TITLE: FINDING THE LOST

AUTHOR: SARGE

E-MAIL: sarge2525@hotmail.com

SUMMARY: MAX HEADS BACK HOME TO TELL EVERYONE THE NEWS. HOW DO THEY TAKE IT?

RATING: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DARK ANGEL. JAMES CAMRON, CHARLESS EGLESSE AND FOX HOWEVER HAVE ALL THE
RIGHTS. I GUESS YOU COULD SAY ALL THE SIBLINGS ARE MINE BECAUSE THE ONLY THEY'VE CONFIRMED IS ZACH, BUT
HEY IF THEY WANT THEM THEY CAN HAVE THEM.

Max spent the long trip back trying to think of a good way to explain things to everyone. How could she explain why her
family, who she had re-discovered less than three days ago, was suddenly so important to her? In fact, she knew that
there wasn't a good way, and no one was going to happy about the news. Well, maybe Normal would be, but he'd
never liked her anyway.




Kendra was teaching a language lesson when Max returned to the apartment. Max nodded at her and headed into her room to
start packing. An hour later pretty much everything was packed and Kendra was done with her lesson. Kendra walked into the
room, saw what was on the floor, and turned to glare at Max.




"You're leaving for good?" she asked in surprise. "Max, couldn't you just settle for spending your vacation time with them?"




"No. I've been looking for my family my entire life. Don't me wrong, Kendra. You are a great roommate, but they're my
family."




"And that's the perfect reason for everything," Kendra said softly. "Will you at least come visit us once in a while?"




"If I'm not too busy. Not to mention the fact that I'd have to find sector passes. We know that it might not happen," Max said,
trying not to meet Kendra's eyes directly, wishing her words hadn't sounded so cold.




"When are you leaving again?" Kendra asked her roommate, hoping that it would be long enough for Original, Logan and
herself to come up with a plan to keep their friend in Seattle. She helped so many people. Sketch might even help out if he
learned that his favorite do-gooder home girl was leaving him in the lurch. 




"I have to stop by to see Logan. I got a sector pass by being really nice to the people in Montana when I told them my plight.
They are ever so eagerly awaiting my return."




"Max, what did you do?" Kendra asked suspiciously. "The sector police would never eagerly await your return."




"They do when you're the long-lost relative of a multi-millionaire who wants her to stay with the rest of the family."




"And they just blindly believed this?" Kendra asked in surprise. "I didn't know people could be that dense."




"No, it's true," Max said. "I'll send money for my part of the rent until you find a new roommate. I really do hate to leave you in
the lurch like this, but they really want me to come home. Michael and Dawn alone are smothering me. They're so happy that
we're back together that they can hardly stand to be out of sight."




"And Michael would be who?" Kendra asked in confusion. "And who is Dawn? Aren't you all related in some freaky way?"




"Only in our minds," Max answered smiling. "Oh, and I have to go and tell Normal that I quit." 




"Original and I don't think that this is a good idea. How well do you know these guys?" Kendra asked. She was scraping the
bottom here.




"I know you don't trust them. You haven't met them, but honestly, they're family. And even if it all ends badly I'll just move on.
Don't get me wrong, Kendra. You're the greatest and I'm not leaving because of you. I'm leaving because I want to know them
again." 




When Max finished packing Kendra helped her strap everything onto the motorcycle. Max had very carefully wrapped the
statue of Bask that had found its way back into her home. Kendra hadn't commented on the way her friend had looked as she
surveyed the apartment for the last time. Then Max walked out, hugged Kendra briefly, and was gone. Kendra couldn't do
anything about it. 




When Max walked into work Sketch was by her side in about five seconds flat. 




"Max, you have to help me. I'm in major trouble," Sketch said pleadingly. 




"I don't have time, Sketch," Max told him. "See, maybe you haven't heard, but I'm moving. From now on you have to get
yourself out of whatever situation you get yourself into."




"Max, please say this is a really bad joke," Sketch pleaded as he followed her over to Normal's station. "Because I don't think I
find it funny at all."




"It's not a joke," Max said. "Normal, I'm back."




"Good, you can start work now since you don't sleep." Normal glared at Sketch as he handed him a package. "Go. I need to
talk with your home girl about something." 




"Normal, I'm not coming back to work. I quit. I'm moving. I'd like to say that I've had a nice working experience, but we all
know I would be lying so I'll just leave now. Bye Sketch." Max turned and was halfway out the door when Normal grabbed
her arm. He turned her around and glared at her.




"Could you repeat that?" Normal asked her. 




"I quit," Max said calmly. "Now, let go of my arm before I break yours." 




Normal hastily let go of her arm but continued to scowl. "You have to give a one week notice," Normal said. "Or forfeit your
paycheck. So which is it?"




"You can keep the money. I don't need it. Sorry about the notice and all, but I didn't know what would happen when I visited
my family."




"Well, I'd say I want you to have a nice life, but hey, we all know that I don't like you, you don't like me, so I won't bother. I
assume your going to tell your friends you don't work here anymore so I can stop being your secretary?" 




"That's what I'm on my way to do," Max answered. "I'll leave my message for Original with Sketch. Wouldn't want you to
strain yourself with one more message." 




Sketch had been watching all this, waiting for Max to say it was all a joke. After seeing Normal and Max's confrontation he
knew it wasn't. He had turned several shades paler than looked healthy. 




"Relax, Sketch," Max told him lightly. "You still have Original." 




"You may not have noticed, Max, but Original doesn't like guys all that much," Sketch told her, giving her puppy dog eyes.
"And I'm not exactly her favorite person anyway."




"Sure. I've known that for a long time," Max told him. "Since it appears Original is out on a run I want you to tell her goodbye
for me. Got it? I'll drop a letter by at her place, but if you forget... I will come back, and it'll be to get you into trouble, got
that?"




"Got it," Sketch said, edging away from her a little. "Well, I wish you luck wherever it is you're off to."




"Family, Sketch," Max answered, smiling faintly. "I found my family." 




"Good for you. At least you have one. I keep losing parts of mine," Sketch said as he hugged her. "Goodbye, Max."




"Bye, Sketch," Max said and then turned and walked off. She gave a grinning Normal the finger as she left. 




When Max made it to Logan's apartment she was starting to wish that he wouldn't be home. She almost wished that she could
just leave a note. The look on Logan's face when she told him that she was leaving wasn't going to be one she enjoyed. Sure,
Logan might act sweet and tell her that he was glad that she was going to get to spend time with her family. But she still felt bad
for doing this to him. When Max actually entered the apartment she was greeted with silence.




"What? Did everyone decide not to be home when I decided to come say goodbye?" Max asked herself softly. She stood
perfectly still just inside the door and listened. Small movement could be heard, but not typing. Sleeping. Logan was sleeping on
a perfectly good afternoon? Well, she'd just have to wake him up. If she could make it through her entire goodbye speech and
keep her nerve then all would be good. She could go and he could stay and life would go on. 




Max knocked on the door lightly. She had learned that people who knew that you could kill them using your little finger didn't
like being woken up suddenly. It tended to startle them and could potentially include panicked gunfire. It was the middle of the
day, but then again you never knew. Once she was quite sure that Logan was awake and she wasn't going to see anything that
he didn't want her to see she walked into the room.




"I'm back," Max said calmly as she leaned against the wall. 




"Gee, I couldn't tell," Logan told her. "Did you find Zach?"




"I found Zach," Max answered. "I'm here to say goodbye."




"Max, please. Think about what you're doing," Logan tried to reason with her. "He's only one of the others. Don't you want to
find the rest?"




"I have found the others. Including myself and Zach there are nine of us." 




"Nine?" he exclaimed in shock. "Nine of you? Are you nuts? So many of you so close. You have to be drawing attention to
yourself." 




"They aren't," Max insisted. "The only way Zach found me was because I ran into Selina by chance. It's the funniest thing," she
added, almost talking more to herself than to him. "But Zach and Selina are going to get married. I never thought that Zach
would marry someone. Not even when we did get out. Let alone Selina." 




"So, let me get this straight. There are nine of you in one place. They've managed to stay hidden and Zach, your leader, is going
to marry this Selina?" Logan asked. He had sat up and Max now had a perfect view of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt.
Logan was an evil person, she decided. It was hard to keep a good distance from someone when you couldn't stop staring at
the said person's chest. 




"You would have gotten the correct assumption," Max said, recovering from her babble about Selina and Zach in time to save
herself from doing something embarrassing. "So, anyway I'm going back before Michael comes and hunts me down. Michael
really wanted to come back with me, but Zach couldn't get him a sector pass."




"You could have called me," Logan muttered as he fought back an urge to get down on his knees and beg. He figured that with
his luck she'd probably just look at him skeptically and leave him there until his therapist came by the next day. He decided
against the gesture. "So, you're leaving today and stopped by for what reason?"




"Well, I didn't want you to worry," she answered. "I mean, it's not like I didn't have the time to tell you that I was leaving Seattle
and like I was never coming back. You're one of the people on my list of people who deserve to know. So here I am."




"I'm so glad you care," Logan said, trying to keep any hint of bitterness out of his voice. So, she was leaving and she did care.
That was why she had stopped by, right? It had to be. She at least cared. Then again, if she really cared would she be leaving
him and his Eyes Only crusade in the lurch? He didn't think so, even if it was a miracle that she had helped him in the first place.
He was really going to miss her. "So, you found the others. Were they as happy to see you as you hoped?"




"Yeah, they were. Like I said, Michael even wanted to come home with me. Dawn kept giving him this look, but yes, it's nice
to be around the people I grew up with again."




"I'm so glad that you were able to recapture the first nine years of your life." Logan was having a hard time not becoming
grumpy. Here he was quite happily hanging around Max every day. He worked desperately to walk again so he could still keep
her around. She might not see any logic in that line of reasoning, but he certainly did. He happened to like Max. He thought that
Max had sorta kinda been in denial about liking him, too. Now all his hopes were dashed by some guy with a barcode on his
neck. He already didn't like Zach, and what was up with this Michael guy? 




"Well, anyway, I gotta jet. Sorry I had to wake you up and all, but I thought that you'd want to know I was leaving. Besides, I
wasn't sure what Normal would do if you showed up at Jam Pony. Let's just say we didn't part on friendly terms." 




"Max, what happens now?" Logan asked her. "Do you just go and forget about Seattle?"




"You think I'd do that?" Max asked, giving him a slight glare as she produced a piece of paper. "If something happens and you
can't bail yourself out of trouble dial the number. I'll be back."




"I have a question. In the 'heartless-we-don't-feel-anything-we're-super-killing-machines' gang, who's field commander?"
Logan asked smiling slightly as he put the phone number in his pocket. 




"Zach is," Max answered. "Zach's always been in charge. He was the general's pet project. I was Lydecker's." 




This was new information to Logan, but he didn't say anything. He had been wondering why Lydecker had been going after
Max with such intensity, but it wasn't that important any more. She was leaving and anything he did in Seattle would no longer
have any effect on her. Still, Logan couldn't just say goodbye to Max and know that he was never going to see her again. Was
there any big thing that was likely to convince Max to come back to Seattle after this? There wasn't. So, he was going to do
what he should have done when he had first met Max. Maybe then this wouldn't be happening.




"Max, come here for a sec," Logan said, smiling at her. "You think I'm just going to let you leave if all you do is say goodbye?" 




"A girl can dream can't she?" Max said walking over. "So what now? I don't think I can fence anything of yours in Montana for
any more then you'd get for it here."




Logan grabbed Max's arm pulled her down to his level and kissed her. He was quite sure that he knew what heaven was for
those few moments before he let go of her. The good news was she hadn't pulled away. The bad news was that most likely she
was still going to leave. And before she left she was probably going to kill him. Instead, Max ducked away quickly and went
back to the wall. 




"Like I said, I gotta jet," Max said softly and then she turned to walk out, trying not to look at him. She may have been a part of
the Manticore project, but she did have common sense. Her common sense told her Logan was hurting and she didn't want to
see it. 




Logan watched Max go and felt his future leave. All he could do was hope that someday she would come back. Maybe then
he could have his second chance. The look in Max's eyes as she had left had said it all; he was too late now. 




Max spent the entire ride back to Montana wavering between elation over the fact that Logan liked her and fury over the fact
that he had kissed her. Then there was guilt over leaving him. Her emotions were all over the place. However, Max had a future
with her siblings now. Though one part of her said that she should have stayed with Logan another part kept insisting that there
was no room for him in her life. She would be better off staying with her sibs. Judging by the direction that she was driving, it
was this second part which had won. 




"I'm sorry, Logan." Max said as she crossed the Washington boarder. "I never thought I'd care." 




* * *

end part five