After All This Time
Author: Kristen
Rating: NC-17
Show: Dark Angel
Genre: Action/Smut/Light Angst
Pairing: Ben/Vada and Max/Alec
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned them.
Summary: X5-546 was a loner since the escape in 2009 but when her heat struck she had no option but to give in to an endless nights of passion in the arms of X5-493, whose mission is to please The Lady, by ritually scarifying humans to her. When their CO involve them with the rest of the rogue X5 in the take down of Manticore, all hell breaks loose and nothing will ever be the same.
Type: Standalone
A/N: This is my first story so be gentle with me… I accept good and bad reviews.
A/N2: Character death.
Here it goes…
Chapter 1
New York, 2019
She knew she should have stayed at home, but in the state she was in no handcuffs would hold her, not that there is anything that could hold an X5 female. And that female was in heat.
She flipped her short curly dark hair over her shoulder and fanned her face. Her pupils dilated and she was franticly looking for her prey.
Her grey eyes suddenly closed and she sniffed the air, as a masculine scent reached her nose. She breathed in and was struck by the familiarity of it. Sighing in frustration when she couldn't place the breathtaking smell, she opened her eyes slowly trying to find its source. By the strength of the smell he had to be near. A feral smile stretched across her face as she found him at the bar nursing a drink and boy was she lucky.
At the bar:
X5-493, or Ben as he was named, nursed his whisky and sighed in boredom. He was on the road almost since he escaped with his other siblings, which was over 10 years ago.
And from that point he made it his mission to not over stay at one place in case Lydecker was on his trail, and partly because he wanted to find some of his unit who escaped with him, even though Zack had told him they were all ok and well; his CO refused to give any information about the whereabouts of them. "If one of us gets caught Manticore won't know about the others location". He had said.
He needed to see in his own eyes how Max was doing and what happened to Zane, and if Syl and Krit made it out. And most importantly if she made it out.
She was X5-546, or as he had named her Vada.
Manticore. November 2006
Seven-year old Ben stirred in his sleep, as the faint sound of smothered sobs reached his sensitive ears. Sitting up in bed, he narrowed his eyes in the dark and tried to find its source. Since his bed was in the middle he was able to see all of his unit members, and the bed at the end was shaking irregularly. Looking toward the door trying to see if any guards were positioned, when seeing none he slipped out of the bed and let his bare feet lead him.
The bed as he had suspected belonged to X5-546, who had yet to be named. Earlier while everyone was being named, X5-546 refused every name suggestion that was given to her.
Zack had suggested the name Samantha and she had flat out said no. Max had thought up with the name Danielle and she had said that's a boy name. No matter what the name was and how pretty, she would find a flaw in it. Finally, she turned to him; her eyes wide and sparkling and asked him what she should be called, before he could answer the guards came and it was lights out. He could clearly see the disappointment in her eyes as her lower lip jetted out in a pout.
Secretly he had a name for her that suited her perfectly ever since Zack had suggested that they should have names like normal people not just numbers. Vada, it rolled on his tongue easily and it suited her flawlessly.
After a battle with the crying X5, he managed to pry the blanket from her very strong hands.
Her grey eyes were puffy and her nose was running, and when she saw him she wiped it with her long sleeve, her sobs now reduced to hiccupping.
His hand reached to smother down her forehead and wipe the remains of tears on her cheeks.
"Why are you crying 546?" he asked gently.
To his surprise she burst into a new set of tears, her lower lip trembling. He looked carefully, and it seemed to him she was trying to talk.
"Just breathe, ok. Tell me what's wrong?" he picked his words carefully, trying not to say anything that will upset her more.
"I...III amm sorry" she said.
"For whatever I did wrong. P...Pleasse... say you fforgive me...Ben?" she looked at his with miserable eyes, which made his chest tighten in a funny way.
"What did you do?" he really didn't know what she was talking about.
"I...I don't know" her little voice quivered slightly.
"Then why are you sorry?" he asked gently.
Sniffing, she bit her lower lip to stop its trembling and looked at him "Because you're mad at me."
"Why would I be mad at you? You've done nothing wrong, did you?" he asked knowing fully the mischief 546 and 205, newly named Zane, got into.
"No" she said too fast, wanting to appease her older sibling.
His brows knitted in confusion "Then what makes you think that I am mad at you?"
He could see his question saddened her to no end and sighed… Girls make no sense at all…especially 54...no Vada
"Because you didn't name me? Don't you love me Ben?" she asked sorrowfully, not realizing that she was showing her emotions but not caring.
She tried to not let anything affect her and not to show her feelings and tears… Tears are a sign of weakness… that's what Lydecker said and what Zack had told her not to show when she saw Seth being dragged away for isolation…
Before Ben could answer her … she hardened her eyes and pursed her lips into a thin line showing how cold and unfeeling 546 can be…
"You know what? Just forget it 493" and then pulled the cover over to her chin and closed hey eyes singling the end of the conversation.
His eyes snapped open, and his back stiffened. A small tingling sensation started at the base of his spine and made its way up to his neck, caressing his barcode in a very primitive way.
Slowly looking to his both side trying to asses the situation, figuring his instinct was warning him of danger. Perhaps Deck had finally cornered him, he thought.