follow the car through two sectors before it pulled up at an old warehouse. Part of him wanted to use the element of surprise to jump them and grab Logan, knowing that he could take them. But there was the (very) off chance that one of them could get the drop on him or use Logan to get to him. Logan's life was too high a price to pay for cockiness, and Alec was not the same X5 that found himself alone in the world four years ago. Besides, pregnant or not, Max would kick his ass if anything happened to Logan.

So he just watched, standard recon, just as Manticore had taught him. He was glad he did, for these men were not stupid. They knew that there would be a rescue attempt with transgenic involvement at the very least; there were so many men in that warehouse that it seemed like overkill to guard just one man, and they were armed to the teeth. An X5 may be faster than a speeding bullet, but dodging a flurry of them from all directions was something else entirely.

Sorry man, Alec thought at Logan, even though he knew the older man couldn't hear him. We'll have to come back for you.

Max and Krit took the children back to Logan's apartment, feeling safer there than at their own place. They were soon joined by Zane and Serena; Syl, Cory, and Hope; Sasha, Joshua, and Mole—each concerned about the fate of Logan. The adults tried to keep the gravity of the situation from the children, but Case had figured out exactly what had happened at the police station and told Serena.

They weren't alone. Correctly assuming that Alec would contact Max and Krit rather than the police, Clemente went around to the makeshift apartment to await the call. He was not disappointed in that at least; but if he was expecting them to ask for police help he was sorely disappointed.

"Alec says that if any cops turn up they'll take Logan out," Zane reported. "Do you really want to take that risk?"

"What I want has nothing to do with it," Clemente countered. "I can't have transgenics running around acting as vigilantes, even if you consider Logan as one of your own. Whomever these men are, they're police suspects and we need to take them in. besides which, Logan Cale is still under arrest."

"And you don't trust us to turn him over to you?" Syl asked, half-sarcastically.

"Frankly no, given your feelings on the matter."

The transgenics had the grace to look abashed. "How about this, then," Max suggested. "Come down with us. Let us do our thing, and you can be on hand to arrest them afterwards. It's what we were trained to do, take the enemy out quickly and quietly."

"And lethally," the detective added pointedly. "I would like to have live suspects to question afterwards."

"Contrary to popular belief, we don't like killing unnecessarily," Krit said quietly.

"Besides, you wouldn't be able to guarantee that if you stormed the place," Zane pointed out. "And that would likely get Logan killed."

"I don't like this," Clemente stated.

"You don't have to like it," Syl shrugged. "We could just as easily knock you out and leave you here before going out."

"Syl..." Cory warned, speaking up for the first time.

"We're wasting time arguing," Max started pacing. "We need to just go, right now."

"We?" Zane and Krit turned to look at her.

"It's Logan out there, Krit. I'm not waiting here for something to happen."

Though Zane, Syl, and Krit were worried about the baby, Max won the argument, leaving Cory and Sasha to look after the children. Because of the baby, she wasn't allowed to participate in the actual operation, and had to wait outside with Clemente and his men. Her protests about them being shorthanded fell on deaf ears; Krit just got Joshua, Mole, Dix, and a few others from Terminal City to help out. She discovered that waiting there, close enough to hear any breaking fight, but unable to help was even worse. When shots broke out, she thought her heart had stopped.

Almost as soon as the shooting started, it stopped. Max and Clemente looked at each other. "Now what?" Max asked.

Clemente drew his gun. "Wait here."

Max waited—for all of five seconds—before following the detective into the warehouse. Everything was pretty much over as far as she could see; the men that Alec had described were either groaning or slumped on the floor—alive, she guessed, as Krit was assuring Clemente that no one had been taken out lethally. Logan, Bronck, and Alec were nowhere to be seen.

Before she could ask where they were, further shots rang out from somewhere in the back. "Logan!" she screamed, running towards the sounds, heedless of the warnings behind her. She didn't care about her own safety at that moment; she just wanted to see Logan, to know that he was all right.

The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Logan was dangling from scaffolding, a hundred feet up; held only by Alec's tenuous grip. She held her breath, scared to even speak in case Logan slipped further. Her enhanced eyesight gave her an excellent view of the struggle, and here was one time she wished she was ordinary.

"Come on, man," she heard Alec mutter as he struggled to hold onto Logan. "You can't give up now. Max'll kill me if I let you die."

Logan didn't respond, but he didn't seem interested in letting Alec pull him up either. Alec just gave up and just resorted to hauling the unresisting man up, using all his genetically enhanced strength to do so. Bit by bit the cyberjournalist was edged onto the catwalk, both transgenics sighing with relief when he reached the relative safety of the walkway.

Max waited until Logan wasn't about to fall again before rushing to climb up the ladder to them. "Don't give up on Max," she heard Alec say. "She loves you. I took a chance when we got together, but it's you she really loves and it didn't take us long to figure that out. Don't let your pride push her away."

Logan gave no reply; whether he didn't believe it or was just winded, Max couldn't tell. She didn't care, either; she just wanted to get to Logan. When she finally reached him, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, ignoring the glare Alec was giving her. "Logan," she whispered, checking him for signs of obvious injury, rolling him over so his head was in her lap.

Blue eyes blinked owlishly as Logan tried to come to terms with the fact that she was there. "What are you doing here, Max?"

"Looking for you. I wouldn't stay away, so they let me come."

"But the baby..." this came from Alec.

"Don't worry; they made me stay outside until the fighting was over. But I couldn't wait at home for news, I just couldn't. You know me."

Logan had to chuckle, sitting up. "You're not the most patient person."

"Look who's talkin'," she returned. She would have said more, but Logan produced a burst of energy, pulling her toward him and kissing her thoroughly. It wasn't really the time or place, but Max didn't care. She was just happy to find him alive.

"As happy as I am that you guys found each other, I think there are better places for this little reunion," Alec rolled his eyes.

The couple broke apart sheepishly. "Do you think you can walk?" Max asked her estranged husband.

"I can give it the old college try," Logan moved his legs experimentally, grateful that he felt them tingling as though they'd been asleep—feeling was a good sign. He was unsteady when he got to his feet, but with Max's help he made it down to the first floor; where is pride kicked in and he pulled away, determined to make it on his own.

Max looked down at Bronck's body as they passed it. "This is all your fault, you know," she said to her husband.

"My fault?" Logan cocked an eyebrow. "How do you figure that?"

"If I hadn't been workin' with you, I would've had no problem with killin' him back then. He wouldn't have come back to do all this."

Smiling, Logan put an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, but if you hadn't been associating with me, you wouldn't have been involved at all, and Matt and me would've been killed."

"Good point, and then Jack wouldn't have been born. I think I prefer you alive."

"You think?" the incredulous tone in Logan's voice made her laugh, eliciting a chuckle from him.

She gently nudged him with her elbow. "Come on; let's get you home before your legs decide to give out on you."

"We didn't finish out conversation the other day."

"Don't worry about that now."

"I meant what I said the other day," Max said one evening four days later. There had been no chance for them to talk before that—Logan was technically still under arrest when he'd been taken, and Clemente took him back into custody. It had taken a while for things to be sorted out after that; it was only after another Eyes Only hack—the fourth since he'd been arrested—that Clemente seemed to agree that Logan was not Eyes Only. Especially as the last hack detailed not only Logan's ordeal, but exactly how the evidence had been stacked against him (evidence that Krit and the others found and put together). When this evidence surfaced at Clemente's station, the detective had no choice but to let Logan go.

"About what?" came Logan's cautious reply.

"You, me... how I felt about Alec and you," Max let out a sigh, sounding like a hiss coming from between her teeth. She had no trouble speaking her mind, except when it came to emotional issues—her Manticore training still stuck. She took a deep breath and started again. "I'm not in love with Alec. I'm still in love with you."

Logan let out a sigh of his own. One thing his incarceration, and then his kidnapping, had given him was time to think. While he still loved Max (and suspected he always would), he knew that the constant to-ing and fro-ing, and the on again/off again nature of their relationship wasn't healthy. It was one thing to forgive her for lying about being with Alec that time—she was trying to protect him by pushing him away. But this time Max had actually been with the other transgenic. She was carrying his child. As much as he still loved his estranged wife, was he asking for another betrayal if he took her back now?

"I can't tell you the future, Logan," Max said after he voiced his fears to her. "That's the one ability Manticore didn't give me. But I never meant to hurt you, Logan."

"I know. Neither did Valerie." Logan knew it would sting Max to mention his ex-wife, bit the comparison was there. Fool me one, shame on you; fool me twice...

Max winced at the not-so-subtle reminder that she was the one who exposed Valerie's deception last time. Being compared to a woman like that wasn't flattering either. "I don't know what to say, Logan. Maybe I'm not cut out for a long term relationship. Maybe I'm just too defective."

"Maybe you just need to learn that you can't just cut and run when things get too tough."

"It wasn't like that. I felt restless and cooped up, and it felt as though something was missing. Loving you didn't feel like enough anymore."

"And now it is?"

"I don't know. Sometimes love just isn't enough to maintain a relationship, Logan."

"I don't believe that," Logan took a step forward.

"Don't you? You're the one who's afraid here, Logan. You're afraid I'm gonna run off and hurt you like I did before. Like Valerie did."

"Max..."

"And I don't blame you! I can't promise anything, Logan. I can't promise that sometime down the track I won't do the exact same thing. I wasn't brought up like you were! I never had that role model to learn from. I don't know who to have a relationship..."

Logan grabbed Max's shoulders to get her attention. "Max, relationships aren't cut and dried like that. Everyone has to work at them. Look at Syl and Cory. Syl had much the same lifestyle as you, and they're making a good go of it."

Max smiled wanly. "Yeah, but Syl never hurt Cory the way I hurt you. How can we get past that? How can you?"

Logan didn't have an answer for that. Letting go of Max he walked over to the stereo and switched it on. Instead of the classical music he was wont to listen to, the music had a definite beat to it—not as heavy as Max's music, but way more modern that Logan's style. He chuckled. "I forgot. Case and Serena were here earlier. They must've left this behind."

"That's okay," Max looked over at him. "You didn't answer my question."

"I don't have any answers, Max. but despite everything, I know I can't give you up." Looking down at an empty CD cover, he suddenly began skipping songs on the player.

"What are you doin', Logan?"

"Shh, there's a song here I think you should listen to."

Max winced again. She didn't need to be reminded of the fact that she had lied to Logan about Alec. That was part of the problem now. "Logan, I..."

"Shh, just listen."

She did. It was a song that she normally wouldn't listen to; it was slower than her tastes usually ran. But she couldn't help but notice that it seemed to sum up her relationship with Logan quite well. Especially the chorus.

"Maybe we should start over," Logan suddenly spoke up as Dan Hill's voice faded on the song's dying notes.

"Huh?"

"Maybe we should start over. You know, you coming over for one of my spur-of-the-moment culinary miracles, stuff like that."

"Where's this come from?"

"Something Krit said once. He said that we never did the usual relationship things."

"So?"

"So maybe we should. It's a place to start. You can come over for dinner like you used to when we first met."

"Like normal people do when they date," Max clarified, smiling.

"Right, only without all the denials."

"What about the Eyes Only missions?" Max's smile turned deliberately impish.

Logan's eyes travelled down to her swollen belly and back up to her eyes. "I think we can skip those for now." He walked back over to her. "It's worth a shot. Maybe this way we can build a relationship from scratch and make it work."