TITLE: FINDING THE LOST AUTHOR: SARGE E-MAIL: sarge2525@hotmail.com SUMMARY: ZACH CAN TELL SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MAX SHE ISN'T WHO HE REMEMBERS, BUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH MAX? 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 IF THEY WANT THE REST OF THEM THEY CAN HAVE THEM. Montana - Six Months Later Zach was quite happy with Selina and was very happy to have Max back. Max knew things, understood things, about people that he hadn't thought of before. She went out among them and publicized the company. She always wore long necked shirts when she went out, never risking public exposure. Once Zach got past all the glee of having Max back, though, even he had to admit that there were problems. Michael was one of those problems. Michael had been quite delighted by Max's return and had appointed himself as her bodyguard. It was a rather pointless position since Max was just as strong, if not stronger than he was. Max was ready to kill him for being so needlessly overprotective of her around other males. He had made it very clear that he liked Max, but Max had been avoiding that like the plague. Speak of the devil, Zach thought absently as Max walked into the room. "Hey, Zach," Max greeted him as she walked into the small walled garden that they kept up. "Max, where's Michael?" Zach asked, somewhat surprised not to see him following her. "He's off bugging Selina," Max answered. "I told him that the commander thought that his wife looked ill and needed to be watched. Fell for it. At least for the next hour or so." "Max, I don't think Selina is going to enjoy his company much," Zach said, amused that Michael had fallen for it. Well, either that or it had been one of those "if I don't listen to her she'll kill me" moments. Zach now had to move on to the other problem he was having with Max. If Dawn hadn't told him about it he wouldn't have know there was a problem. Maybe he was just reading too much into it, but he didn't think so. Max watched Zach, wondering why his eyes were flickering. She was the only one that saw it, and she even knew what it meant. Zach was thinking and he didn't enjoy what he was thinking about. Max knew she had to do something about Michael. She wasn't stupid and no matter how much he came onto her she couldn't get over her past. That past was what Zach was thinking about now. "Max, who's Logan?' Zach asked finally. "You know I wouldn't ask, but Dawn can hear when you talk in your sleep. And you space, Max. When you come out of it you're ready for anything, but when you're spaced... Max, why can't you just leave your past behind you?" "Maybe I became too human," she answered calmly. "You had Selina. When you found the others you didn't leave your past. I'm guessing that Dawn and Michael had each other. So did some of the others, and that's why they are so close. But I didn't. I found other people that cared, Zach, and I left them in a bad way." It was the truth. Max still felt a lot of guilt about leaving Logan, but she wasn't going back. She was going to get over it, and she was going to move on. The truth was that for all Michael's faults he wasn't that bad. Dawn and Selina were her best friends. She wanted to make things work out here. "I don't even know where you came from, Max. That doesn't mean I don't trust you, but a part of you isn't here," Zach told her. "We want to be happy and free. That was the point of escaping." "I am free and I am happy. You're right though. I'm not all here, but I will be. A part of me just got lost in shipping," Max told him. "So, we got a shipment to Washington to deal with, right?" "Go ahead, Max. I know you don't like to slack on your job," Zach said. Then he stopped her. "The garden was Selina's idea. It helps her think. Somehow I don't sense you getting the same peace of mind from it. We've all admitted we need space to think. So, where would you go? Where do you go?" "The roof," Max answered. "I think better when I'm dealing with heights." "Another thing to think about when we add on," Zach smiled. "So, you fix your motorcycle?" "Of course. That's the other way I think - by going fast, very fast. My motorcycle helps me think too," Max told him. He nodded in understanding and Max headed to finish the package processing. It was odd that Zach had never seemed curious about where exactly Max had been for the past few years. He could have found out easily if he'd just checked her registration papers. They had been signed in Seattle. Max knew exactly where in Washington that the latest computer gear shipment was going. It had been simple for her to find out where all of them were going. This one, like so many others before it, was going to a man named Caleb Stone at a warehouse. It was easy enough for Max to figure out that it was Logan. Max had everything ready to be shipped. At the last moment she grabbed a post-it note off the desk. She wrote two words on the paper before sealing it in the box. She carried the package out to the Jeep and handed it to Jordan along with several other boxes. Jordan was in charge of delivery to the main state post office. Bike messengers would never have to carry these particular packages. That, in Max's opinion, was a good thing. "Maxie, want to come with me?" Jordan asked. "Not like Zach will care. You can see the big city." Jordan was the only one that called her Maxie. The nickname bothered the hell out of her, but he claimed that it was what all big brothers were supposed to do. She'd just have to deal with it. "Sure," Max said. "Just let me grab my cell phone." She headed back into the house and grabbed it out of her jacket pocket. It was the cell phone with her pager number. The pager number that she had left with Logan. If anything big went down Logan could still get ahold of her. Assuming that Logan even ever wanted to speak to her again. She came back quickly and jumped into the jeep "What is with you and that thing?" Jordan teased her. "Maxie, those things are so 1990's." "Someone has been watching a little to much TV," Max answered with a smile. "Keep calling me 'Maxie' and I'll come up with a nickname for you that you won't like either." "You can go ahead and try, Maxie," Jordan told her, still grinning. "Might be worth that brain power of yours." He paused and gave her a thoughtful look. "You know, we got a call from the post office wanting to deal with you from now on. Maxie sweetie, you're not supposed to be sweet." "Why does everyone have the misconception that I'm sweet?" Max demanded. "I'm not sweet. I'm still the same 'Maxie' you all know and love. Can I help it if I wouldn't let that guy beat the post officer up? It's my job to beat people up." "Maxie, I knew there was a reason that Zach liked you best," Jordan told her. "I think Zach likes Selina more then he likes me. At least I hope he likes Selina more then he likes me." "Well, I do suppose that you have a point there. At least they aren't planning on having children," Jordan said. "We'd never get any sleep." They pulled up to the post office and walked inside. Both of them carried boxes. Everyone there knew what day it was - the day the major computer corporation came for the deliveries. "You haul, I'll talk," Max told Jordan. She planned on cutting down the time they spent in the post office today. She had personal business that she wanted to attend to, like heading to the local library. Hopefully she could pick up some news on Seattle. Maybe there would even be a mention of what Eyes Only was currently up to, or if he was even around anymore. It was a very frustrating hour due to the fact that Jordan made her look much more human and close to the post office people than she cared for. If only he would learn that calling her "Maxie" in public didn't endear her to him in any way, shape, or form. In fact, she was very close to becoming very pissed off. She did manage not to throttle the 24-year-old post officer that tried adopting Jordan's habit of calling her "Maxie". That's when Jordan had woken up and started to defend his sister's honor. That hadn't been fun either. He was now sulking behind her as she paid the bill. The news came on and Max turned an attentive ear. It was always good to know what was going on. "...Breaking news. In today's news, several bombs went off in Seattle, Washington at a messenger service office, the Jam Pony Express, injuring five. One in critical condition," the news anchor said. "Officials are baffled as to motives. This latest round of unrest has prompted city officials to place Seattle under Military control." Max's face turned a shade of white that Jordan was sure hadn't been programmed into Manticore's usual range of reaction options. "Max, what's wrong?" Jordan asked, trying to get her attention. Max barely noticed him; her eyes were glued to the screen until the reporter finished her report. Max was lost in thought. Why hadn't Logan called her? Why hadn't she left her number with Kendra and Cindy? She couldn't believe this had happened. One of them was in critical condition. She couldn't handle this. They might be dead because she wasn't there. She would have known that something was going down. She had skills. She could hear timers and smell nitrogen and bomb-making materials. She could have saved them. "Max!" Jordan yelled shaking her. "Snap out of it, girl. It's Seattle. It's two states away." Just then Max's cell phone rang. Since Logan was the only one with the number, or at least she hoped he was, she snapped out of her trance and picked it up hastily. "Max," she said trying not to let her voice shake. "Seattle has been hit by terrorists and Lydecker's been put in charge. We need you Max." "What, no hello?" Max asked, a smirk covering her relief at hearing his voice. "I'll be there in a day." "Max, be careful." Logan told her. "You sure you can make it?" "I'm looking at a news report now," Max answered, allowing a little of her pain to creep into her voice. "I'm coming back."