DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel and all its characters belong to James Cameron and 20th Century Fox. Hopefully, they have too much money to bother suing me for wanting to explore their characters a little further. Call it a Christmas present.
A Merry Little Christmas
"So, Maxie," Alec grinned at the woman who freed the transgenics as she sauntered into Jam Pony, "Christmas is a coming."
"What do you want?" she snapped.
"I hadn't really given it much thought," Alec answered with a dramatic pause, "New climbing gloves might be nice, or a new piece. Nothing says goodwill toward men like firearms."
Max groaned. "I have three more runs to make tonight, so if you have a point, you should make it."
"I want to get Joshua a Christmas tree," he told her, deciding the time had come to be serious. "I was wondering if you had any ornaments."
Surprised by Alec in a way that she could almost get used to, Max answered hesitantly. "I have a few, but they're not enough for a whole tree by a long shot. I usually just cobble together coat hangers."
Alec nodded. "That's cool. I scored some tinsel and some of those colored glass balls. All told there should be enough."
"Where are you going to get the tree?" she asked. Christmas trees tended to be a luxury that most of Seattle couldn't afford.
"Let me worry about that." Alec grinned roguishly.
"I don't want to know," Max replied, mirroring his grin. "When will you get it?
"The twenty-fourth," he told her promptly. He paused. "I was sort of considering crashing there after we finished decorating," he hesitated again; he obviously didn't want to push the idea, "maybe waking up there Christmas morning. I mean, it's not like I have any family."
Max nodded her face carefully blank. "I could probably score some popcorn. We could make garlands, hang stockings, the works. Cindy will probably want to spend the day with her lickety boo of the moment and Logan's got his old money family engagements."
"Yeah," Alec said nonchalantly, "And it's not like either of us are remotely religious. Christmas is just a normal day that everyone else happens to have plans for."
"You know it. I usually spend Christmas alone toasting my siblings because at least they'd understand not understanding the holiday."
"Well, I know we're not family," Alec told her, "but Joshua and I probably know a lot less about this sort of thing than you do. You'll have to teach us—be our Christmas guru."
"Deal," Max grinned, "But first I've got to deliver these packages.
On Christmas Eve Max knocked at Joshua's door holding a large box and two shopping bags as well as her messenger bag which was fastened securely across her chest.
"Max," Joshua practically howled when he answered the door, "See what Alec brought, Max! Just like Father's books, Max! Come in, come in!"
He sounded like a big kid, but Max was scarcely less excited herself. She hadn't had a real Christmas tree since her first Christmas with the Barrets, just after the escape.
It was perfect. Alec stood in front of it with his hands up as though he expected it to fall at any moment, but Max could tell it was well balanced in its makeshift stand. It was a deep green just like the fir trees in the woods around Manticore. It made her think of a thousand bad and wonderful things. Alec turned to look at her.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"I think it's time to decorate," Max answered, all of the words describing perfection stuck in her throat. Alec grinned and took her box of ornaments and Joshua turned into a whirling dervish of tinsel. Max was the only one patient enough to threat popcorn—a great deal of which ended up in Alec's mouth.
When the tree was childishly decorated with every pretty thing that would fit, Max pulled out three mismatched stockings with names illustrated in silver glitter to hang over Joshua's fireplace. At Joshua's confusion, she explained Santa Clause.
"Breaking and entering for the sake of stealing things and selling them makes sense to me," Alec teased, "That's commerce. But breaking into someone's house to leave gifts is a little creepy, don't you think?"
"Don't worry, Alec," Max grinned, "I doubt he'll leave you anything other than coal."
Alec put on a pout and didn't take it off until Joshua decided that it was bedtime for everyone that physically needed to sleep. To everyone's surprise, Max turned in as well claiming Santa couldn't come unless everyone was asleep. Alec had a suspicious feeling that Santa had some hammerhead in his genetic cocktail, but he didn't want to ruin Max's fun.
Waking to Joshua's grinning face on Christmas morning, Alec was glad he'd kept his mouth shut. His stocking had two oranges, a bottle of pre-pulse small batch whiskey and a container of motor oil. Joshua had snack cakes, paints and a really beautiful antique ornament for the Christmas tree: it was a little boy with a drum and even Alec could tell that it had been made by someone who genuinely cared about their work. Not to spoil the joke, Max had her own bottle of motor oil, an apple (cheap enough in Washington state, pulse or no) and a new pair of riding gloves.
Joshua went to get the presents he had for Max and Alec from beneath the tree, but Max stopped him.
"No presents until after breakfast," she mock scolded.
"Aw, but Mom," Alec whined just to see her eyes flash.
"Oh, that's it," she said with plenty of irritation to cover the absence of malice, "no bacon for you."
"You got bacon?" Joshua asked sniffing the air as though it was already frying on the stove.
"And all the fixings for pancakes," Max promised, "but only if you two help me in the kitchen."
Alec liked Max because he understood her. She wanted today to be perfect even though everyone would have been happy enough with oatmeal. Because Alec also wanted this morning to be perfect—for a plethora of reasons—he stole the spatula from her when she'd finished mixing the batter, nominally freeing her to attend the bacon. If Max was shocked by his lack of teasing, she didn't let it show and breakfast passed without incident.
Alec had slipped his presents under the tree on a bathroom run noticing that Max's had joined Joshua's at some point in the night. 'Wait,' he thought, 'Max got me whiskey, motor oil, oranges and whatever is in that box?' He was starting to feel a little insecure about his gift. He didn't even know if she would like it and Christmas was apparently more important to her than she let on.
Max opened Joshua's present first. It was a necklace on a delicate silver chain that Joshua apparently found with "father's" things, but the pendant had obviously been wrought with great pain by the artist himself. It was the size of a silver dollar and made from a mass of twisted steel wire, but somehow it seemed at first glance to be a perfect little angel. It was actually beautiful and Alec wasn't surprised when Max immediately put it around her neck.
Alec opened his present from Joshua next. It was a portrait. It was a very well done portrait. The coloring and shading were perfect and the subject seemed to jump from the page, lifelike, really. It was a portrait that the subject could never have sat for. "It's just what I wanted, Josh," Alec murmured; only he hadn't known until just then that he wanted it. "Where'd you get a photo?"
"Logan helped," the transhuman explained. Alec nodded. It made sense. The only other person who could have helped Joshua with this was Max, but Max didn't understand why Alec would want to remember anymore than Alec understood this sudden soft impulse. He could see it in her face and he gave her a little smile.
"Don't be jealous, Maxie, she wasn't as pretty as you." He said it without the usual sneer though. Max smiled at him. She gave him a real smile and suddenly Alec wondered if she could understand, even just a little.
Joshua broke the mood by opening his present from Alec. It was an enormous book of art called "The Renaissance to Post-Pulse Modern". Alec picked it originally for the array of styles, but Joshua liked it for its detailed examples, exclaiming happily over individual pages as he flipped through the book.
Then Alec had to fight the sudden urge to run like hell from Max and Seattle because she was peeling the wrapping paper away from his present. "It's just what you've always wanted," he informed her, keeping any trace of nerves from his voice, "a box."
She laughed, but it really was a box. One foot square and about half as high it was an apparent antique. Oak wood, well varnished, with intricately carved designs on all four sides made the piece at least worth swiping, but the true beauty of the object was the mother of pearl plating on the lid. An illustrated pride of lions lazed comfortably under a gnarled acacia tree watching cubs wrestle.
"Alec it's beautiful," she gasped, running her fingers over every smoothly polished surface.
"Open it," he instructed, aware that he even sounded nervous now.
Inside the box, resting innocently on the green velvet lining was a note, just a few words on plain white paper. "Cats are pack animals, too," it read. She looked up at him and he wanted desperately to take it back, apologize, and he was still seriously considering the run-like-hell-and-never-look-back plan. She grinned at him.
"Yeah," she agreed, "we are." That was all before she tossed her present at him, effectively changing the subject. He opened the old department store box to find a collection of songbooks. Piano music. Max either understood far more or far less than he gave her credit for. Of the books, a great deal of the music was classical—which he recognized—something called "The Complete Cole Porter" which he was completely unfamiliar with, transcripts of several musicals from an artist named Stephen Sondheim and a red book titled "Simple Christmas Carols for Piano".
He held that one against his chest as a question he didn't need to voice.
"What?" asked Max angelically. "Just because I'm spending Christmas with a concert level pianist means I can't give him a book of carols? It was on sale!"
"Let's go see what's in it," Alec suggested, not entirely adverse to finding out exactly what a Christmas Carols was.
"Hey," Max objected, "Joshua hasn't opened my present yet!" Alec apologized sheepishly. Joshua unwrapped a sketchbook and a set of oil pastels.
"Thought you might like experimenting with other mediums," she explained, "Although most people start small and move on to stuff like yours, so maybe for an artist…"
"Thanks, Max," the dog-man cut her off. He looked at her with those big soulful eyes of his. "Thanks a lot, Max."
"You're welcome big fella," she answered with a relieved smile.
Then they did go down to the basement where the piano lived. The three transgenics sang Christmas Carols with a free quality that Alec couldn't really remember music having. Music had always come easily for the transgenic, he enjoyed it, even. Now, however, he was playing with other people and without an audience, a new experience for him. He wasn't being graded or trying to impress, the three of them were just having fun. If he wanted to improvise a few chords then he did. When Max sang a completely different set of lyrics to the song called "Jingle Bells", he learned her chorus and joined in.
The three of them playing together this way was fun and they could have continued all day, but after lunch Original Cindy dropped by to give Joshua a big box of candles and ask if Max was coming to the Crash Christmas Bash as tradition demanded. Max tried to hedge out, but Joshua told her to clear out and take Alec with her so he wouldn't feel guilty about testing out her present. Everyone saw right through the transhuman, but Max nodded anyway. Fun would be spoiled if Joshua thought they stayed out of pity, even if the X-5s really were just enjoying themselves.
So Max went home with Original Cindy and excused herself to get dolled up without any of the lesbian's usual prompting. When she sauntered out into the kitchen wearing a long-sleeved bright red dress Original Cindy felt the need to give a low whistle.
"Damn girl, you haven't looked this good since you went to that wedding with Logan."
"Thanks," Max grinned. Original Cindy was looking good herself in a green halter top dress with black knee high boots. "You're going to have to beat the honeys back with a barstool."
"It's a pity, isn't it," OC agreed, "That someone as fine as me only has eyes for her lickity boo, especially on Christmas. Speaking of Eyes Only, why do you look so hot tonight? I thought you said there was no way he'd ditch his dinner party or whatever he's got up."
"So I can't get pretty if I'm not going to see Logan?" Max pretended to be offended.
"No, boo," OC agreed, "I'm just happy. The last time you did something this healthy I had to spend hours talking you into the idea of fun. Now you seem like you just 'bout it."
"I'm a guru," Max grinned at her friend. "It's time I started acting like it and teaching Alec how to have fun."
"Your boy knows how to have fun," Original Cindy argued.
"Yeah," Max agreed, "But it's all one kind of fun. That same off hours get drunk get laid sort of Manticore fun that probably gained popularity and tacit permission after the X-5 class hit puberty. We're having another kind of fun today, the kind of fun a guy like Alec really deserves the opportunity to understand."
Original Cindy was surprised that Max didn't automatically negate the "her boy" comment, but she didn't call her friend's attention to the slip. "So what makes you responsible for Alec's fun, sugar?" she inquired instead.
"We're," Max paused, knowing that Cindy wouldn't understand the word she wanted to use, "family," she said instead.
"Family?" the beautiful brunette asked incredulously. "All of a sudden the boy who can't do nothing right, whose mere breath pisses the hell out of you, is one o' your long lost brothers? Since when?!"
"Ugh," Max grimaced, "Alec is not my brother, don't even joke about that. He's just family. Like an annoying second cousin you have to put up with at family gatherings. You gotta help him out with stuff because he's family, and you gotta spend time with him for the holidays."
Original Cindy nodded. If Max wanted to be in denial, that was her business. Sometimes her Originalness thought Max liked his twisted sort of misunderstanding better than an actual relationship. Then again, OC had never seen Max in an actual relationship. The closest anything came was Darren, or maybe Leo, and both of them had left, in Darren's case cheated and left.
"Whatever," Original Cindy murmured in answer to her boo's denial. "But maybe you should put some thought into the fact that you don't want to be related-related to that pretty transgenic brother." She walked out of the apartment quickly to save Max her protests.
Crash was decorated in green and red for the occasion with fake Santa Clauses and miniature reindeer leaping from bar tables. Alec was feeling mellow and he'd barely dented his first drink. He was playing pool with Sketchy for fun: still beating the boy about his ears, but not taking his money. For some reason, Alec didn't want to cheat his friend, not today at any rate.
When Max walked down those stairs however, Sketchy was immediately out done and out of Alec's mind. She was gorgeous as always and she was wearing a Santa hat. Max had that unbeatable combination of Manticore beauty and an attitude all her own. He laughed out loud as she nearly broke some poor guy's wrist for touching her ass—Alec could hear her obscure references to Christmas trivia from his position across the room—but privately he couldn't really blame the ordinary. Max's ass was a tempting road to hell in any situation, swathed in red fabric it was almost more than man was meant to resist.
"Looking good ladies," Sketchy remarked, announcing the approach of his friends to Alec who seemed to be off in his own little world.
"Thank you, Sketch," Max grinned passing a present to the bike messenger, "It's nice to have hard work acknowledged."
"Why Max," Alec smirked, "If you're fishing for a compliment, you need only turn to me, you radiant little elf."
Max shoved him off of his stool while hiding a smile.
"I know," Alec said brushing himself off, "When I turn on the charm women just can't keep their hands off of me. It's a curse."
Original Cindy rolled her eyes. "If you two second cousins twice removed through marriage are going to be flirting all night could you give a sister girl some warning? I just don't want to throw up all over my boy Sketchy."
Alec looked at Max. "Could you translate? Common Verbal Usage only did so much."
"Common Herbal what?" asked Sketchy, slightly hurt that Alec might have had a pre party without him.
Max ignored Sketchy completely. "I just told her you weren't my brother," she said, "I don't get where the rest of it came from."
"Damn straight I'm not your brother," Alec growled mostly to himself. Sketchy heard and gave him a knowing grin that made Alec want to roll his eyes. Sketchy didn't really know anything.
"Dance with me to get away from these weirdoes?" offered Max. Although the dance floor at Crash was usually empty, Christmas Spirit seemed to have filled it. Alec was vaguely surprised that Max would offer the privilege to him, but he complied with her wish immediately. He noticed that she was still wearing Joshua's necklace and he wondered what she would do with Alec's present.
Seeing just how much he could get away with, Alec pulled Max a little closer on the dance floor. In answer, she spun around and ground backwards into him. Wasn't Christmas supposed to be a cold time of year? Alec was definitely feeling warm and fuzzy.
Disappointment was an understatement when Max decided she'd had enough and led him from the dance floor back toward the table where OC was making out like a bandit with her Christmas Squeeze. For some reason the crowd at the bar was making Max anxious and Alec scanned it for familiar faces. He didn't find any, but she had at least a year of history in this berg before Alec had begun his address book in the area and it was obvious that she was in a hurry to get to the back room. Sketchy bumped into them grinning and holding a pitcher he'd successfully rescued from the crowded bar.
"Alec man," he said helpfully, "Look up." Alec obeyed. There was some decorative plant hanging over his head.
"It's mistletoe man," Sketchy insisted. Alec looked at his Christmas Guru for a translation. She was avoiding his eyes. "She can't hit you man, it's tradition," the clueless stoner pressed, not really understanding the problem.
Why would Max hit him and what was the tradition?
Max placed a hand on Alec's cheek in answer to the question, her eyes closed and her lips brushed softly against his. Alec was in an utter state of shock, his mind moving at a frantic pace. Tradition: this plant and kissing under it, obviously, but what kind of kissing could he get away with? If he kissed her back, would she know? Did this still count as not cheating on Logan? Was there a plant for doing this during other seasons? Would Max still go with it if Sketchy weren't there pushing? Alec put a hand on the small of Max's back and pulled her ever so slightly toward his body. Her lips yielded to his for one point two nine seconds longer. Then she pulled back and slapped him.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, soldier," she ordered.
Alec had not been aware of the broad grin spreading across his lips, but it didn't surprise him. Christmas was definitely his favorite holiday.