Cooped Up
Had the Heat set off the seizures or vice versa?
All Alec knew was that he had a pissed off, seizing Max in the cell floor beside him.
"I bet you haven't even taken your tryptophan since the escape," he fussed at the balled up figure laying on her side.
Max glared at him, fists clenched as her body disobeyed her direct order not to shake and thrash.
"Didn't. Think. I. Needed. To." she ground out through locked jaws.
"You were hoping you didn't need to." Alec pursed his lips as he surveyed their surroundings. A fallout shelter from the 1960's, an electric current protecting all the exits and the ventilation.
Just super, he thought to himself as he flopped his lean body down onto the bare floor beside Max.
"Thought. Fixed. Heat, Too," Max struggled to speak.
"Maybe the virus wore off too?" Alec jerked when her heavy biker boot connected with his thigh.
"What? Jumping Logan would solve one of your problems." That he said after moving out of her reach.
"Get. Ou, Out." She spasmed, dark eyes turning glassy. Currents of sweat ran down her forehead and dampened the neck of the olive green t-shirt she wore.
Alec stood up and began rummaging around in the fallout shelter kitchenette. Powdered, canned or dried everything.
"Ah ha! Powdered milk." Using his perfect teeth, Alec opened the bag of grainy powdered milk. Next, he tried the tap at the sink.
"Huh, surprise, surprise, it works." He came up empty on dishware so the X-5 improvised. He let the tap run until the water was cool and then added it directly to the milk powder bag.
This is gonna taste like sawdust but it's the best we can do. Should probably look into getting some for T.C. he made a mental note.
"C'mon, Max, sit up and drink this." With his free hand, Alec helped Max sit and then he knelt down in front of her and poured some of the chunky milk into her open mouth. When she shivered he wondered if it were the seizure or the awful tasting milk. Max wrinkled her cute little nose and closed her eyes as she chugged down as much gloop as she could.
She's a better sport than I would be. That stuff is nasty, he thought, easing off after a quarter of a bag.
"Awful Horrible! Disgusting!" she exclaimed after swallowing the last dregs of the bag by herself. True to form, Alec snickered at her gag face.
"Oh the dirty jokes I could make, Maxie," he cracked up at her antics.
"Not funny!" Max hauled off and rammed her smaller fist into his shoulder. It lacked her usual strength, thankfully.
"How long have we been down here?" she asked after a few minutes of drinking tap water to chase the taste of grainy powdered milk away.
"About an hour," Alec answered, studying the high voltage conductor surrounding the small door.
"The seizures weren't as severe before." Max scooted down the wall, dark circles around her eyes and her complexion ashy.
"Manticore, making up for lost time in screwing up your life." Alec had never spoken truer words in Max's opinion.
"How's the other thing?" he asked casually, glancing at her from where he stood at the door to her right.
"Better, for now. I'm wrung out." Max shrugged, her eyes closed as she leaned her head against the dingy wall. She seemed small and fragile sitting there. A few hours before she'd seemed sexy and dangerous as Alec wove his way through the city after her. She'd trailed pheromones in her wake like magic tendrils working to draw him closer.
"I'm going to O.C.'s for a few days, until this thing's run its course." she'd said easily over the phone. Alec had just had to see if she were okay, and if she were knocking boots with anyone if he'd admit it. He'd followed her trail through Seattle to O.C.'s doorstep. She'd run when Cindy had seen him out the window. Eight sectors later the first seizure had hit and two goons had caught them. Now they waited to see what happened in a grungy fallout shelter put in the ground before either of them had been born. Hell, before Lydecker or Renfro had been born.
"Guess we should get comfy, they've got this place buttoned down pretty well," Alec sighed as he slid down the wall to sit beside Max.
"Figures," Max grumbled. They sat in silence for a while, Max dozing and Alec alone with his thoughts. He took a deep breath, inhaling Max's pheromone tinged scent. The Heat had subsided but it's faint notes lingered.
She smells good even without Heat pheromones. All cherry lip balm and fresh air from riding her Ninja, Alec smiled to himself at the thought.
From his left he heard Max whimper and looked over to see her face crumpled. Bad dream. He wiggled out of his coat and draped it around her. Quietly, he scooted over and leaned her against his side. Her weight felt right pressed to him.
She's gonna punch me when she wakes up and sees my coat around her, but it's worth it to see her at peace, he thought. If bitching and besting him made her feel like a queen bee, gave her strength to help their transgenic brethren he'd take it. Rare moments like this made her attitude worth the effort.
You worry about all of us but who worries about you, he wondered silently, looking down at her. When you named me you claimed me for your own, you know that, Maxie. The best and most difficult assignment I've ever received, he decided as he too leaned his head against the wall and settled in to doze.