N is for Name

[parallax23]

A/N: Listening to “Name” by The Goo Goo Dolls.  This song always reminds me of Dark Angel and the 09ers.  It’s also one of my all time favorites.

NAME

 

When Logan called to say that he had big news, Max almost expected to hear that he and Asha had eloped over the weekend.  What was she supposed to think after he canceled Friday dinner and hadn’t called her all week?  Not to mention every time she called him, he would say he was busy with a case and would call her back later.

Somehow “later” had turned into almost two weeks after the first time he said it.  She was on her last run of the day when her pager went off.  Alec was with her and knew he had to hand over the cell phone.  He rolled his eyes as Max agreed to meet Logan at the penthouse after work but was a little relieved he didn’t have to go too and watch them stare longingly at each other like two kicked puppies, then be shot at by the criminal dunderhead of the week.

When she opened the door to Logan’s apartment, she had every intention of letting him know that she wasn’t his doormat.  He was sitting in his wheelchair with his back to her as he typed away at his computer.  She opened her mouth, ready to give him a piece of her mind when he turned to face her with a huge smile on his face.  Her agitation crumbled and fell away, and the scowl on her face was replaced by a look of confusion.  The look deepened when Logan sprung the news on her – he had tracked down a Manticore doctor working as a vet in Tacoma. 

Max wasn’t sure how to react and stood there simply staring as Logan explained that he had been busy hunting him down and making sure that he was legit.  They had so many false chances, he didn’t want to mention anything until he knew that this wasn’t just another dead end.  She nodded as she tried to wrap her head around what he was saying.

His name was Glenn Sharpe and he ran an animal hospital.  But before the Pulse, he was Dr. Samuel Locke working at a VA hospital in Gillette, Wyoming.  When the facility closed in 2009, he was reassigned to Seattle and in the process of moving there, the Pulse hit and Samuel Locke was one of the many people to vanish into the chaos.  From Logan’s research, Sharpe had been involved with the genetics division and he could possibly be their key to finding the cure to the virus…

That was all Max needed to hear and she was on her bike to Tacoma.  She would call Alec or Cindy when she got there to tell Normal that her uncle’s cat died or something, but at the moment all Max could think about was how close she was to the cure and touching Logan again.  She knew that she shouldn’t get her hopes up, that didn’t stop her from thinking about riding her bike with Logan and just the feel of his hand on hers.

As Max stealthily waited for Dr. Sharpe to close up for the evening, she thought of all the little things that would be different when she and Logan could touch again – holding hands, making dinner together, sharing a glass of wine… 

The click of a key in a lock snapped Max’s mind back to where she was.  She was standing in the back alley of an animal hospital watching a middle-aged man in a white lab coat and wire-rim glasses close up for the night.  No he was more than that.  He was one of those monsters playing god with animals on a level his patients probably couldn’t dream of.

Before she knew it, it was time to make her move.  He was still facing the door when she slipped out of the shadows.

“Glenn Sharpe?  Or I should say Samuel Locke?” Max said in a cool and even tone.

For an instant he was frozen in place with his hand still on the doorknob, then he turned to her with a stern face.  It wasn’t the panicked, terror-stricken appearance Max had been expecting.  Maybe it was because this guy had been waiting for his past to catch up with him at some point for so long that the actual moment hadn’t caught him unprepared.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied calmly.

“Wow, you kept Manticore off your tail for ten years with lame ass comebacks like that?” Max rolled her eyes.

The doctor didn’t reply and studied her for a moment.  He seemed to be looking at something familiar, though to Max’s knowledge they had never met.  Perhaps he had known Sam or seen her picture when Lydecker caught wind of her in Seattle because she couldn’t recall him from any of her memories at Manticore.

“X5-453, right?  I heard they locked the barracks and burned the place to the ground when Eyes Only did the broadcast,” he said thoughtfully, then looked her up and down.   “Guess I did a good job after all.  What do you want with me?”

Max sneered.  “Actually, it’s 452… And I have a proposition for you—would you quit looking at me like that before I beat your ass?”

“Right…  One of the escapees,” he said and stopped examining her from head to toe, his eyes became fixated on her face.  “What would you want with a Manticore doctor?  Seizures still bad?  Don’t blame me, not my specialty.  No, Hendricks was in charge of that—”

“I’m not here to talk about my DNA exactly…  Manticore put some freaky genetically targeted virus in me to get rid of a friend of mine and I was wondering if you could help us find a cure?” Max asked bluntly.

He stood there was a thoughtful look on his face, answered, “Sorry can’t help you.  That sort of thing was just drunk bar talk when I was there.”

“Look, I went to a lot of trouble to track you down—” Max began but he cut her off.

“Begging?  I see the real world has taken its toll on you.  Lydecker would never stand for that shit—” he informed her and suddenly found himself pressed into the wall of the animal hospital with Max’s forearm against his neck.

A sneer was etched into her face as she stared at the terrified older man she held captive.  Max wasn’t sure where that flurry of rage coursing through her had come from.  Was it the mention of Lydecker and her messed up childhood?  Or maybe it was the notion that this guy’s bad attitude was the one thing standing between her, Logan, and the cure?

“How about you shut the hell up before you really take one for old Manticore screwing me over?” Max shot back, then loosened the force on him so he could breathe easily again.

Dr. Sharpe let out a choked cough.  “God, you’re just like your surrogate.  There goes my thesis on personality being genetic rather than acquired.”

Of all the things Max would have thought he’d say that was not on the list.  It was the last thing she had expected to hear come out of his mouth.  Out of anyone’s mouth.  The world seemed to stop for a moment as she tried to process what he said.

“You remember my mother?” asked Max in a bewildered tone.

“Oh, yeah.  She had a nasty left hook,” he went on as he made a half-assed attempt to break her hold on him.  “Look, pathogens?  Not my specialty.  And it’s been a while since I spliced DNA, and let me tell you, I don’t think it’s like riding a bike.”

“We can pay you,” Max tried again after focusing on why she had him in her grasp.

He sighed.  “You’re barking up the wrong tree.  I couldn’t help even if I wanted to.  Something tells me a vet’s lab isn’t going to cut it.”

She bit her bottom lip in frustration.  The man had a point.  It looked like she was going to have to cut her losses.  Again.  “Fine…  Just tell me one thing then.  What was the name of my mother?”

“Why would you want the name of your surrogate?  You do know she’s not a DNA donor—”

“Look, do you want me out of your life now or after I introduce you to your colon?” she shot back.

Sharpe swallowed in fear that she probably would make good on her threat.  “I give you the name, and you never show your face around here again?”

“It’s Tacoma, I doubt I’ll be shopping for vacation homes here.”

He studied her again.  “I don’t remember splicing snark into your coding…  Damn, there goes seven years of my life that I’ll never get back.”

“Just give me the name,” said Max in an exasperated tone. 

“Martina Emilia Ledesma,” he said impatiently.

“Know anything else?” Max asked, brushing aside the rush that came with hearing the name of her mother for the first time.

He shook his head.  “It’s not like we sat around sipping coffee together, swapping life stories.”

“Yet she still found the time to clock you, I’m shocked,” Max said in a dry tone, stepping back from him.

“Look, I’ve told you everything I know…” Dr. Sharpe responded.  Then he thought for a moment.  “Are we done?”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You got any better sources?”

Max rolled her eyes.  “Get out of my sight before I change my mind about introducing your face to your colon.”

With no more than a quick nod, the older man scurried off into the night, his white coat trailing behind him.  Max simply stood there, watching another chance to be with Logan fade away.  She should have known it was too good to be true.  What was she going to tell him?  Sorry Logan, the guy wasn’t down for it and we’re going to have to face the idea that we may never be able to touch again?

As she quietly padded the trek back to her motorcycle, she thought about the one thing she may have gained from this attempt at finding the cure… The name of her mother.  After all these years, she finally had a name, not that it did her current situation any good. 

Still, a name was better than nothing.

Martina Emilia Ledesma.

It was something Max could hold on to.  Maybe someday she would find the face to match the name.

A/N 2: I know I’ve been AWOL for a bit, but blame real life for swallowing up all my free time.  I know this story doesn’t feature Alec and it’s because this will is the first part of a short multi-chapter M/A fic that I will post separately.  No worries, I’m still working on After Life and Wake Me Up and I’m hoping to roll out updates for those soon.  I just need to get this story out of my system.  So stay tuned…