Chapter 1

Without turning over she slowly opened her eyes but kept the pretense that she was sleeping. The longer it went on the more the little girl jumping on the bed next to her complained.

"Mommy, you promised we'd go to the park today." Alexia complained jumping up and down on the bed trying to wake her mother up. "Wake up!" she yelled and flopped down onto the bed beside her sleeping mother.

Listening, feeling her baby girl complain and shove her for a little while longer was out of the question. Max slowly turned around and quickly pulled her daughter into her arms and threw the blanket over them.

"Mommy." Alexia screeched and giggled as Max started tickling her. "We're still going today aren't we?" she gave her mom her best sad eyes.

Never was she able to say no to that face. "You know that I'll take you." Max rolled her eyes and sat up. She had many things to do today but first thing was to take her daughter to the park.

Getting out of bed, she headed to the kitchen quickly followed by Alexia telling her that she wanted cereal to eat and not soggy eggs. "Alright, go get dressed and I'll get you a bowl." Max laughed as Alexia wobbled in her chair imitating the eggs.

Sitting at the table with her coffee Max heard a crash in her daughters' room and then soft crying. Getting up she headed to the room, Alexia heard her coming and scrambled to the door. "I'm sorry mommy." She started sobbing as she threw herself at her mother.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Max picked her daughter up and continued into the room to spot a broken picture frame on the floor beside Alexia's bed. "Oh sweetie, it's alright." Max sat her daughter on the bed and knelt down picking up the frame. "Only the frame is broken, I'll get you another one." Max tried reassuring her daughter placing the broken frame back on the nightstand.

"I didn't mean to break it I just wanted to…" Alexia stopped and stared at the floor.

"What did you want sweetie?" Max questioned wondering what she was going to do with the picture.

Looking up at her mother she started crying again, "I wanted to take him with me." Max felt her heart ache and wished she could say something, anything really, that would make her daughter feel better.

As much as she tried to tell her baby girl that her father loved her, Alexia refused to believe her. She truly believed that her father didn't love her and that was why he wasn't coming back home.

"Well take daddy next week, alright?" Max questioned. As her daughter got up and headed out the door. Max couldn't help but glance back to the picture. "Please come back Alec." She whispered heading out the door.

A few hours later Max arrived in headquarters with Alexia in tow. Heading towards her office, she started telling Alexia not to disturb anyone that was busy. "Can I go spend time with uncle Mole?" Alex questioned.

Nodding, she watched Alex run off in the direction that Mole was and heard Mole's greeting. "Hey princess about time you showed up I thought I'd have to do all the work alone." Then she heard Alex start laughing.

If she had to be honest, the last person she ever expected to be the sweetest to her daughter was Mole. Yet the moment he laid eyes on Alexia he'd vouched to protect her with his life, he'd even gone so far as not to smoke his cigars in her presence. Max suspected that it was the fact that she was Alec's daughter that Mole was so tolerant and loving to her but she never questioned it.

Knowing she was safe Max settled into her office and started reading through the files and reports that had piled up over the weekend.

Reading one file after another, she was getting more and more depressed. They all said the same thing; they were missing supplies for all departments. Tossing another one to the side and picking another she closed it as soon as it was open and dropped her head into her hands.

She'd known from the beginning that she wouldn't be able to lead them, wouldn't be able to keep them safe. However, they'd wanted her to take over while their real leader was out finding himself. They had trusted her because he had trusted her and she wondered how many of them now believed that they had made the worst mistake in their lives.

A knock at her door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Come in." she called and sat up straight putting up the image of the leader she was supposed to be.

"Hey Max." Biggs smiled softly and closed the door once inside. He walked over to the old sofa and sat down. "How you doing?" he knew how she was doing, just as he knew that she'd tell him everything was fine.

Getting up Max went to sit next to him and smiled. "I'm good. Took Alexia to the park this morning and then…" she stopped unable to keep the lie going. Looking at Biggs, she knew he'd understand and wouldn't judge her. "I can't keep this up; we're going down and fast. I simply don't know what to do." She'd confessed.

"You need to get your head into the game Max." Biggs replied harshly, which caused Max to snap her head up and glare at him.

"What the hell?"

"You fell into a slump ever since he walked out on you. Yet you forget that before you guys were ever together you were this tough bitch and could do anything." Biggs watched her get up and start pacing. "You're acting like you're just a temporary replacement until he comes back."

"That's what I am." Max yelled at him as she stopped pacing and stared at him. She wanted to lash out at him and punch her fist into his face so hard.

"If he was coming back don't you think he'd have done it by now? Don't you think he'd want to know his daughter?" Biggs yelled at her getting up and standing inches from her. "Face it because we have, he's not coming back."

"He doesn't know. I didn't know until he was gone." Max blurted out and quickly covered her mouth. Her eyes wide stared at Biggs as the realization of what she'd just blurted out hit him.

"Oh Max…" Biggs started but stopped not knowing what to say to that. He'd been so angry with Alec for all these years thinking he'd abandoned his mate and daughter when in reality he didn't know.

Not saying another word, he walked past her and out the door. Standing outside her office, he heard her start crying and exhaled a deep breath. As angry as he wanted to be at her he couldn't but the hatred he held for himself right now. He'd blamed and hated his best friend for nothing, he wished harmful things for him while out there in the world and all for nothing.

Making a decision, he headed to the infirmary where Cece would most probably be. "I'm going to find him." He simply stated once he'd found her.

Rolling her eyes, she put her pad down and stared at the man that she loved. "Not this again, it's been five years don't you think it's time to give up?" she walked closer to him and put her hands on his arms. "You've even said that it was his own fault and that it was best he didn't come back."

"He doesn't know, he never knew." Biggs replied and saw the question in her features. "She didn't know until he'd gone, he doesn't know."

Letting go of him Cece turned around and fought with her emotions. She'd been afraid of this day where she'd have to let him go after Alec. She didn't fear that she'd lose him to something rather stupid but to the people that didn't understand them, feared them and hated them because they were different. Hell known of them even knew if Alec was still alive but she knew that she needed to let him go. "Promise me you'll be careful." She said softly turning to look at him.

No words were needed as he pulled her into a tight embrace. Biggs held her for the longest time and when he finally did let her go he simply blurred out of the room before she started crying which would seriously make him doubt his decision.