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Early the next morning Meghan opened her eyes and sighed contently. She turned her head and looked at Logan as he slept. She turned on her side and traced her finger down his roughened cheek. He really needed a shave. Her finger followed the curve of his lips, then his nose and around his eyes. She leaned forward and lightly kissed his closed eyelids.
Suddenly Logan’s arm snaked around her and drew her on top of him.
“I love the way you wake me up,” he whispered as he kissed her neck.
Meghan drew her head back and looked into his eyes.
“Last night was wonderful. You were wonderful. Everything was so right,” she told him.
“So were you, my love,” replied Logan as he played with the end of her hair. Then out of the blue Logan slapped Meghan behind playfully.
“It’s time to get up. I have a ton of work to do today. But first...” he helped Meghan off the bed, “would you like to take a shower with me?”
“Meghan smile seductively, her eyed filled with passion but said reluctantly, “No, not today. Like you said there’s a lot to do and we don’t have much time,” Meghan lost her smile and she lowered her head to hide her eyes.
“I can feel the Tracers. They’re not here yet, but they’re closing in. I felt them last night, but didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin our evening. You have to make the antidote before they zero in on us. It’s the only chance we have to survive.”
Logan slipped his fingers under her chin and raised her head to look into her eyes.
“Don’t worry. I know they’re coming. I felt them too. The antidote will be ready. I’m very good at what I do. Now get off that bed and fix breakfast while I shower,” said Logan.
Meghan smiled, nodded, slipped his shirt on and padded out of the room.
She froze in shock; standing in the kitchen was a complete stranger. His back was to her leaving him apparently oblivious to her presence. Edging back down the hallway 'til she was out of sight, Meghan grabbed a gun from the bedroom and bolted straight for the shower. On her entry Logan smiled and extended his arms invitingly.
"Changed your mind?" He frowned when he caught sight of the pistol. "Meghan what's wrong?"
"There's a man in the kitchen Logan, it's really strange he's just standing there."
"What? No-one's supposed to be able to enter this compound." He turned off the water and grabbed a towel. "Follow me."
Logan was all business gently taking the gun from her grasp. Together they crept down the hall. Emerging into the kitchen Meghan watched as he trained the pistol on the intruder's back.
"Hands on your head and lie on the floor, no sudden movements. Don't try anything, I'm armed and you'd be dead before you could turn around."
"I know I'd be dead, I trained you."
Logan's jaw dropped as the man turned revealing himself as someone who could easily have been aged anywhere from 50 onwards.
Silver hair framed smiling features, and dressed in a charcoal suit Meghan thought he looked like an extremely wealthy businessman who had employed a great personal trainer. His Grey eyes laughed as they took in Logan and Meghan's attire.
"Julie asked me to ensure you received some supplies, she intended them to be sent via courier but I didn't like the way she sounded on the telephone. I also came to visit a 'dead man', but it would appear that you're very much alive and well."
Logan almost blushed; it was as bad as being caught by his parents as a teenager. Meghan just looked confused.
Feeling like a child he lowered the gun.
"Leon," he said.
“Logan, my friend. It’s good to see you, and who is this young woman?” he asked as he spotted Meghan hiding behind Logan.
Logan took Meghan’s hand and pulled her in front of him.
“Meghan, this old reprobate is Leon, mentor and former drill Sergeant. He’s the one who trained me in covert life. Leon I’d like you to meet Meghan, the woman I love and will marry as soon as I ask her.”
Meghan gasped and turned her gaze to Logan.
“Marry you! Do you mean it? You want to marry me?”
Logan looped his arms around her neck and looked deep into her eyes.
“Yes, I mean it. I love you Meghan, and as soon as we make this antidote and get rid of the Tracers her and in your time, I want us to get married,” he said.
Meghan’s whole face lit up. She enfolded her arms around his waist and hugged him close.
“Are you sure?”
“Meghan I’m sure now will you answer the question, will you marry me?”
“Oh yes, Logan! I’ll marry you. I love you too!” she exclaimed.
Leon cleared his throat.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” he said.
Leon shook Logan’s hand and pulled Meghan into a big hug.
The morning was one full of laughter, while Logan worked Leon entertained Meghan with stories of his adventures. She couldn't help but like the man, he was so warm and kind, like an instant best friend.
The hours flew by and before she knew it Meghan was feeling hungry again, asking Leon if he wanted lunch she went into the kitchen to fix something for the three of them. Leon headed straight for the lab.
"Logan she's really quite lovely, a beautiful woman with a maturity you rarely encounter. I think you'll be very happy together."
"Yes," he smiled, "I think we will."
"How are you doing with this antidote you were telling me about? Making any headway?"
Leon looked into the microscope as he asked raising his head in time to see Logan's nod.
"Good I'm glad, did Julie's list include everything you needed? She was quite adamant that I rush all the items to you. I mustn’t allow even one item to be missing."
"Yes, for now I've everything I need." Logan turned to face him. "I think that it's about time you stopped stalling and said what you've come to say, personal visits have never been your style."
"From Julie's phone call I rather got the impression that you are planning on leaving Mercury for good. I wanted to make sure for myself that I was going to see you beforehand, you've been like a son to me and I couldn't very well just let you walk off, could I?"
"Don't you want me to go?"
"Actually, I do want you to go."
"Why?" Logan was shocked.
"Gaspard is becoming more and more of a loose cannon. In the last few months he's been sending Julie out on to many personal missions, I think that he's going a little crazy. Something like that can't happen for too long without a major change in the ranks."
"Are you saying that Gaspard is going to be fired?"
"You are fully aware that one isn't simply fired in our line of work Logan. Gaspard is a problem and he will be taken care of as such. I just want for you and our little Julie to be safely out of harm's way."
"Does she know yet? Because I think that she'll be happy to keep away from Gaspard, she's never liked him."
"No she doesn't know. Keeping her away from Gaspard has never been the problem; I'm more worried about how to keep her away from work in general. She's been doing covers for four years without a break. Did you know that she doesn't even own a home? On the road she lives in hotels and then sleeps in her office when she's in town. Logan we need to get her to put some roots down. She's becoming more isolated than ever and spending far too much time being other people for my liking! I want you to talk to her before you go. Perhaps together we can get her to finally settle."
"I can't believe that she's still living out of the office, I thought we'd put a stop to that! Alright I'll talk to her."
They regarded each other fore a moment before Leon stood and walked to the door, he paused momentarily at the sound of Logan's voice.
"Leon could you please tell Meghan that I'll be out in a moment?"
"Of course I will."
They both knew that was it. Leon wouldn't be in the kitchen when Logan emerged. It had always been the same for the three warrior friends; never say good-bye unless it was forever.
Meghan stepped into the lab carrying a tray of coffee and sandwiches.
“Leon left, he said to tell you that if you need anything to call him.”
“I know,” absently said Logan as he concentrated on pouring an amber liquid into a beaker. He held the beaker up to the light and watched it change from amber to purple. He set the beaker on the counter and made wrote the chemical composite into a notebook.
“How’s it coming?”
“It’s going to take at least a few days before the ingredients of the Waxen serum are all broken down, then another few days to perfect the chemicals that will neutralize the serum’s ingredients,” he explained.
“Can I help with anything?” Meghan asked.
“No, I got it covered,” replied Logan.
“Ok then, I’ll go take a walk on the grounds. Could you deactivate the alarms?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in a sec,” said Logan as he peered into the microscope.
Julie was almost lost. Lost because she had no clue where she was and almost because all she had to do was activate her Palm and she's find out the exact coordinates. She however, had no desire to know where she was and was studiously ignoring the small electronic device she had tucked away in the back pocket of her leather trousers. She rolled the bike to a stop at the top of the hill and hopped off.
She found herself overlooking the city, every light seemed to glimmer and wink for her and there was something majestic about it all. She took in a deep breath, as if she were inhaling the New Orleans night and then smiled as she released it. Things weren't so bad she'd escaped.
Escaping Ryan had been a good idea. It had to have been. He made her feel and there was no way she was letting herself go down that road again. She'd been there and while she'd survived it she had not come out unscathed. She would never let herself be broken again. So her life had been hard, she had learnt to get over it, she'd learnt that turning her back on her past was the easiest way out. Ryan made her question that, he made her think of things she had never had and wonder why. She didn't need that in her life, she didn't need him in her life.
"Hey sweetie." She almost jumped on hearing the voice, familiar and yet misplaced in her thoughts. She was glad of the reverie it brought. "Thought I'd find you here." When her head had cleared she recognized it to be Leon speaking to her and she spun around to find him leaning against the bonnet of an old Mercedes. Leon lived by the motto that the old ones were the best. He was living proof of that motto in her eyes.
"How?" She asked, stepping forward to greet him.
"Nobody could find you, your Palm was switched off and I was getting kind of worried. Then I remembered that you always head up whenever you need to think."
"Head up." She repeated, smiling as she took her place next to him on the bonnet of the car. "It's nice to be able to see everything so clear, kind of puts it all into perspective."
"Is it?" He asked, turning his head to look at her, his heart bursting with pride when he recognized the strength she carried in her eyes. That strength had always been there; it was what he admired the most about her.
"In perspective? I think so." She took in a deep breath again, savoring the spiciness of the air.
"It's that detective isn't girl?" Leon was the only one who could call her 'girl' and get away with it. The only one who could call her anything and get away with it, in fact.
"It's me Leon." She countered, feeling safe in herself yet again now that she had instilled some distance between her and Ryan. "I'm okay." She reassured him before he could ask.
"I know you are. You're trouble, but you're okay." He nodded his head and smiled, making her laugh at the severity in his voice. "I'm proud of you girl." He said and the laughter stopped.
They sat on the bonnet of his ancient car, she glanced at him noted the small smile on his lips and glanced away. The lights below them glinted and she couldn't help but feel at peace. For the first time since she'd arrived in New Orleans she was comfortable with who she was and what she did.
And Detective Ryan Harrison had been firmly ejected from her immediate thought pattern. For how long she didn't know but she would take whatever she could gratefully and smile as she did so.
After Logan deactivated the alarm, he went back to lab without even noticing Meghan’s downfallen look. Meghan watched him enter the lab and firmly close the door. She sighed and let herself out. The sun was gleaming and it was a delightful morning, though the wind was a bit cool.
Meghan put her hands in the pockets of the jacket she put on without realizing it was Logan’s. Her hand curled around a familiar item. Puzzled, she withdrew her hand and saw that she was holding her crystal weapon. She sighed again and shoved her hands back into the pockets.
Her mind processed everything that had happened since arriving in New Orleans. Almost tripping over Logan, making him immortal, meeting Logan’s colleague, Julie, making a mad dash to escape the Tracers that had found her in this time. A dreamy expression stole over her as she thought about Logan and her making love. She still couldn’t believe she’d done that. It had been years, no, centuries since she’d last made love, and that had been disappointing. But with Logan it had been magical, no, almost out of this world she decided.
Meghan roamed the grounds and felt a weight lift off her shoulders, as she smelled the heavy scent of the flowers, the grass, and as she listened to the birds sing and chatter to each other. Her mind and senses so wandered that she didn’t detect the danger until it was almost to late.
A ray of red light flashed in front of her. Meghan gasped and whipped her head to the left.
The Tracer advance in his military cadence, his weapon pointed at her heart.
“There’s nowhere to go Unclean One,” he said in a mild voice. “You time is up.”
“That’s what you think Tracer,” said Meghan as she dropped to the ground and whipped out her weapon. She fired and the Tracer dove to the right just in the nick of time.
Meghan rolled to her back and flipped herself up. She took off running away from the house. There was no way she was leading this guy to Logan. He was her people’s salvation and he had to live at any cost, even the cost of her life. Meghan looked back over her shoulder and saw the Tracer get up and start after her.
She dashed into the surrounding forest and wondered where the other one was. She stopped and hid behind a large oak. With her eyes she kept the Tracer in front of her under surveillance and opened her mind. She sent out her senses, searching for the other Tracer. He was still in the city. They had split up; one would search the city and the other the countryside.
‘Of all the stupid things to do,’ she thought. ‘I had to take a walk on the grounds. Why couldn’t have I just stayed in the house?’
Meghan shut off her mind and lifted her hand. She pointed her weapon at the Tracer and her finger hovered over the red button. She was ready to vaporize him out of existence. All of a sudden the Tracer stopped. He turned his head and gazed at the house. Meghan followed his line of vision and almost fainted. There was Logan, standing at the window like an idiot. Didn’t he sense the Tracer? She had to act fast. Meghan stepped away from cover.
“Hey, Tracer! I’m over here! I know I’m fast, but not that fast,” she mocked.
The Tracer looked back at her and took aim, “You have cause lot’s of trouble Unclean One. While you have been here, The Brotherhood has continued to decimate your species. Many of your friends have perished. There are not many left. Others of my kind have ventured to the Time your friends escaped to and have been destroyed. This I know because they have all reported in and said their hunt was successful. Now I will destroy you and then the other in the house.”
He pointed his weapon and fired. Meghan threw herself to the right and pressed the red button. The Tracer’s dart flew by, inches from her head and the ray of red light hit its target. The Tracer screamed as he faded into nothingness.
Breathing hard Meghan stood up and looked at the spot where the Tracer used to be. It saddened her that she’d had to take a life, but she knew she’d had no choice.
Suddenly, Meghan heard her name; she looked up and saw Logan running toward her. Anger started building up inside her as she thought of him standing there like an idiot at the window. He’d been wide open to be killed. Didn’t he know that? She stood still as he ran up to her.
Logan’s heart was beating fast. As he was bent over the microscope a sense of danger came over him. He walked to the window and looked out. At first he didn’t see anything the he caught a glimpse of Meghan running away from the house, in direction of the woods surrounding the grounds. He grabbed the pair of binoculars from a nearby table and brought them to his eyes.
What he saw galvanized him into action. He grabbed his gun and ran out of the lab. A tracer had found them and he was shooting at Meghan. My God! He couldn’t lose her. The antidote wasn’t done yet. He raced onto the back grounds just in time to see Meghan throw herself to the right and a red beam of light hit the Tracer. He was shocked when he saw the Tracer simply disappear into thin air.
He ran to Meghan and pulled her into his arms.
"Logan, are you completely insane!"
She pushed him away from her body; the close proximity was dangerous for both of them. He reached for her and she evaded his movement.
Slowly he moved to stroke her hair and began to make quiet soothing noises. It struck her that he thought she was having a nervous reaction. How DARE he treat her like this! Yes, it was nice to be taken care of, but Logan was taking the protective male bit too far. She was a leader amongst her people, not some simpering woman who couldn't take care of herself.
"Meghan it's alright he's gone now, you're going to be fine. You've gone into shock it's a perfectly natural reaction to an intense situation like..."
White-hot anger surged through her veins.
"You arrogant man! I've risked decades of my life in the pursuit of a salvation for my people. I've fought and won in countless battles, my life is one of a warrior! My training spanned the better part of a century; my actual experience of war is longer than your entire life was. What makes you think that I need placating like a child who's scared of monsters!"
"Look I'm sorry I didn't think..."
"Oh, I know that you didn't think. You forget that I saw you standing in the window like a rabbit trapped in headlights. Answer me this Mr. Big Time, what sort of soldier acts like a sitting duck waiting to be killed? You need to be safe! But, nooo, you decide that it's better to just put the lives of hundreds of people at risk by throwing yourself straight in the path of the one thing that can kill you! Funny, I didn't think you were that stupid, then again I haven't known you for more than a week."
Logan was pale with barely suppressed fury as he listened, all he'd thought of was that he had to be with her, to be sure that she was ok. Maybe he'd been thoughtless for a moment, but he'd never felt a desperate need to protect like that before. Didn't she care about him at all?
"Fine," he said, his voice calm. The tick in his jaw line seemed to contrast his tone of voice though and Meghan had no idea what to expect. She had never seen such intense anger suppressed. He stood, stepping back and away from her, averting his eyes. "I have things to do."
He started to walk away and then quickly turned to look at her, adding as an afterthought,
"I want you to remember something next time you do something like this. I want you to remember that this is your fight, not mine and I know that. But you put me right up in there when you gave me your blood and made me a part of you. You think it's easy to just stand back and watch while you come within an inch of your life of dying? It's not! In fact it's the hardest thing I will ever have to do. But if there's one thing that I know, just one thing, it's that you know what you're doing and I respect that. I don't like it and I'll try and contain whatever protective instincts I have in the future."
"Logan..." she said, but it was far too late and he was already on his way back to the laboratory. She was about to chase after him, apologies abound when a very familiar voice spoke from behind her.
"Trouble, sister?”
Meghan slowly turned to face the speaker. Sheer delight sliced through the tension as she recognized a familiar face from her time. She raced across the compound and into his arms, and he was ready to intercept her.
Maksim Kohl. He had been her friend for as long as she could remember and was just as committed to the cause as she. His immense height meant that hugging her had brought her from the floor, feet dangling and with his arms about her waist, noses almost touching. Both were obviously ecstatic to see each other.
Which was exactly what Logan saw when he glanced out the window. He saw his lover in another man's arms. Then he saw red.
"Maksim, you're here! You're really here! Oh, it's so good to see you. I've missed you and home so much," said Meghan as she let him go and stood back.
"Little sister, it took me a while to find you. When I learned you'd traveled to the past to find this extraordinary antidote researcher, I got very angry. You should not have been the one to come. You should have sent one of the others. You forget, you are our leader," berated Maksim.
Meghan relaxed and crossed her arms over her chest. She stood there with eyebrows raised as she listened to her best friend go on and on about her duty to her people. She smiled inwardly, ‘this was so typical of him, berating her as if she were a child who’d done something wrong.’
"Don't you think you should introduce me?"
Meghan's back stiffened, as she heard the accusing tone of Logan's question. Where did he come from? "Uh...Logan this is Maksim, my friend." Meghan tried to stress "friend", but by Logan's look, it didn't seem that she had succeeded.
"Friend." Logan repeated, obviously unconvinced.
"Hi," Maksim smiled. He had one of those smiles that was meant to put men at ease and make women swoon. Unfortunately Meghan was too accustomed to him to swoon and Logan was far too annoyed to feel at ease. In fact he was positively sizzling with barely suppressed anger. And jealousy.
"Nice to meet you." Maksim said, his smile faltering when Logan ignored his proffered hand. He turned a questioning look to Meghan who forced a smile back at him and quickly moved from his side to Logan's.
"What are you doing here?" Logan finally forced out the words, albeit through clenched teeth. And when Meghan jabbed him in the side with her elbow he tacked an incredibly insincere smile on the end.
"Umm...I believe that's between Meghan and I." Maksim shifted his weight form one foot to the other, uncomfortable with being placed in between the couple. His best friend was so obviously in love with this man that it shone throughout the compound. And her lover was not happy to see him. Maksim knew how to read people, he knew how to read relationships, and the look on both Meghan and Logan's faces forewarned him of an explosion.
"Whatever you have to say to her you can say to me." Logan stated, not meaning to sound quite as arrogant as he did.
And then light dawned on Maksim. Logan wasn't there out of devotion. This was the researcher, and not only that, but he was an immortal. His anger on hearing of Meghan's quest returned full force.
"You made him a part of this? What, you couldn't just find the antidote and get rid of him? I can't believe you've done this Meghan. How could you be so stupid?" He seethed. She may have been his superior but they were close enough to respect each other’s opinions, and on this matter he definitely had an opinion. "He's not of our time Meghan, what you did defies our laws."
"It wasn't that simple Maks." Meghan began to defend herself, holding onto Logan's arm when she sensed that he was getting riled. "I needed him, WE needed him. He was dying, and our people wouldn't survive without his knowledge. I did what had to be done," she explained, calmly and concisely, knowing that it was the only way to get through to Maksim. Silence settled before Logan spoke.
"I'll ask you again what you're doing here."
"I came for Meghan." Maksim stated quietly, yet his words echoed about them or so it seemed to Logan.
"No." Logan forced the word.
"He doesn't understand Meghan," Maksim was angry again, but forced himself to keep control, "This isn't about the individual, this is about our people. Our people are dying, they need us now."
"What about the antidote?" Meghan said, grasping at invisible straws.
"It's too late, if you don't have it by now, you'll never have it."
"Give us a day." Logan spoke up, willing to take whatever he could if it meant time to persuade Meghan not to leave.
Maksim sighed, "A day." he relinquished. "But then we have to go."
