MEXICAN HOLIDAY
Dark Angel Fanfiction
written by cherrydith
This takes place right after A Reunion of Sorts.
Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, MexicoIt was the perfect place for Max beautiful beach, friendly people, and miles away from Los Angeles where Logan was continuing his broadcasts as Eyes Only. She had decided to stay here after more than a month of traveling from place to place. She found work as a mechanic in an auto-shop near La Playa del Castillo, one of the most popular resorts in the area. Oftentimes, during her break, she would watch the people in chaise lounges scattered around the beach, sipping afternoon tequilas like they had no care of the world. In this place, she could almost forget about Manticore, Lydecker, White, all the ghosts of her past which keep catching up to her. Here, she could blend in, start over, have a life of her own apart from that of X5-452.
Well, almost.
She had just finished her shift one Friday afternoon when a battered black convertible pulled over the driveway of the auto-shop and a familiar blonde head grinned at her from the driver's seat. It was Alec.
"All right there Maxie?" he called out, grinning at her as though he were an old buddy stopping by a friend's workplace just for the heck of it.
Max slammed down the toolbox she was carrying on a worktable and walked briskly towards Alec, glaring at him. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked in an urgent whisper. "I thought Zack made it clear that we are to separate once we get here? Or are you in trouble again?"
"Come on, Maxie, you don't have to take big brother Zack's side all the time," Alec said in a whiny voice. "I just thought I'd come by and see how you are. And don't worry about me because I seem to be in a much better shape than you are."
That was only when Max realized that she was still wearing her dirty work jumper, with smudges of oil and other car dirt making their permanent mark on the suit. She hadn't had time to wash her hands; they were greasy, the dirt penetrating the insides of her nails. She could only imagine the mess that was her hair after being denied even a comb the entire day.
"Your boss treating you all right, Maxie?" Alec asked, eyeing the beefy middle-aged man, Carlito, who owned the place.
"Yes Alec, I am perfectly fine," Max snapped. "Now will you get out of here please? And stay out of trouble." For some reason having him there looking at her made her more aware of the state of her own appearance.
"Why do you always think of the worst of me Max?" Alec asked in a hurt voice. The, his smile brightened. "How about we go have dinner after you get off from work? I can wait for you out here. For old times sake."
Max knew that the sane answer would have been no. She knew that Zack was right, that to stay together was to risk tactical exposure for all of them. She knew that she had made a good life for her in this new city, that if she played her cards correct she could stay here for a long time. But Alec was grinning boyishly at her from the car, acting very much like a regular guy picking up a regular girl after work. After a while Max forgot the grime which has covered her body after a whole day's work, the people the world over who would stop at nothing in finding them Manticore products, the eerie proclamation of CJ more than two years ago that she was The One, and found herself smiling too, saying yes to the dinner invitation of an old friend who happened to be in town for the night.
Dinner was perfect. After cleaning up, Alec took her to Casa de Carmen, a pricey restaurant serving the best chicken fajitas in town. He told her how he had been surviving, still going from town to town, not really finding a place which could remotely resemble home. Max had been surprised when she heard Alec say this. She had never thought of him as a guy who would long for home. But then, she never thought he would come to help her and her siblings out when they were in trouble. It was as though she was seeing him in an altogether new light, sitting across the table from her, toying with his food, tendrils of his blond hair grazing his forehead, giving him a rakish yet melancholic look.
"I never got to thank you for bailing us out in New York," Max said in a low voice. She has yet to get used to the fact that Alec was the one who was watching her back now, not the other way around.
"It's not big deal," Alec replied. "You've saved my butt plenty of times before. It's the least I can do."
"Why didn't you go back to LA after it was over?" Max asked the question which has been bothering her for some time. "Why did you have to run with us? This is our life but it doesn't have to be yours."
"Staying in LA would risk tactical exposure," Alec said, mimicking Zack. Then his expression suddenly turned serious. "I was at Manticore too, Max, as you keep on forgetting. You think you and your brothers and sisters are the only ones on the run. We all are, Max. We test tube babies don't have that much of a choice."
"Still, you could have made it there," Max insisted. "You could have had a home instead of running this way like the rest of us." For some reason she was beginning to feel very nervous, as though dreading Alec's answer as much as anticipating it.
"What do you want me to say Max?" Alec asked, eyeing her warily.
"I'm just asking you why."
"And I'm telling you I made a choice."
There was nothing left to be said on the subject after that. Whatever reasons Alec had he seemed determined to keep to himself. After a while he offered to give Max a ride to her new home, a rundown apartment complex not far from where she worked. It was one of those battered buildings in town, housing mostly families whose bread winners have bailed on them. The crying of babies greeted Max and Alec as they walked thru the hallway. From one of the rooms came the sound of a woman's scream, then a man's voice, coated with alcohol and who knows what else, telling her to shut her mouth. Max's face was turning crimson as she unlocked the door to her apartment.
"You're right about one thing, Alec," Max said as she pushed open the door and hit the lights. "You're in a much better shape than I am."
The sight of her apartment seemed to depress her further. It looked a lot like the place she shared with Original Cindy, albeit smaller, messier. Housekeeping has never been one of her stronger points.
"I think it's great," Alec said, surveying the place. "A lot better than the cell in Manticore."
"You still think about it?"
"All the time."
It was as though the invisible barrier closed between the,. The next thing Max knew, she was kissing Alec back with all the passion she had held inside her all these years, running her hands thru his hair, pushing her body closer to his. There were no dark and heavy thoughts swirling thru her mind, only the heady scent of Alec's aftershave and the taste of his mouth. This time, it wasn't the feline DNA which was making her act this way. It was herself, her passion, her longing, her human heart which beats with the strength of an X5 but which is feeling fragile at the same time. And, when Alec pushed her back to her bed, there were no questions in her mind, no hesitation, because deep inside she knew that this was what right felt like. When it was over and they lay exhausted on the bed, Max watched as a blank expression crept into Alec's face. It was as though he was readying himself for a painful blow which could only come from Max's next words. Feeling herself softening up to his rogue X5, Max slowly lifted herself up to get a better view of Alec's face. There was something almost accusing in the way he looked at her, as though he was daring her to tell him that what they did was wrong. Instead, Max smiled shyly and said, softly, "I forgot to ask. Do you want some coffee?"
And they laughed.
"Why did you leave Manticore in '09?" Alec asked, gently squeezing Max's hands as they walked thru the beach. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the Mexican sun was starting its slow descent t kiss the sea, the various shades of orange casting a promising glow at the shore.
Max looked at him curiously. "You know why," she said softly, not wanting to talk about the past, especially that night when twelve of them escaped from Manticore and started to face the world which would one day call for their death. Even though there were a lot of people on the beach, Max felt like they were the only two people in the world, the feel of Alec's hand on hers creating a protective dome around the two of them. Talking about the past brought back painful realities in her mind: Manticore, the breeding cult, Logan…
"Not really," Alec replied flatly. "We all had to face the same things. We were all tortured. I've often wandered why you and your brothers and sisters were the ones who had the yen to escape when we all had to go thru the same things."
"I don't really know," Max admitted, images of her Manticore days flashing in her mind. "When Zack said we should go, it just seemed like the right thing to do. So we escaped." She scoffed, a look of bitterness overshadowing her face. "For all the good it did to us," she added.
"You bought yourselves new lives," Alec said, squeezing her hand again to reassure her. "Then you came back and gave us new lives too. All in all, it hadn't been that bad."
"Yeah, right." She knew that was a lie, and so did he. "You think we'll ever have normal lives?" she asked after a while, her voice breaking, asking the question whose answer she has been dreading.
"I don't know Max," Alec replied. "Having transgenics around, it's a lot to take for those normal folks out there." He let go of her hand and placed an arm around her shoulders instead, pulling her closer to him. "But, as long as there are times like this, I think I'll keep my peace with Mother Earth."
Max smiled and rested her head on his chest, watching the sun and the sea meet at the horizon. His heartbeat was strong, steady. The heart of a soldier, this time at rest, in peace, conquests and consequences be damned.
"I love you Max," Alec whispered hoarsely.
"I love you too."
The sound of a honking vehicle outside the house made the little dark blonde boy jump off the couch. He grabbed his backpack which was lying on the floor and yelled, "Mommy! The bus is here!"
"Okay honey." His mother came into the living room bearing his lunch box, smiling indulgently. "Finish your lunch, okay? Yesterday you didn't eat your sandwich."
"I wasn't hungry anymore."
"But.."
"Got to go!" The little boy gave his mother a quick hug, grabbed the lunch box and ran off to the bus. The bus driver had already held open the door, his kindly face smiling at the little boy.
"All right there, big guy?" the bus driver asked as the little boy climbed up the bus. The little boy nodded and went off to a vacant seat, not far from a very pretty girl with little blonde curls. The bus driver turned to the little boy's mother and gave a mock salute. "See you later Max!" he yelled and closed the door.
Max stood by the doorway watching as her son's school bus turned at the corner of Cherry Road and disappeared from her sight. Then she went back to her kitchen where she had been busy preparing the new dish she saw the day before on Cooking TV. As she sliced the ube into little cubes, she thought of how much her son looked like his father. Ryan's dark hair was a shade darker than Alec's, but the shape of the face, the smile, they were all his father's. They even shared the same seemingly boundless energy, playing Sega well into the night, after they have finished doing homework. On weekends the three of them would take the family boat, named Sasha by Alec, which was Russian for defender of man. Max would sit with a book while her husband and son would take turns showing off the fishes they would catch. The happiness was almost too much for Max to handle. More often than not, she wondered whether all this was just a dream.
Max stood by the doorway and watched as her son's school bus turned at the corner of Cherry Road. She was about to head back to her kitchen when she heard a loud explosion. It was the school bus, bursting into flames, the distant echo of the fireman's siren drowned by Max's scream.
Max woke up with a start. It took her a few moments to comprehend where she was. She was still in bed, naked, with Alec sleeping soundly next to her. She sat up slowly, wrapping her blanket around her body.
It was just a dream. She dreamt of domestic bliss with Alec, cut off abruptly by the explosion of her son's school bus. She was surprised at how much a dream like that could jar her. She knew that she would never marry Alec, never settle in a suburban life. But the dream seemed so real, as though she were really there, a wife and a mother, watching in horror as her son was killed right in front of her, her son who had her own eyes.
She grasped the edge of the bedside table for support as she tried to stand up. What she felt was not the rough edge of the table but something smooth, something rounded, glassy. She turned sharply and saw what had been placed on her table without her knowledge. It was a vial, filled with a yellowish liquid. There was a note beside the vial, and as she read it, Max felt the familiar dread creeping inside her.
FOR THE VIRUS, MY SPECIAL ONE. GO BACK TO LA.
Behind her, Alec was just starting to wake up.