Life and Love
by alecsangel
Summary: Part 2 of the Nine Lives Series. Alec ends up fighting for his life after breaking a promise to Max.
Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing. Although, I will lay claim to Sandi, Sean, and Gila and the basic plot idea.
So...on with the story...
~~! Terminal City !~~
"I'm so ready to go out on missions again, Max." Alec was practically on his knees and begging Max to let him participate on the next breaking and entering gig she was setting up.
"You should have thought of that before you took the morphine and decided not to tell anyone about it." Max replied, walking out of her office and towards the tactical area in the back corner on the Command Center. She was, of course, referring to his recent near-death experience, where he had been trapped in a sewer cave-in and had nearly died, because he had been given a drug that reacted badly with the morphine he'd secretly taken before embarking on the supply run that had led him to the sewers in the first place.
"Look." Alec jumped in front of her, forcing her to stop walking. He raised both his arms to shoulder-level and rotated his left shoulder, the one previously injured in the Jam Pony standoff. Then, after turning in several quick circles in front of her, he abruptly stopped and walked an imaginary straight line to show that his concussion, also suffered during the Jam Pony incident, was completely healed.
She watched him turn and give her his best grin. She smiled back at him, but shook her head. "I'm not the one you should be trying to convince. You know that everyone has to have medical clearance before they can go out on missions. That little rule is your own fault."
Alec looked down at the ground, shame rising up and reddening his cheeks. The newest rule for all Terminal City residents had indeed been his own fault. He had gone out in the field with previous injuries and the medics had felt the need to reinstate an old Manticore rule.
"Not fair," he muttered to his shoes. He bit his lower lip and tensed as he waited for her to punch him in the shoulder. She always punched him in the shoulder, and he had come to expect and sometimes even welcome it. It was a familiar action and Alec took comfort in all things familiar.
"Alec, it's just not my call. I'm sorry." Max reached out and took his hand, squeezing it lightly. He looked up at her, surprised, and she smiled reassuringly.
They walked over to the table that Mole was leaning over, studying a map of Seattle. Alec glimpsed a map of the sewer system on the other side of the table and shuddered, vividly recalling being trapped in the old sewer pipe. Max squeezed his hand again and waited for him to sit down. She sat beside him and looked up at Mole, waiting patiently for him to brief her on the target that he'd chosen.
"Since you're going solo," the lizard-like transhuman began, his gaze flicking briefly over to Alec, "I suggest a small heist. So, I've discovered that the owner of apartment 3D in Foggle Towers has a small film collection compiled there. We're talking prime, pre-Pulse films. The Harry Potter series alone is worth enough to keep us in Tryptophan and macaroni for a long time to come. You're familiar with the building, so I don't anticipate any surprises there. Any questions?"
"Security?" Alec leaned forward to get a better look at the map. He sighed when he realized that it was the same map that he'd looked at for weeks now. He'd had the damn thing committed to memory a long time ago.
"Not too tight. I've had some X's scouting the guy's personal security system. It's nothing more than some motion sensors and a pretty loud alarm. The owner himself set it off a few nights ago and it took the cops twenty minutes to get there." Mole paused and took his cigar out of his mouth. "It took the security guards nearly twice that long."
"And Logan used that place as his Eyes Only headquarters?" Alec leaned over and whispered in Max's ear, chuckling to himself. This time she did punch his shoulder, but it was a gentle blow. He feigned a hurt look and turned his attention back to Mole.
"It's an easy in - easy out job. You should be back before Lover Boy here even misses you." Mole chewed on the end of his cigar and regarded them silently. The last week had seen a change in the two transgenics. Since confessing their love, something that the others in TC had picked up on almost as soon as they had met the two leaders, Max and Alec had become happier and easier to get along with. Sure, they still had their verbal sparring, but it usually ended in a kiss now instead of a punch. Mole sighed inwardly, wishing for a relationship like Max and Alec had now.
Twenty minutes later, Max stood at the door of headquarters wrapped in Alec's warm embrace. He nuzzled his face into her hair and sighed deeply, knowing that he had to let her go in a minute. He wasn't happy about sending her out there on her own with the Seattle Police Department and, more importantly, White and his cronies waiting for her somewhere.
"I don't like this," Alec whispered into her hair.
"I know," she replied, pulling back so she could see his face. "Promise me you won't follow me."
Alec's eyes slid away from hers and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. He released her and started to walk away, mumbling something under his breath.
"Alec," she caught his arm and turned him toward her. "Promise me." She firmly held his gaze and waited for an answer.
"I promise," he muttered, shaking her arm off and stalking off toward the offices.
"Alec," she called out to him. His steps halted and in the blink of an eye, she was standing in front of him, kissing him softly. He sighed as she pulled away and nodded that he still remembered his promise.
"Be careful." He told her and she nodded back at him, smiling.
"Always." This earned her a grin from Alec as she echoing his response to her same request from several months ago.
~~! One Hour Later - Parking Lot Outside of Foggle Towers !~~
Max dropped from the fire escape to land soundlessly in a crouch. She glanced around before hurrying around the side of the building. As she turned the corner, she found a squad of five security guards in her way. She swore under her breath and turned around to come face-to-face with Ames White himself.
"Well, well, if it isn't four-five-two." He drew out her designation as he walked closer to her. Stopping mere inches from her face, he smiled sardonically and rotated his head as if looking for someone. "I was hoping that 494 would be with you. Where is he?"
"Like you care," Max retorted, using her peripheral vision to count the number of men around her. The odds were not good, not good at all.
"What if I told you I did care? What would you do then, four-five-two?" He watched Max narrow her eyes at him, contemplating what he was saying, wondering if he was really interested in Alec. He met her gaze evenly, giving away nothing.
Max was still trying to think of a retort when the sound of a motorcycle speeding closer overtook her senses. She turned her head minutely, keeping Ames in her sight, but wanting to know who was coming to the rescue.
Alec burst through the middle of the security guards balancing a familiar black motorcycle on it's back wheel. Letting the front of the bike slam to the ground, he took aim with his trusty Glock21. Max dropped to the ground as he opened fire on White and the three Familiars that stood behind him. The security guards had brought their weapons to bear when Max jumped up and ran over to Alec.
"That's my baby!" Max exclaimed, punching Alec's shoulder.
"I thought you might need some help." Alec replied calmly, grinning at her.
"But that's my baby," She shot him her best hurt look and pulled his hand off the handlebar. "Move back, I'm driving."
"Fine, fine." Alec replied, sliding back and letting her straddle the bike in front of him. He was just happy that she was distracted enough by the fact that he'd 'borrowed' her baby that she had forgotten that he'd left TC without permission. He dreaded the moment when she remembered that.
He barely had enough time to slip his arms around her waist before she took off at full speed. Bullets cut through the air around them with a whoosh as the guards and White's men took aim at them. Max was about to comment on what bad shots they were when Alec jerked forward, slamming into her and nearly sending both of them off of the bike. His arms tightened around her waist and he groaned loudly in her ear.
"Alec?" She called over the wind. "Are you okay?"
"I'm hit," he hissed into her ear through gritted teeth.
"Shit," she muttered, racing an alley and entering a different street on the other side. Several minutes and as many turn-offs later, Alec sagged against her back and Max was forced to stop the bike before he could fall off.
"Where are you hit?" She asked before she made any attempts to get off the bike. She could feel his chest heaving against her back as he tried to breathe. Alarmed, she turned her head around to look at his face. He was pale and his eyes were clenched shut.
"Back," he replied with effort, the word gurgling out of his lips.
"Shit!" She exclaimed, louder this time. "Why didn't you say something earlier?" It was a rhetorical question and he knew that she knew the answer. They had to get away from those men, no matter how badly he was hurt.
Setting the kick-stand and holding onto his arms still wrapped around her waist, Max moved her left leg over the bike and maneuvered herself until she was standing beside the bike with Alec still sitting on it, leaning against her. Gently, but quickly, she twisted around in his arms so that they were chest to chest. She pulled him off of the bike and eased him into a sitting position in the dirty, dark alley.
"Talk to me, Alec. Where does it hurt?" She said, looking over his back and finding the bullet wound high on the right side. His breathing difficulty told her that his lung was punctured. "Shit." He was hurt worse than she thought he was. This was so not good.
"Can't breathe." He exhaled, wincing.
She nodded, concentrating completely on his injuries. She pushed his jacket away from his chest and was confronted with her worst nightmare, nothing but his unmarked white T-shirt. The bullet hadn't exited his body. She resisted the urge to curse again and looked up, surprised to find his eyes open. She met his hazel gaze levelly and managed a reassuring smile.
"Not good?" He managed to turn his statement into a question, eliminating his need to add more words to his pain-filled sentence.
"You'll be just fine," she promised, continuing to smile. He weakly grinned back, but shook his head after a moment. "I'm going to leave you here for a minute, okay? I've gotta go get us some new wheels." Her smile faded as his eyelids slipped closed.
"Alec!" She called, but his body slumped as he lapsed into unconsciousness. Afraid to lay him down, she moved him over to a building and leaned him against the wall. Taking one last look at him, she disappeared out onto the street.
Ten minutes later, she ran into the emergency room of Harbor Lights Hospital and practically dragged Dr. Sam Carr to the black SUV that she had stolen. He took one look at Alec and ran back into the hospital for a stretcher.
"Don't worry," he told Max, checking Alec's vital signs. "He'll be fine. And he'll be safe here."
Max shook her head, "No, he won't. I've got some of our people coming over to help and to get him out of here once he's stabilized." Her mind drifted back to her hurried call back to base on her way to Harbor Lights. She had talked to Sandi, who had practically screamed at her for getting Alec hurt again.
"Fine." He didn't argue although she could see that he didn't like the idea of moving Alec so soon. He sighed and rushed Alec into a Trauma Room.
Max stood outside the door and watched as Sam, a nurse, and another doctor worked frantically on Alec. Her sensitive hearing allowed her to discern the sound of his heartbeat once they had him hooked up to a monitor. It was beating much too fast for his transgenic body. She was concentrating so hard on listening to it that she hadn't realized Sandi and her medics had arrived.
"What the hell happened to him?" Sandi grabbed Max's arm and jerked her around so that they were standing face to face.
"He was shot in the back." Max replied in monotone. Her eyes were unfocused as she recalled the events that led up to Alec's condition.
"Shit," Sandi motioned for the medics to follow her into the trauma room. One of them remained outside, an X5 that Max had seen around TC stopped to pat her shoulder.
"He'll be okay." The dark-haired transgenic reassured her. As he took up a guard position outside the Trauma Room, Max tried her best to remember his name. Scott? Sam? Sean! That's it. In the words of Original Cindy, Sean was just as 'pretty' as all the other X5s. He was tanned and tall, with muscles that rivaled Alec's and dimples on both cheeks when he smiled.
Max shook her head and returned her attention to Alec. Her Alec. Her lover and her friend. She had no doubts that he would be okay. He was Alec and Alec was always all right. But he was wounded worse that she'd ever seen him wounded before. She sighed and ran her hands over her face as negative thoughts threatened to overtake her mind.
Tearing her eyes away from Alec's motionless body and the flurry of activity around him, she moved toward the coffee machine at the end of the hall. It was going to be a very long night.
Twelve hours and one surgery later, Alec lay propped onto his left side in a private room at the Terminal City Medical Center. He had been moved there less than an hour ago and was resting comfortably in a drug-induced slumber. Dr. Carr had removed the bullet and repaired the damage done to his lung. They had re-inflated it at Harbor Lights and kept him on a ventilator for several hours before weaning him off. Once they were satisfied that he was able to breathe adequately on his own, Sandi and the other medics had brought him back here.
Max sat in a chair by his bed, holding his hand and trying her best to remember that the last time he was here, he had been fine in the end. However, the nagging negative voice in the back of her head kept telling her that he wasn't injured as badly last time as he was this time.
Footsteps brought her out of her thoughts and she looked up to find Sandi and a lizard-like transhuman standing beside the bed. Her skin was a slightly lighter shade of green than Mole's skin color. It resembled the green of Army T-shirts. There were bright yellow and red markings down each side of her head. She stood a little over five feet tall, with small hands and no hair. To the humans, she resembled Mole. To Mole, she would probably be an angel.
"Hey, Max. This is Gila. She's training to be a medic with me." Sandi moved closer to Alec's side and took his vitals quickly and efficiently. She motioned for Gila to do the same as she gently pulled Alec's hospital gown away from his bullet wound. "It's time to change his dressing anyway."
"Sandi," Max's voice held so much fear that Sandi turned to her immediately. "He's going to be okay, right? Don't bullshit me. I want a straight answer."
Sandi sighed and walked around the bed to kneel beside Max. She took the younger woman's free hand and met her gaze. "The bullet caused some pretty bad damage, Max. But the fact that he's been able to breathe on his own for this long is a tremendously good thing. Barring any infections or overexertion, I think he'll recover fully." She smiled at Max's hopeful grin. "It may take some time though. Longer than he's used to anyway."
Max groaned and rolled her eyes at the thought of Alec not being up to par. He wouldn't deal with it well. He wasn't made to lie on his back and wait for his body to heal. At least she had Sandi to help her keep him in bed until he could recover.
More footsteps approached the door and the three females looked over to see Mole swaggering through the door. As soon as his gaze landed on Gila, the ever-present cigar fell out of his mouth and he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Uh, ummm, hi." He stuttered, for the first time in his life.
Max and Sandi exchanged a knowing glance and Gila stared at the new arrival for a moment before turning her attention back to Alec's bandages.
"Hey, Mole," Sandi broke the silence. "This is Gila. She's training with me."
"Hello, Gila." Mole replied, automatically. He bent over to pick up his cigar before he continued into the room. He stood at the foot of the bed, looking uncomfortable.
"Can we help you with something, Mole?" Max asked, stifling a grin as he averted his eyes to a spot on the wall behind the bed.
"The fellows at headquarters wanted an update on our fearless leader here." He gestured toward Alec.
"I thought I was your fearless leader," Max tried her best to look offended, but she was too busy trying not to laugh at Mole's unusual behavior.
"Sweetheart, as much as you want to believe you're the leader of this shindig, we all know who really calls the shots." He nodded his head almost imperceptibly toward Alec's unconscious body.
Max scoffed at his words and was about to retort when Alec stirred, his hand clutching hers. He moaned and she immediately bent over him.
"Hey, you're okay. Everything's okay." She whispered soothingly to him as she stroked the hair away from his forehead.
He murmured something and gripped her hand once more before falling back into unconsciousness. Max looked up at Sandi, frightened by the fact that he hadn't awoken.
"It's perfectly normal, Max. Everything's okay. He's trying to wake up but the drugs and his body aren't ready for him to do so yet."
"What should I tell the boys, Doc?" Mole broke the silence, wanting to leave the girls to their patient. He was always uncomfortable in the infirmary and the presence of a female like himself was only making him worse. He blushed as his thoughts turned toward Gila. It was such a beautiful name for such a beautiful creature.
"Tell them that he'll be fine in a few days. We'll let them know when they can come visit." Sandi replied, smoothing a new bandage over his wound and pulling his gown back into place.
Mole nodded and, with one last glance in Gila's direction, hurried out of the room. Gila followed suit, dropping Alec's bloody bandage into the trash on her way out. Max and Sandi glanced at each other and broke into laughter.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sandi whispered, knowing that Gila had the sensitive hearing of almost every specimen Manticore created.
Max nodded and replied, "They're perfect for each other." They giggled together as Sandi made her way out the door.
~~! Five Days Later - Command Center !~~
Everyone in the room looked up when Alec slowly ambled through the door. Max was beside him, her hand resting gently on the small of his back to let him know that she was there to catch him if he fell. He had spent three days in bed and another day walking around the Medical Center. This morning he had decided that he wanted to go visit everyone in the Command Center and neither Max nor Sandi had been able to dissuade him. They had argued that he was still too weak and became short of breath too often for the walk to headquarters, but he had merely waved a hand at them as he walked out the door.
"Speech!" Dix yelled from the second level platform and Alec chuckled, his hand reflexively moving to his sore chest. Everyone quieted at the action that reminded them that he wasn't in peak condition.
"Does Alec need to sit?" Joshua asked from where he was standing off to the left. He had been talking to Luke when Alec had entered.
"No, I'm fine, Josh." Alec replied, smiling at the canine transhuman.
"Are you sure? Maybe you should sit down for a minute." Max was worried. She had been worried since he woke up. He suspected that she had been worried since he had told her that he had been shot.
"I'm fine." He replied, waving her off and continuing into the room. Everyone swarmed around him, telling him how happy they were that he was okay and how headquarters wasn't the same without him. She watched him closely, trying to decide if he was indeed fine.
Alec's gaze met hers when he felt that she had been staring at him for the past several minutes. He smiled at her, trying his best to convince her that he was okay. He wasn't ready to run a marathon, but he would be fine in a week or two. He was touched by her concern and he knew, in his heart, that he'd found the woman that he was destined to be with. He had found his soulmate in the bitchy freak leader. His grinned widened at his thoughts and he noticed that she couldn't help but grin back at him.
~~! Medical Center !~~
Mole stuck his head through the door of Alec's room to find it empty. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to head back toward the exit when he saw her. Gila was standing by the desk at the end of the hall. Her head was down and she was writing in a chart as Mole approached her. He cleared his throat and waited for her to notice him.
"Hi, Gila," he said, once she looked up.
"Hi, Mole." She replied, her voice even.
He frowned at her tone, but decided that it was now or never. "Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?" His words came out in a rush and he immediately ducked his head so she wouldn't see his embarrassment.
Gila smiled at his shyness and reached out to touch his hand. His head immediately shot up and she smiled at him.
"I'd love to."
He smiled back at her, his eyes lighting up for probably the first time in his life. "Is tomorrow night at seven good for you?"
"That's perfect. I'll see you then." She turned back to her chart, laughing softly to herself as Mole sauntered out the door, trying to come up with the perfect dinner.
~~! The End !~~
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed Valuable and everyone who will review this! Thanks to Infie for betaing and the nuns for giving me plenty of Jensen pics for inspiration.
A/N #2: I am considering no longer posting my stories at ff.net. If any of you wonderful reviewers do not go to NWP, please speak up now. Thanks :)