TITLE: FINDING THE LOST

AUTHOR: SARGE

E-MAIL: SARGE2525@HOTMAIL.COM

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DARK ANGEL. JAMES CAMRON, CHARLES EGLEE, AND FOX DO. I CLAIM NO OWNERSHIP.

SUMMARY: IT'S TIME FOR MAX TO CHOOSE, WILL SHE FIND SOME WAY TO WORK IT OUT WITH BOTH SIDES, OR WILL SHE WALK
AWAY FROM ONE FOREVER?

AUTHORS NOTE: I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY BETA READER OSSIAN. SHE'S BEEN A GREAT HELP.

"So, Max is leaving again?" Sketchy asked when he had settled in his chair. "Why? I mean, she was happy when she came to see us." 

"Sure she's happy," Cindy said. "But Home Girl has family and she's close to them. I don't really understand how though, since she hasn't
seen them since she was nine."

"She has just spent six months getting reacquainted with them," Logan reminded her. "I've met a few of them too. Let's just say that they feel
the 'close family ties' as strongly as Max does. They've given her a week to finish here, and then they are hauling her home." Logan sighed
wearily. "That is, unless we can either convince them to let her stay or convince her to stay on her own. To be honest, I'm more worried about
convincing her." 

"Why wouldn't she stay?" Sketchy asked in surprise. "I mean, isn't her family sort of making her leave?" 

Logan shook his head. "No, she feels that they're right. We'll have to watch out for the males in that family. They are extremely defensive
when it comes to Max. Michael is obsessed with her; seriously, psychotically obsessed. Jordan is like her older brother. He thinks that
everyone is out to do her harm; he just wants to protect her. And Zach..." he paused. "Zach has worked incredibly hard to put his family back
together," he finally said. "They're almost more than family to him and he doesn't want anything to split them up again."

"I can understand that," Cindy said. "But Max has to understand that we care about her just as much as they do. We need her more than they
do, too. We'll just have to appeal to her sense of guilt. I've already got that started." 

"Yeah, Max started taking that guilt trip after Cindy told her about what you did when she left," Sketch said, oblivious to the look of
embarrassed annoyance that crossed Logan's face. "Max is already thinking about staying and we know it."

"Sorry I'm late," Kendra called out as she walked in carrying a tray of something. "I cooked brownies. Don't ask me how I managed to get all
the ingredients," she winked. "Just enjoy." 

Finally they decided that the guilt trip would be the best way to get Max to stay. They planned on telling Max repeatedly just how much they
had missed her. Sketch had more than a few incidents that he intended to tell Max all about; several painful scrapes over the past few months
that he might have managed to avoid if Max had been around to watch his back and keep him out of trouble. Kendra planned to moan a bit
more about how hard living without a good roommate had been. 

"This will work," Logan said with optimistic determination. "We will make it work. Max will realize that Seattle can be a place to live as well."

"With friends," Kendra added. "Lots of them who care about you."

"And a paying job," Sketch chimed in. "Alright, so it isn't a great job, but it's not about the money, right? It's about the buds."

"Are all of you blind?" Original Cindy asked, staring at them in surprise. "Hello?" 

"What?" Sketch asked her. "You have that 'you're all morons' look going on. I always thought that was reserved especially for me."

"I believe Logan over here might have a different reason for wanting Max to stay. Something a bit beyond just friendship," she hinted. 

"That's not going to convince Max to stay," Logan told them flatly. 

"The hell it won't," Cindy objected. "You have noticed that she never drops everything for anyone but you, right? She wouldn't do that if she
didn't care. I notice things like that and she's got it bad. So do you."

"Believe me, she won't accept it. No matter what. Max just doesn't see room for romance in her life."

"Max will make room," Sketch told Logan. "She made room for you before. She can do it again." 

"Cindy, I think you're having a good influence on him," Kendra said in response to Sketch's comment. 

Cindy grinned. "The boy can be taught." 

"So how exactly are we going to convince Max that liking me is a good thing?" Logan asked. 

Kendra and Cindy looked at each other and shook their heads in dismay. Some men were just hopeless. They were clearly trying to think of
a gentle way to break their plan to him when the door opened. Max walked in looking beat. She had a cut on her arm that she was holding a
towel to. 

"Max, what happened?" Logan asked as he rushed over to her. 

"Let's just say your little mission wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be," Max answered wryly. "This was just a rusted piece of metal
someone decided to hurl at me while I was carrying your police detective out. I didn't have time to move."

"Well, are you okay?" Cindy asked as she took Max's towel away. "Lets get some ice. Logan, why don't you come with me? Kendra can take
care of her." 

"I don't think that's a good id..." Logan objected as Cindy grabbed his arm and started leading him toward the kitchen. 

"Trust me, it's a good idea." Cindy told him. "We need to finish working on your part in this grand plan of ours," she whispered.

Sketch shot Logan a sympathetic look as he tried to back away from Cindy. The effect was ruined as he tripped over the couch. 

"Are you sure you're the best person to tell me how to do this?" Logan asked her. "I mean, isn't you advice more suited to Sketchy?"

"I have a girlfriend. Max even helped me keep her," Sketch said happily. "Cindy is never getting her hands on me." 

"Just you wait," Cindy replied before she turned back to Logan. "Now pay attention." 

It was at the end of the week when things really got moving. They all got together to finish and seal the plan at a dance club. A lot depended
on this night, and they were mainly keeping the topic stuck on how things had been before Max had left. They tried to make a point of
showing how important she had been in their daily lives. Even Logan threw in a few things that got Max's attention. 

"Don't even get me started," Max warned them as the discussion turned to Normal and their collective dislike of the man. "Can you believe
him last year? I was ready to hurt a lot of people. Here I was trying to make a living and Normal stands around and yells at me the day that
my friend died. I was pissed." 

"Everyone was pissed at Normal after that," Herbal agreed.

"Does he ever tell you anything other than 'run this' and 'run that'?" Logan asked. "All he'd ever tell me about Max was that she was trouble.
Which, by the way, I have successfully proven wrong." 

"Sure you have," Max said as she sipped her water. "I've been so little trouble, that you haven't had to bail me out of jail. You haven't had to
do numerous computer searches for me that had nothing to do with your real line of work." 

"Yes, but agreeing to do those searches earned me the pleasure of your company, didn't it?" Logan asked her. 

"You know, I'm tired of sitting around and thinking about Normal. He's enough to kill all our good moods," Original Cindy said as she stood.
"Let's dance." 

Sketchy and Herbal went off to see if anyone would be willing to dance with them. Before Max could escape to a quiet corner Logan had her
in his arms on the dance floor.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you and Cindy planned this," she said. "But I don't think Cindy's changed that much."

"Stick around. Some things may surprise you," Logan told her as they danced. "Lots of things."

"Really?" Max asked as she tilted her head back. "What kinds of things?"

Logan wanted to scream in frustration. How could this girl manage to be so blind? Then again, he thought as he looked down at her, she
knows what she's doing. In fact, she even knows what we're doing. She just hasn't made up her mind yet. I should have known that she'd
figure it all out. We've been all over her for every second we could all week long. She knows what we want from her. She knows what I want
from her. 

"All kinds of things," Logan replied smiling. "You won't regret it." 

Max suddenly turned and looked at the entrance to the club. Standing in the doorway, looking like hungry tigers, was her family. Michael
stepped forward.

"Let's go, Max," Michael said as he pulled her off the dance floor and toward the door. "We've tolerated you absence long enough." 

Original Cindy stepped between Michael and the door and glared at him with ice in her eyes. Sketchy, Logan, Kendra, and Herbal backed
her up. 

"Max is a big girl. She can make her own choices," Original Cindy told Michael. "Now let go of her arm and ask her if she wants to leave." 

"I don't know who you are and I don't care," Michael told her. "Max isn't yours. She belongs with her family. We are her family. We know what's
best for her. You have no idea what you could do to her." 

"They couldn't do anything worse than you," Max told him irritably as she pulled her arm free. "Let me say goodbye."

"No. We shouldn't have let you come in the first place. They may know," Michael told her in a harsh whisper. "They're dangerous to us now."

"Michael, let her say goodbye," Dawn ordered as she stepped forward. "These people care about her just as much as we do. You don't know
how lucky we are that she's walking away from them." 

"Why does everyone think I'm just going to turn around and walk away?" Max asked them. "Have I become that predictable? I shouldn't be." 

"You're not predictable," Zach told her. "Honestly, we have no idea what you're going to do. We can only hope." 

"What? Are you morons?" Michael asked Zach. "This is Seattle. We can't just leave her here. She's ours." 

"Excuse me, Michael, but I believe you've become delusional," Max said, stepping toward him menacingly. "Now let me set you straight
about one thing. I don't belong to you. I never have. I never will."

"You tell him, sister," Original Cindy broke in. "You tell him to take his overly demanding act on the road."

"Now, give me five minutes and I'll be with you outside," Max told her sibs. "Then we can go home. Michael, you and I are going to have a
very long talk soon. When it's over you are going to wish that you had kept your mouth shut."

"They're the one's that are going to be sorry," Michael corrected. "They're the ones that have to say goodbye." 

"Michael's right about one thing, Max," Zach told her. "It's too dangerous to come back to Seattle. Too many people, too many dangers. Say
goodbye and mean it, Max. As much as I want you to be happy, I also want you to be safe." 

Zach turned and left. Dawn, Michael, Jordan, and Selina followed him out the door. Selina gave Max a sad smile before she went ahead and
grabbed Zach's arm. 

"Don't do this, Max," Logan pleaded softly. "Please don't walk away again." 

"You heard him, girl. How can you walk away from a face like that?" Kendra asked. "He cares about you."

"I'm sorry," Max told them softly. "I care about all of you too, but they're my family. What am I supposed to say to them?"

"If they really care about you, girl, then they would know," Herbal told her. "It's all good, all the time." 

"This isn't good," Logan broke in. "Her leaving us forever isn't good. How could it be? Max, you're so important to us." 

Max looked up at him and Logan could feel the pain that rolled off of her in waves as strongly as he could feel his own. He knew that she
didn't want this to happen, but she was still resisting. Even now Logan could see walls rebuilding; walls that had fallen during the week that
she had been back in Seattle. During the week where she had spent her evenings talking with Logan. Times that Logan couldn't walk away
from. Logan didn't want to walk away from it. 

"Max, how can you turn your back on all the great times?" Sketch asked her. "We've talked. You missed us; you said so. Can you really just
walk away from it all?" 

"No," Max answered them, but even now her eyes were harder. A little less life was clear in them. "But I'm a soldier, I'll do what I have to do."

"Max, you don't have to do this," Original Cindy told her. "You told them that you rule yourself. Now show them." 

"Even when they're right?" Max asked her. "I won't put them in danger and I won't risk you." 

"Do you really want to go back?" Logan asked as he grabbed her arms. "Can you honestly say that you want to walk out that door? You want
to go back to whatever life you were living before this and never leave it? Can you? Because, Max, I don't want to go back to living without
you."

Logan was holding her in desperation. He'd do anything if he didn't have to let go. He didn't want to let go. He wanted to hold her here with
him. He'd even fight Michael if he had to. She had to stay. 

Max wanted to stay. She wanted to stand there in Logan's arms and say to hell with her duty to her family. It was the 21st century and she was
supposed to be free. Somehow though she knew that she couldn't do it. She never wanted to see that look of betrayal on her family's faces,
and that's what she would see if she stayed. She steeled herself and looked up at Logan and hugged him close to her. 

"I'm sorry," Max said gently as she pulled away. "I'm going back."

"Max, don't do this," Logan said, his voice going bad as he lost most of his strength. "Please don't do this to me." 

Max didn't answer. She just turned and walked out, her head held high as a single tear slipped down her cheek. She walked out into the cold
open air and was faced with the rest of them. 

"It's done," Max told them emotionlessly. "Let's go." 

Max climbed on her motorcycle instead of getting into the van with the rest of her sibs. Michael wisely left her alone, however, when she fixed
him with a stony glare. He was far from forgiven. She wasn't even going to forgive herself for this. She couldn't forgive herself for this. 

They were reaching the sector check between Washington and Idaho, and Logan's words kept echoing in Max's mind. "Do you really want to
live that life?" His words ran through her mind again and again. "Don't do this Max." Max sat watching as the guard came toward her and she
made a decision. What right did she have to leave Seattle? She was abandoning the family that had always been hers. They had been there
for her, even now, when they could have blamed her for a lot of things that had gone really wrong. They could have turned her over to
Lydecker, or even exposed her secrets to the public and they hadn't. They weren't dangerous; they were loyal. Oh, and how could she forget
the fact that she was in love with one of them. Forget family. She'd visit them and they could deal with it. She spun her motorcycle and headed
back to Seattle.

"Max!" Zach yelled at her retreating back. "What the hell are you doing?"

Selina climbed out of the van and watched her go. "Let her go, Zach. She's found her soulmate. Would you leave me if we were in their
positions?" 

Zach just stared in silence until Max was out of sight. Michael watched in disbelieving horror as Zach climbed back into the van and they went
on their way. **********************************************************************************************************

"I can't believe she just left," Logan said softly as he sat down. Even hours later, he was still stunned. "She just walked away."

"She made a mistake," Original Cindy told him. "She didn't do it because she hated you."

"But she didn't stay," Logan reminded her. "I can't even feel anything." 

"Want me to take you to a doctor?" a new female voice interrupted. "I don't think that's a sign of good health." 

"Cindy, this is pathetic." Logan said, head still buried in his hands. "I'm hearing her voice now."

"Get used to it," the voice suggested. "I'm not leaving." 

"She already left," Logan told the voice. Then he realized that Cindy hadn't spoken. Probably because she thought he was crazy, he mused.
"I'm going insane. I wonder if that would have made her stay."

"Nope, I stayed for a different reason," the voice said. "Besides, even Cindy's jaw is on the floor right now." 

Logan felt someone sink into the couch next to him and tug on his hands gently. 

"I think you may want to look up, Logan," Cindy said as she sat down beside him. 

Logan did look up at her. He was confused. Cindy was smiling, something he hadn't seen her do since before Max had left. If she was sitting
over there... then who the hell was sitting on the other side of him? Who was holding his arm?

"Max?" Logan asked in disbelief as he turned and saw her. "Tell me I'm not seeing things, Cindy." 

"Of course, you're seeing things," Cindy told him in amusement. "You're seeing a real live girl who came back to you."

"I couldn't do it," Max told Logan as he continued to stare at her in astonishment. "I was at the border and I just kept hearing your voice. I
couldn't leave."

"Oh Max!" Logan said, pure joy in his voice. "You came back!" 

"You mean you've noticed?" Max asked sarcastically. "I thought you might have missed me somehow." 

"Never, not you," Logan teased even as he pulled her closer. "Don't do this to me again."

"Nah. I'm not that fond of being called an illusion," Max told him. "Besides, don't I at least deserve a kiss for coming back?" 

Logan didn't wait another second. They were liplocked before Max could get another word out.

"I think I'm leaving now," Original Cindy said as she stood and moved toward the door. "We'll all talk tomorrow, okay?" 

The couple on the sofa didn't respond to her farewell. "Don't hurt yourselves," Cindy suggested as she left, laughing quietly to herself. 

"I love you, Max," Logan said as he kissed her. 

"I love you too, Logan." 

Terrorists could have set off another EM pulse that day and neither of them would have noticed. They were too wrapped up in each other to
care about anything else.

*** 

END