Genre: Action/Adventure/General/Romance

Pairing: Max/Alec

Summary: After returning from a Mission for Eyes Only, Max and Alec stumble across a child that claims to be theirs.

"Well that was fun," Alec said out loud, as he followed Max towards his apartment. They both were drenched to the bone and freezing cold. "Why is he always sending us on missions out in the freezing rain?" He then slammed into Max when she quickly stopped in front of him. "Nice Max. Warn me next time when you're going to stop." When she didn't reply, he followed her gaze to his apartment door. There on the floor in front of it was a young female child, with long black hair dressed in white clothing. She was sitting in a fashion that was all to familiar to the X5s, and they knew that she was from Manticore. "Oh, this can't be good."

"No, it's not," Max whispered, as she slowly made her ways towards the girl, knowing that Alec had her back without even having to ask. The girl's head snapped up when she sensed Max's presence and Max was taken back by looking into a set of eyes that matched Alec's. "Hello?" The girl blurred past her so fast that Max stumbled back onto the floor, but lucky for them both, Alec was prepared and grabbed the girl. He covered her mouth as she tried to scream, as she fought to free herself from his grip. "Let's get her inside."

"Good idea." Max opened the door and followed them inside. She shut and locked the door behind her, before turning to face them. "Okay, what are we going to do?" Alec looked down at the struggling child in his arms and he frowned. "We have to contain her somehow. She's fast for a little one."

"Max, she blurred." Max went into his bedroom and came out with one of his long-sleeved shirts. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Watch. Put her down." Alec did as he was ordered, and Max quickly slid the shirt over the girl's head and quickly tied the sleeves behind her, so that she couldn't move. "Okay, that's a start." The little girl then looked up at them and began to scream. "Stop." Surprisingly enough, she did and she sat down as well. The X5s shot each other a confused look at they looked down at the young child. "We're going to need some help."

"Yeah, I know. They really didn't teach us Child Caring at Manticore." At the word 'manticore' the girl tensed up, and they could see fear in her eyes. Alec then shivered from being wet and cold. "Can we at least change out of these wet clothes?"

"Yeah. Go ahead, I'll watch her while you change." Alec quickly went off to change and returned a few minutes later dressed in dry clothing, that consisted of pants, T-shirt, and shoes. "My bag still here?" He nodded and she went to change. She had a duffel bag stored here just in case she needed it for cases just like this. She quickly changed out of her wet clothes in a set of dry black pants, a black tank top, and her boots. She exited Alec's bedroom to find him looking down at the girl. "Let's do this."

She then let out a sigh as she went over to in front of the girl and hunched down in front of her. "State your designation," Alec ordered, causing them both to jump.

"I'm 946," the girl stated, as she looked up at them. "I was made by the combining of the DNA samples of X5-494 and the rogue X5-452 together."

"That explains her appearance." Alec hunched down next to Max. "How she has your hair and my eyes." He then shot a glance over at Max to see that she had a scared look in her eyes. "Okay, 946, why are you here?"

"I was to report to my parents, in order to draw them out." Both X5s looked at her with a confused look.

"By who's orders?"

"A man. Not one from Manticore. Manticore is gone. I was taken before the fire by scientists and given to the man. He wanted me to do tests on."

Just then a knock came on the door and they all jumped. Alec got to his feet first and went for his gun, while Max grabbed onto the child and hid her behind the couch. "Who is it?" Alec asked, as he moved towards the door.

"It's Logan, open up," Logan called through the door. "I'm wet and cold. Open the damn door."

Alec shot a glance over at Max who shot a glance down at 946. "Open it," she mouthed, and he did to reveal a very drenched Logan. "Logan." Alec shut the door behind him.

"Max," Logan answered, as he walked in, not saying a word to Alec. "Did you get what I sent you for?"

"Yeah, we did," Alec said, as he passed him and went to get the disks from his coat. "Sorry if they're wet. It was kinda raining." He tossed them to him as he shot a glance over the back of the couch at 946. "But we kinda have a problem of our own to figure out."

"Like what?" Logan asked, as he moved across to look behind the couch only to freeze when he spotted 946. "What is that?"

"That Logan would be called a child." Alec leaned over the couch and quickly picked her up. "She's going to be with us for a bit." She shot a feral look at Logan and Max shot her a small smile.

"Okay." Logan shot a glance over at Alec and the little girl. "Who is she? Who are her parents?"

"We are," Max answered, as she watched Alec set 946 on the table and gently untied her. She slid her arms through the sleeves of the shirt even though it was too big for her and she looked up at Alec.

"What do you mean by that? Logan looked over at Max with confusion in his eyes. "Are you serious? You two had a child? Together?"

"Well, Logan, I think she means, that this little one, is the results of our DNA." Logan shot Alec a harsh look, as he ruffled the girl's hair, and she shot him a tiny smile. "Manticore made her."

"Well that explains it."

"What does that mean?" Alec moved towards Logan, only to catch a glance of Max out of the corner of his eyes.

"Alec," Max said, cutting him off, as she stepped in front of him. "I'll talk to Logan. Why don't you see if she's hungry. I'm sure that she probably hasn't had anything to eat in a while." She then dropped her voice so low that only Alec could hear her. "See if she'll tell you anything else. We need to know all that we can. I'll do my best to get him to leave."

"Good luck." Alec shot Logan a glare before he turned his attention back to the girl who was staring up at the grownups with extreme fear in her eyes. "Come on, little one, let's see if we got something here for us to eat. I'm starving. How about you?" She slowly nodded. "Ah, a girl after my own heart." He lifted her up and set her down on the counter, as he began to rummage through the counters looking for some food. "What are you hungry for?" She shrugged and he let out a sigh, which caused Max to shot a glance over at them. He shot her a smile, as he moved closer to the girl. "We got mac'n'cheese, corn dogs, spaghetti..." She shook her head no, as she pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around her waist. "You're not going to allow this to be easy for me are you?" She shrugged again. "No, you're not. You take after your mother, more than you know."

"Logan, how were we supposed to know?" Max asked, causing Alec to shoot a glance over at them. Max was on either the verge of losing her temper or breaking out in tears or both. "I don't remember all the tests that they did on me while I was there. All I know about Alec is that he was supposed to be my 'breeding partner'."

"And you surprisingly have a child together," Logan snapped in a harsh tone, that reminded Alec of a drill instructor and the girl jumped at the tone. Alec gently put a hand on her arm trying to calm her. "I don't know what to think, Max. I think I need some time to think about this, alone." He then turned and left, slamming the door behind her. The apartment was left in an eerie silence for a few minutes. Alec knew better than to approach Max for her knew that she had to make the first move.

"That man is a jerk," the girl said, breaking the silence, and Alec shot her a look. "He treats us like idiots and weapons. He uses you to do his bidding and doesn't even thank you. That's not fair. He's not better than the people at Manticore."

"He's a little better than the people at Manticore, little one," Alec said, hoping to save some of Logan's reputation from the little one's wrathful opinion of him. "Come on, how about we choose something to eat. I'm starving. It's been a long night and I'm sure my fellow X5 is hungry as well."

"I'm not hungry," Max replied softly, as she turned to face them. Alec could see the tears that were threatening to fall in the corner of her eyes. He quickly moved from his place next to the girl and took her up in his arms. She went willingly and she curled up into his chest, as the tears began to fall. "How could he say those horrible things? He acted like he didn't trust us, Alec? We've been through so much with him. We've done so much for him. Now we acts like he doesn't know what to think."

"I know, Maxie, and I'm sorry." Alec slid a hand up to trace her backbone and shot a glance over at the girl. "But we do have a bigger problem to worry about." She stiffened and looked over at the girl. "She hasn't choosen what she wants to eat, so I was hoping that you could help me with that." She shot him a smile, as she wiped the tears off of her face and moved towards the girl, only to have the front door of the apartment burst open.

TBC

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