disclaimer: i don't own dark angel if i did jensen would have got way more screen time and maybe kicked Max's ass at least once.
a/n: this is a small angsty little piece that came from reading one too many angsty fics. reviews are much appreciated!
They were three little words she never wanted to hear from him again. But she knew she would hear them again and again as he fought to stay above the tidal wave his emotions were becoming. It was always the same she would be sound asleep or out at Crash cuddling up to some honey and her pager would go off. She would check the number and know it was him. The first time she called him back and snapped at him about interrupting her down time but then he never snapped back only spoke in a broken whisper.
'I need help.'
Those were always his words and she always came running even though she didn't know why the first time. She asked him where he was and she was at his place in fifteen minutes. She let herself in and that was when she first knew that he was no longer Max's boy, he was her baby boo and he was broken. He was huddled in a corner surrounded by empty bottles. He was clutching his knees and his cheeks were wet with tears. She didn't ask questions just held him and let him be weak.
And that was the way it always went. Sometimes he would talk to her, tell her what had set him off into this particular spiral but mostly she did the talking. She whispered words of comfort and tried not to think about what had broken him. She didn't like to think what could bring the cocky X5 to his knees.
She found out one rainy afternoon at Jam Pony. All her hard work to bring back her baby boo blew up in the face of a dozen messengers. And it all started with Max. Max and her stupid we're-not-like-that relationship with Logan. He just snapped, Max was asking too much and she could see it. If only Max could see what she was doing to him. But that was the problem, she never saw it. It was the last straw. He spoke the words she wanted to hear even less right in the middle of a heated argument with Max.
'I'm leaving Seattle.'
'Like I care,' Max had snapped back.
She turned her back on him, never seeing the broken look he could no longer hide. Everyone else saw it. But never Max. No, Max never saw what she did to the one person in this broken world who loved her more than life itself.
So he left. He just turned and walked away. That was when Cindy snapped. She walked right up to Max and punched her in the face. That, more than anything, shocked the messengers and Max gaped at her best friend in shock.
'What the hell was that for?'
'That man loves you more than anyone else ever will,' OC informed her coldly. 'I have no idea why.'
That was the day Cindy left too.