Dog Will Have His Day
Summary: Alec is trying to catch the man who made him hurt Max, but he has to save her first... MA. Sequel to Loose the Hounds and Dogs of War.
Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing as always.
All righty... the third installment (fourth if you count Toys for Tots) in this little tale. In the last story, Kincaid and the familiars managed to get their hands on Manticore's files and found several transgenics who had been programmed in case they decided to go off the reservation. In Dogs of War, Alec was activated and he shot Max. After that, things kind of went down hill...
Chapter One
Max shifted very slightly in the hospital bed. There was simply no way a transgenic with genetically encoded paranoia could sleep with so many strangers bustling around, not to mention the constant smell of death and sickness surrounding her.
More importantly, she was on duty. Guard duty.
Max supposed she didn't look like the typical security personnel. After all, she was lying in the same hospital bed as Alec. She had the covers pulled up over both of them. She was on her side, pressed to him from shoulder to ankle, one arm wrapped around him, although she was very careful not to put any excess pressure on his injuries.
Alec had been gutted, opened up from side to side, by a pissed off familiar with a knife. After a lot of surgery to repair his insides and keep them where they were supposed to be, Alec had then made an escape attempt by jumping off the roof of the hospital onto the next building. He'd barely made it a few blocks before he'd been forced to hole up in a dump of a motel. Max had gone after him, of course. No matter how badly messed up Alec was over the disaster their lives had become, she wasn't going to let him make a break for it.
Involuntarily, Max's arm tightened around Alec and he let out a sharp puff of air, in pain even though he was asleep. Max immediately loosened her hold again, but couldn't bring herself to let him go altogether. He'd scared her too badly, come far too close to dying, and then he'd hurt himself again in order to get away, thinking it was for her good.
Max had tracked him down, talked and threatened until he'd agreed to come back with her, and then, to avoid the sea of reporters, she'd had to sneak him back into the hospital where he'd immediately been sent back into surgery.
That was hours ago now. Alec had come out from under the anesthesia just fine. He'd only taken a swing at one orderly, and Max hadn't really minded because the guy had been asking for it ever since they'd arrived. Things might be a little better out in the world for transgenics, but there were still people who thought they needed to be put down like dogs.
Max tensed when she caught movement just outside the door. A second later, a woman in hospital scrubs appeared in the doorway. She looked to be in her 20s, had dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, and was a little taller than normal. She stepped into the room carrying a small tray which she set down on the table next to the bed. Alec was unconscious, but his instincts were on alert nevertheless and he twitched unhappily in his sleep.
"You're supposed to be in your own bed," the woman said in disapproval.
Technically, Max was recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest, but she was recovering far more quickly lying beside her husband than she would be away from him.
The nurse's disapproval became a full blown scowl. "You need to return to your bed." She reached out to grab Max's arm where it was resting against Alec's chest. Max hissed, every bit of her feline DNA showing.
"Max?" Alec's eyes blinked open, and he struggled to focus them. "What's wrong?" It took him several extra seconds to see the nurse, and when he did, Max felt his heart rate jump beneath her fingers. She'd already silenced all of the machines attached to him, knowing he would never rest with that kind of noise, sedated or not.
"It's ok, Alec," she whispered. "The nurse was just checking on you."
" 'Kay," he said, and relaxed back into his pillow, immediately easing back into sleep. The trust that action showed made Max's heart want to burst, it was so overwhelming.
"Actually, I'm here for you," the nurse whispered, her eyes on Max. "Dr. Carr sent this." She pointed toward the syringe sitting on the tray she'd brought.
Alec stirred again and Max glared at the woman for nearly alerting Alec to why she was really there. Dr. Carr had been conducting a battery of tests on Max right before Alec disappeared. She had run out before the results had come in. The doctor must have found something that worried him.
Max held her arm out and jerked her head to tell the woman to get to it and then get out. Taking the hint, the nurse quickly gave Max the shot and then left without saying anything else, much to Max's relief.
They couldn't seem to catch a break. She just wanted to be alone with Alec. That was all. After Kincaid and his familiar buddies messed with Alec's head and he shot her, they hadn't had more than a few minutes to even talk about what had happened and what they were going to do to fix it.
First and foremost, they had to track down Kincaid and make him pay. He'd nearly broken Alec with his little override command. Worse, he'd made Alec believe it was too dangerous for them to be together. That she would not allow to stand. Nor would she allow Kincaid to hurt anyone else. As soon as Alec was on his feet, they were going to have to get back to TC and get back to business. Then, in all of their massive amounts of free time, she and Alec needed to talk, or not talk, anything, as long as they were alone, and together.
"Max?"
She sighed in resignation as Dr. Carr walked into the room. They weren't going to get more than a moment alone so long as they were in the hospital.
"Did you sleep at all?" Alec suddenly asked, making her startle. Max should have known he wouldn't be able to do more than doze with so much coming and going.
"Some," she answered.
He smiled drowsily. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are when you're lying?"
"Better than normal?" she asked, perilously close to playing coy, which was unacceptable under normal circumstances, but Alec was still looking pale and shaken.
"Always beautiful," he said almost reverently. " 'Cept..."
"Except?" she said, a clear warning in her tone.
" 'Cept when you're hot." His smile turned decidedly wicked, if exhausted.
Dr. Carr cleared his throat loudly. "Max, if you would give me a moment with Alec to check him?"
Alec sighed and turned his head away from her to look at the doctor. "Not until you tell me what you sent for Max."
The doctor frowned. "What I sent for Max?"
"The shot," Alec said. "A nurse just brought it in and gave it Max."
"Someone gave you a shot?" Dr. Carr stepped forward, moving around to the side of the bed Max was on.
"She had a hospital ID on her uniform," Max said. Alec struggled to sit up, apparently the same horrible feeling alerting him that had her hair standing on end.
"Max," Dr. Carr said worriedly, "I didn't send anything for you."
More soon. Thanks!