aww

so cute

max to his rescue in way

she pulled him out dark miserable mood

This is great! Too you didn't get to the part of them eating the cake...

Cute story. I like it. Keep up the good writing.

Love JJ

Looking for my DA fix (yeah, I know...) with all the sitting around and doing nothing and this just feels so right, just as I remembered it. It has this special penthouse atmosphere... starting out gloomy and staying calm and thoughtful all the way but lightening up with the connection and comfort between Max and Logan. Just makes me smile - as does the idea of Tony sending a present suggesting a vacation for the both of them, the idea of shared time and making Logan participate in something rather Tony-ish. (Actually now I want to go reread Bookends)

(And hey, re-reading hits from me again in this cool new statistic, but different location:-)

aww yay! I liked max's thoughtful gift! Great piece.

Happy b-day logan! (ever so belated this review is...)

Aw... Happy birthday logan! :-)

that is a cute story. I like the idea of Tony being Logan's coz but mainly I like the fact that Max was there to show him how much he has in his life even if he can't walk.

WOW this story is so cute oh so sweet and lovable THANK YOU!.. i needed something like this today. it was not my day or week but this really made me smile. P.S. love your storys

Oh my... This is going to look lame next to Mari's and Blue's :P

Firstly, its a brithday fic. So yay!

Secondly, its a wonderful read, so double yay!

Its just so typical of Logan to be depressed and moody on his brithday isn't it? Tsk, not taking his own advice to celebrate at every opportunity. Lucky he has MAx there to remind him of it )

Really, really like how Tony fit into all of this, as Logan's connection to 'before'.

Favourite line: “Well, it is on your driver’s license, for the world to see.” At her words, he looked back up from the small package in his hand, to see her backpedal a bit awkwardly. “What, you didn’t expect me to check, being all vague and secretive like that?”

So funny, definitely can imagine Max doing that.

I can't very well copy and paste the whole giving him the present scene, so I have to make do by saying that the whole thing was beautiful, and sweet and so unbelievably S1-ish.

And Logan contemplating the idea of baking just takes the cake. Pun intended P

G

I already told you how much I like this story. It's beautiful and has just this perfect S1 feel. The gift fits so well to Tony as we know him from NCIS (especially the birthday card :P). And damn, it was so sad when Logan found the fins. (Can I go in and give the guy a hug ... yeah, I know have to go to the end of the line. ;})

-...His cousin never forgot his birthday, and always made him smile with his choices. Just as always, when he thought of Tony now, he also felt a little prickle of guilt and discomfort, having not seen him in so long. It was even worse now, he prodded himself – one of these days it’s gotta be faced, and Tony’s going to have to be told what a bullet in the spine can do to someone ... even his own cousin. ...

(Oh, he didn't tell Tony? Somehow I can imagine Logan keeping this away from Tony very well. So sad.)

-...Logan’s eyes slowly closed in pain, as he dropped the offending flipper, along with the card and snorkel, back into the box.

Swim fins.

He opened his eyes again to stare at the expensive swimming equipment, colorful brochures tucked beside them advertising scuba vacations in tropical waters, healthy, happy couples running along a beach, hopping all over the dive boat...

(Ouch, can almost feel Logan's pain.)

-...Not Max... not now. Not like this...

At the sound, Logan barely moved, knowing that even on his feet he’d never have been able to stash the large, obvious box out of sight before Max made it into the room, so the best he could do was to ignore it and hope, as ridiculous as that was, that she wouldn’t notice.

“Hey Logan,” the bright, airy voice called to him, and without a lost beat, her steps veered away from her path toward him to the open box, on the floor. “What’s this?” ...

(Such a perfect moment again. Sad (really, really sad) but exactly how I would have imagined the scene on screen. Perfect writing! I like Max's so typical curiosity and Logan trying to prevent her from feeling pity for him - reminds me of "Prodigy", when Logan fell off the chair.)

-...He looked at her more closely, yet again surprised by her reaction. “It was something...” he insisted, "Max?" He watched as she stopped struggling to avoid whatever it was. She sighed noisily, and her shoulders dropped.

“It is nothing. That’s the problem. Nothing great like those fins...” But she reached into her pocket, and pulling out a small, roughly-oblong shape, wrapped in brown shipping paper and tied in twine, thrust it toward him, almost brusquely. “Here. Happy birthday.” ...

(So nice. Perfectly in character how Max plays down her own present.)

-...“Well, it is on your driver’s license, for the world to see.” At her words, he looked back up from the small package in his hand, to see her backpedal a bit awkwardly. “What, you didn’t expect me to check, being all vague and secretive like that?”

He actually laughed, his dark mood washing away with the sound. “Actually, no, I didn’t expect you to go though my wallet to find it.” But seeing her expression, and her sudden, apparent concern that he might be upset with her invasion, he added, sounding more self-conscious than he liked, “but ... it’s nice to know that it mattered...”

(YES, this is my favorite part! Love Max's curiosity and the picture of Max being caught going through his wallet that inevitably pops up in my mind ;) ... And Logan admitting he likes that "it mattered". Just perfect!

So nice that you lift the mood in the end and seeing those two planning to bake a birthday cake is great.

THANKS!

(Good thing your story is long, otherwise my review might be longer :-/ ) I love this one, most of all because it shows how deep, complicated and sometimes contradictory Logan’s thoughts and emotions are.

"Logan Cale sat alone in the silent penthouse, the elegant surroundings lit only by the dim grey light of an overcast sky."

I insist on calling a scene like this classic. It sets the mood perfectly with the calm, not yet darkly-broody solitude.

"He’d peered at the return address before seeing the man out, and now returned to pry open the box, anticipation brightening the day. His cousin never forgot his birthday, and always made him smile with his choices."

(Of course now I wonder what Tony gave Logan before:-) I just love how you did the vast range of emotions here, first the hopeful anticipation for a birthday present (which is such a nice and rare thing to see with Logan) together with the bad consciousness toward Tony and then the overwhelming bitterness with the one thing to which he’d looked forward to.

"Not much use for them now, or the mask and snorkel for that matter, Tony, but you couldn’t know that, could you?"

A true hug-Logan moment, how in his disappointment he goes to gloominess too much, not only dismissing the fins but also the snorkel and the mask together with the whole idea of “guy-weekend-adventures”.

"but you haven’t managed to tell Tony you won’t be joining him on those ‘guy-weekend-adventures’ anymore. What’s worse? Telling him and having to face the DiNozzo reaction to that... or letting him think that suddenly you don’t have time for him anymore?"

With your description of the Logan-Tony-relationship the idea of Logan not telling Tony about the shooting always seemed like something that needed more fic-time to me, already in Concurrent Jurisdiction and then even more so in the time change story last year. So I really like to read more about Logan’s motives, the self-torturous dilemma of being caught in between hurting Tony by not calling him and calling and being hurt himself by what he expects to be Tony’s reaction.

"At the sound, Logan barely moved, knowing that even on his feet he’d never have been able to stash the large, obvious box out of sight before Max made it into the room, so the best he could do was to ignore it and hope, as ridiculous as that was, that she wouldn’t notice."

I really like how for a moment Logan doesn’t even bother to prevent Max from seeing the box, the fatalism in it fits his dark mood so well.

“Just ... some computer parts I ordered...”

She gingerly lifted a bright blue fin up for inspection as he crossed the room, staring at it without looking back to him. "

As weird as it is, but this gave me the idea of Logan sitting at his computers with snorkel, fin and mask.

"Of course, he blinked first. He shifted his gaze to the card, reaching over to gently ease it from her fingers, where she still held it out toward him, and dropped it dismissively onto the swim gear peering out at them from the box, closing the discussion. “So, anyway...” he said, sighing out the lingering hurt, “you came by for something...?”

Like I said, I really like the passage from Tony’s to Max’s present here, how the difficult issues of Logan’s injury and telling Tony are briefly touched, both aware that it’s unusual, and then abandoned, leaving it all in the open.

“It is nothing. That’s the problem. Nothing great like those fins...” But she reached into her pocket, and pulling out a small, roughly-oblong shape, wrapped in brown shipping paper and tied in twine, thrust it toward him, almost brusquely. “Here. Happy birthday.”

“Yeah, like it’s something you were really hoping for...”

So great to get the double fic-fix, Logan-Tony birthday story and then a Max-Logan one. I really like the development of Max worrying about her present not being enough for Logan and then minimizing it upon seeing his appreciation.

“Well, it is on your driver’s license, for the world to see.”

The contradiction in her justification made me laugh, after all she had to somehow go through his wallet secretly (which is a nice mini-scene in my head now, with Logan deep asleep), certainly not for the world to see.

“but ... it’s nice to know that it mattered...”

So nice to see Logan realize Max’s effort, even more so since this reminded me of the ‘It’s nice to know that you think of me as more than your own private cat burglar” of ‘Shorties’, just the other way round:-)

"Max’s gift was as emblematic of his new life, hidden away up above the city, in his chair, at a desk, as Tony’s fins had been of his old one."

Hm, I never would have thought of seeing it like this, but it sure fits Logan’s state of mind

“Did you even get a cake?” she tried, clearly not entirely altruistic in her curiosity.

Made me laugh, it’s has such a little-girl like innocence. The whole cake-scene is sweet and just the right thing for a light birthday celebration.

And ha, now Logan has two people / presents for birthday anticipation:-)

I cannot tell you how much I loved this. It was so poignant, and so perfect in its resolution. Just great!

aww exceptionally cute