Restive Nature
Rated: NC-17
Disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form own the characters of Dark Angel or X-Men or anything related to them. I simply like to play with them for a short while.
Timeline: This is a slightly AU story. It takes place more in Max’s timeline, with the pulse occurring. It begins after the episode ‘Blah Blah, Woof Woof" It doesn’t affect the X-men much, as Professor Xavier is affluent enough to afford the best in life. It also takes place after the first X-men movie, but as I haven’t seen the second one, I’ll leave that stuff alone.
Pairing M/L
Summary: Once again Max is on the run. But this time she is led to a safe haven.
Chapter Ten
Max left the house before anyone could stop her. She almost flew to town, so great was her desire to be away from the confusion. Her first stop was the post office. She addressed the package quickly and took it to the postmaster. He asked her if she wanted a receipt, which she declined. He turned his back to retrieve her change and she took the opportunity to disappear. Since it was only a few coins, she knew the clerk would just write her off as absentminded. She hoped that they didn’t notice that the return address she’d supplied was that of an abandoned lot she’d passed by yesterday. Even here she couldn’t be too careful.
From there, she made her way to the mall. She headed straight to the locksmith’s shop. After browsing a few minutes, she picked out a new locking doorknob and a sliding lock bolt. She also grabbed a pocket set of screwdrivers, then chose a rechargeable drill with bits. She certainly did not want to be caught unawares. And asking to borrow the school’s tools would just bring about questions she still didn’t feel like answering.
She asked for and received directions to the discount department store. She made her way slowly, window-shopping as she walked. As she passed a small, private boutique, she noticed a hot dress. With spaghetti straps, the low cut, thigh high mini dress was just the thing for a night at a jazz club. She could just imagine the look on Logan’s face if she appeared in it. Deciding, she moved into the store and found the dress in her size. A young lady came over to help her. She directed Max to the dressing room. Max slid into the dress, sighing as the material shimmered in the overhead light. ‘Damn but I look good in red,’ she thought to herself. She twirled around, then lifted her hair up to feel the full effect, finding it to be worth the effort. She removed the dress reluctantly. She placed it back on the hanger and donned her street clothes. She too it out to the clerk.
"Will you be taking that today?" the clerk asked politely. Max sighed and shook her head.
"I’ll have to wait until payday," she answered mournfully, having already debated with herself. She could blow the rest of her money on this dress and put up with utter boredom at night, or she could go for the television and other stuff and hope they still had the dress in a few days.
"I could hold it until say, Saturday?" the clerk offered. "We’re not supposed to, but none of our regular customers could pull it off like you." That decided it.
"Thank you," Max smiled and picked up her bag from the lock shop. She gave a fake name and waited for the girl to write it down. "I’ll see you Saturday." She sailed out the door, her eyes taking in everything. She continued to the discount store. After looking and comparing, she finally decided on the combination television and video machine. She inquired about the cost of delivery and finally paid for her newest acquisition. She figured, when her hiding out was done, she could ship it back to Seattle to enjoy once in a while. She gave the store the school’s address, then found a coffee shop to rest and decide what she could do for the rest of her day. She took stock of the amount of money in her pockets. A job of some sort was definitely in order. ‘Maybe I can kick it up to New York soon and find a good fence,’ she decided.
Finishing the last dregs of her coffee, she rose with her bag and returned to her motorcycle. She stowed the bag in the sidesaddle. Wary of the local law enforcement, she scoped out a few homes for their burglar potential. Like most mid-size towns, some people were fanatical about locking their doors. But others stoutly maintained that crime could never affect them. Max always got a wry chuckled about proving them wrong. She made note of some of the more affluent areas and figured the odds on how many hits she could pull off without suspicion. Satisfied that she would see some money come her way soon, she headed back to the school. If she were lucky, she’d be able to install the lock while everyone else was occupied.
Her mood held when she found the large house quiet, for the most part. As she slipped in, she caught sight of Logan. He was lounging on the sofa, trying to pretend absorption in his book. She ignored him and hurried up the stairs. She waited a few minutes to see if he would follow. When no one appeared, Max pulled out her array of tools and set to work changing the knob and adding the bolt. She slid the bolt back and forth, testing the strength of it. She figured that it wouldn’t stand up to a major assault, but it would at least give her some notice. Now all she had to do was await her other delivery and she would be set. She exited the room, making sure that she had the key in her pocket. It was very close to lunchtime, as her rumbling stomach informed her. She moved to the lounge, recalling that there were some videos there to choose from. She perused the choices and made a few mental notes of what she wanted to watch. If the television arrived that afternoon as promised, she could have it all set up by tonight. All she would need to do was find some popcorn, maybe a little wine, depending on her mood. The easy life had some definite advantages. She chuckled as she recalled the nights of her childhood. There were some dismal times. She and Jondy were unable to sleep more than two or three hours at most, which they wisely attributed to shark DNA in their Manticore cocktail mix. But their sleep wasn’t regularly monitored. Max was sure that the higher ups would have come up with something for the girls to do if they’d been aware of the discrepancy.
Logan had noticed Max as soon as she’d entered the house. He watched now with interest as she knelt before the video storage shelves and looked over the titles. He laid his book aside, glancing at the clock. Almost lunchtime. He’d been wondering where she had been all morning. He heard her chuckled and almost bit his tongue to keep from asking what was so funny. He really had to get control of himself. He wasn’t looking forward to the teasing he was sure to receive from Scott, not to mention the others if this became common knowledge. The sofa shifted as Max sat on the other end.
"What were you reading?" she asked. He stared down at the book beside him.
"Um," he hesitated, his mid drawing a blank.
"I’ve never read that before," she replied, her face serious. "Who wrote it? Personally, I prefer mysteries."
"No, it’s just a Coonts novel," he replied after glancing at the title. He watched the smile playing about her lips. "You know, history, war, intrigue."
"Yeah," she muttered, "don’t I ever?"
"You don’t like reading about that stuff?" Logan demanded lightly. "Or did you get enough of it in the army?"
"The second one," Max groaned. They were silent until a few minutes later when the bell rang to signal the end of class. "Well, I guess it’s lunchtime."
"Don’t hurry too much," Logan advised, pulling her back down. "The kids are usually pretty hungry. And teenage boys are like wolves. They’ll go through anything to get some food."
"I thought that only applied when they’re chasing down pretty girls," Max teased.
"Nah," he teased right back. "A teenage boy will give up anything for food. The best way for a girl to keep a guy’s attention at that age is to learn how to cook." He could have smacked himself on the forehead as soon as the words were out of his mouth. But Max didn’t look at all offended.
"Well, they are not the only ones who are hungry," she decided, standing again. "My stomach is knocking against my backbone, I’m so hungry. He gazed up at her, or at least he tried. Her sashaying body, mere inches from his caught his attention. Max paused, a few feet away from him and glanced back over her shoulder. She smirked at him as he finally pulled his attention back up to her face. "Funny thing, I never learned how to cook, you know?"
"Really?" he asked huskily, then cleared his throat. "Guess it’s a good thing I’m not a teenaged kid."
"Yeah," she chuckled. "Good thing." She continued down the hallway trying to keep a straight face. They arrived almost together at the dining room, but took seats on opposite ends. Max conversed politely with Jean and Scott while Logan barely heard Storm and Charles vie briefly for his attention. He finally forced himself to pay attention, but occasionally would hear her laughter and gaze in her direction. She on the other hand, was much more successful at ignoring him.
Chapter Eleven
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