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Logan had a funny feeling about Alec. There wasn't anything specific ... just that the younger man seemed to be avoiding him lately and he couldn't figure out why. Oh, Alec was still on board for Eyes Only missions, like the recent one with the slavers at the airport, and he was practically single-handedly keeping Terminal City in supplies. But Logan couldn't remember the last time the X5 had dropped by the apartment to raid his refrigerator or beg a hot shower -- certainly not since that little Bangkok adventure.

"Max," he asked as he prepared a special dinner for the two of them, "is anything wrong with Alec?"

Max looked up at him from where she was slicing carrots on the cutting board, her eyes wide. "Alec?" she said too quickly. "No. Nothing's wrong. At least I don't think so." She shrugged. "I really don't seem much of him any more, although he's still bugging me about wanting to take over my TC apartment since I'm spending so much time here with you."

"So, the two of you have grown apart?" Logan said, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you said Alec had changed for the better over the past few months -- that you depended on him more than ever. And you guys seem to make a pretty good team."

"He is better," Max said vaguely. "But he's busy, and so am I. It's not like we were ever all that close." She smiled a little bit. "In fact, a lot of the times we don't see eye-to-eye at all and end up arguing."

"So I've noticed," Logan said carefully, still getting the feeling there was something he was missing. "But Alec's all right?"

Again a shrug. "As far as I know," Max said lightly. "Why? Do you need him to do something for Eyes Only?"

"No," Logan said. "At least not right now. I just wanted to be sure he could still be relied on for your backup." He put an arm around her waist and pulled her close. "It's really been comforting to know that you're not in this all alone, Max -- that you have an X5 you trust watching your back."

"Yeah, Alec's handy," Max said vaguely. "But I'd rather talk about your day, Logan. What's the new case you're working on?"

*****

Logan's words had brought a jolting memory to Max's mind about the last time Alec had "watched her back," or rather climbed on top of it. Every time she thought she'd cleansed that night from her soul, something would make her remember. I wonder if Alec has as much trouble forgetting as I do? He never said a word about it in Bangkok.

But she'd been awfully tired lately, and nervous. That was why she was having these thoughts, Max reasoned. Alec was being a perfect gentleman about the whole sordid Space Needle encounter, keeping his distance, keeping things completely platonic between the two of them. In fact, Max figured the X5 had probably already moved on to another love interest, or, more likely, several of them. Logan didn't have to worry, and neither did she.

Lightening flashed outside the window of Logan's apartment. It was three weeks ago tonight she'd discovered there was a whole other side of her sexuality that had never before been awakened ... three weeks ago tonight that she'd realized Logan couldn't give her everything.

However, there was one thing Logan could give her.

Max went into the bathroom after dinner, ostensibly to take a long hot soak in the tub. But there was also something else she had to do. Locking the door to ensure privacy, Max pulled a paper bag from the back of the cupboard below the sink. Inside was what she'd purchased that afternoon at the drug store.

Dipping the stick in her urine, she waited out the long fifteen minutes, then looked at the results. A huge smile lit her face when she saw the "positive" sign. She and Logan were going to be a real family at last.

Max hugged herself tightly, wondering if this could be a dream. She was almost too happy, and that frightened her. So often in her life, the things that should have been wonderful had turned out to be catastrophic. But she wasn't going to jinx this with bad thoughts. Instead, Max wrapped herself in a towel, unlocked the door, and went to find Logan so she could share the fantastic news, that he was going to be a father -- and also to tell him that she was finally ready to become Mrs. Logan Cale.

*****

Dr. Samuel Carr had a smile as well for the happy couple as they sat in his office the next day. Max's results had been confirmed by both blood test and ultrasound. She was pregnant, three weeks along give or take a few days. He let the two lovers bask in the news for several minutes, listening to Max chattering happily about what room in Logan's apartment could be turned into a nursery, and what a wonderful godfather Joshua would make.

Then she turned to the doctor and said, "You're invited to the wedding of course, Sam. We're going to have a small ceremony two weeks from now, in Logan's family church." She glanced down at her flat stomach. "I won't be showing at all yet, and that way the two of us will be firmly husband and wife long before the baby comes.

Dr. Carr was still smiling, but his eyes were strained. Sometimes he didn't like his job. There was something else he had to tell Max and Logan ... something they wouldn't want to hear.

"Max," he said.

"I was never a fan of pink or blue," Max said. "How about green for the baby's room? And Alec will be happy he can finally move into my old place. I certainly won't be needing it any more now."

"Max!" Sam said more sharply. "We have to talk about something."

"About what, Sam?" Logan asked, taking hold of Max's hand and beaming like any proud father-to-be would.

"About further tests that need to be done on the pregnancy."

Max's patter faded away to silence. "What are you talking about?" she said. "What tests?"

Dr. Carr sighed heavily and ran a hand through his thinning hair, then leaned back in his chair. There was no easy way to say this. "Logan," he began, "a lot of medical information has come out over the past months about the Manticore project, and about the X5's in particular. They were, afterall, the closest Manticore ever came to its perfect supersoldier."

"Medical information that still can't fix our seizures," Max said dryly.

"This doesn't have to do with seizures," Dr. Carr said. "At least not directly. You see, I've done some reading about the genetic work that was done to create you, Max. You're not human. You're a combination of as many as twenty-five different genetic donors, with a hefty dose of feline DNA spliced into your chromosomal structure in key places as well. It's as if you had more than two dozen 'parents' and a cat thrown in for good measure."

"I'm mostly human," she sniffed, slightly offended.

"Max," Sam Carr said gently, "because of all that feline DNA, at least two percent, a pygmy chimpanzee is more closely related to Logan species-wise than an X5 is."

"I don't care about what Max is, or might be," Logan said quickly, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Well, maybe you're going to have to care," the doctor said bluntly. "Manticore experimented with X5/human breeding, and the results of such matches were, almost without exception, spectacular failures."

"Tinga's son was healthy," Max said firmly. "My child will be too."

"Tinga's son was an aberration," Dr. Carr said. "Chances are, if she'd ever had another child, the outcome would have been quite different." He leaned forward in his chair, "Max, it's well documented in Manticore records. Children born from crossing humans and X5's were, at the very best, mediocre in intelligence and physical capabilities."

"Mediocre?" Logan said. "What does that mean?"

"Below average I.Q.'s and on-going health problems such as immune system disorders, asthma, sensory problems, and a lack of neuromuscular coordination. The feline DNA usually doesn't pass to the child when one parent is fully human, and apparently nothing compensates for the loss." He looked at Logan sympathetically. "But those were the successes. At the worst, the hybrid children were born with deformities and retardation running the gamut from mild to hideous."

"What are you telling us, Sam?" Max asked, her face deathly pale as she clutched Logan's hand.

"That there's only a very slim chance your child will be healthy, and a very large chance it will have unsurvivable problems, either in utero, or shortly after birth. Even worse would be survivable but profound defects that would require a lifetime of institutionalization."

Max clutched her stomach protectively.

"I need to run tests, Max," Sam said. "We need to know exactly what we're dealing with ... how we can help this child if possible, or maybe even if we should consider--"

"Consider what, Sam?" Logan snapped. "An abortion?"

"If the chromosomal abnormalities are severe enough, then yes, I think you and Max should consider that option."

"You're saying Logan and I probably aren't capable of ever having a healthy child together?" Max whispered.

"The odds are overwhelmingly against it," the doctor said. "I'm sorry, Max."

*****

Max told Dr. Carr and Logan she needed time to consider her options. So much for my fairy tale happily ever-after, she thought as she sat alone on the Space Needle that night. But then she heard footsteps.

"Go away," she said coldly. "Or this time I really will knock your ass into space."

"Hey, Max," Alec said. "Take it easy. I was just wonderin' why you're up here."

"How'd you know where to find me?"

Alec shrugged his leather-clad shoulders. "Lucky guess. That, and the fact Logan's tearin' TC apart lookin' for you. What happened? Another lover's quarrel?"

"Nothing," Max said bitingly. "Nothing happened. Now, go away."

Alec didn't move.

"It's a long way down, Alec," she warned, wondering why the guy could never take a hint.

"Fine," Alec said, his voice as unemotional as hers. "I'm goin'. But I'll tell Logan where you are."

Now it was Max's turn to shrug. "Do whatever you want," she said. "I really don't care."

"Whatever I want?" Alec asked. "How 'bout whatever you want?"

"Shut up," she snapped. "Remember. It never happened." She turned around, looked up at him, and added, "I'm pregnant, Alec." Then -- she hit him in his weak spot. "I'm having Logan's baby, and we're getting married."

Alec's utter silence said it all.

Max waited until his footsteps had faded away on the stairs before climbing to her feet. She knew what had to be done. She only hoped she and Logan had the courage to face this. Tomorrow she'd go to Dr. Carr and let him run his tests on the baby. She needed to know the worst.