Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: This is an old story never published her to not fuel the shipper wars at the time; but having lost all old stories to a hosting site that shall remain nameless, and after retrieving them thanks to the great Era (who rocks), goblie convinced me I should make sure they are posted in different places...
A/N2: I've lost my original Author's Notes for this one, but have no doubt about it, my friend Infie is to thank for beta-ing for me. She's also the one that insisted I'd be able to pull something like this off. *hugs Infie*.
Back to Basics
By Maia.
He'd been dreaming of a certain brunette in a white bathing suit, playing around in a blue/green ocean, giggling and splashing transparent water at him. Her bronzed skin contrasting with the white fabric, the sun glistening in her dark hair...
So, naturally, the sound of the pager starting to beep was not welcomed.
Of course, he still had the memory of that very same incident very present in his mind, so it wasn't that big a deal.
He smirked as he looked at the device. Ever since they'd returned from the island, she'd refused to talk to Logan, and so had left it in Joshua's house. The dog guy found it very entertaining to count how many times it rang each day. He'd started to place bets with Alec on the total.
The beeper went off again and Alec briefly wondered why the image of a large squirrel suddenly crossed his mind. He shook the weird thought out of his head and got up, he just knew he would not be able to go back to sleep.
As he was coming out of the bathroom, freshly showered, his cell phone started to ring.
As he answered, he silently cursed himself for not checking the number on the display first. Please, don't let it be him, please don't let it be him, please don't.. He sighed. "Hello, Logan"
"Er… no, she's not with me … Nope, I haven't seen her … Me? Well I … Okay, okay. I'll be there in half an hour."
As he hung up he briefly considered the thought of not going, but he knew Logan would insist until he found Max. So, against his better judgment, thirty minutes later, he found himself in front of Logan's door.
He took a deep breath and got in. He looked around the living-room area, the den, the kitchen and went back to the hallway, perplexed. "Logan?" he shouted.
He heard a muffled sound and grumbled. He slowly and warily eased his way into what he assumed had to be the bedroom area. "Logan?" He repeated. This time he could definitely make out a weak 'here'.
Darn! "Are you decent?" If the guy was half dressed, Alec would blurr out of there. To hell with protecting Max. Even he had his limits!
"Yes, Alec, come in."
Alec peeked into the room and entered after seeing Logan was covered with a heavy blanket. He had to resist the urge to grin. It wasn't easy.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm better, still a little weak, but I hope it will go away soon."
Alec didn't have the heart to tell him some of the symptoms could be permanent. And so he nodded in sympathy without saying anything.
"Still no word from Max?"
"Nope." Hey, it was true. He hadn't seen Max since he'd talked to Logan earlier. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, actually it's just as well. I think you'll do even better than her on this one."
"Indeed?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
'Hey, Alec, could you do me a favor? – Sure Logan. – Thanks, Alec. – No problem, Logan.' Apparently, Logan had missed the politeness classes in his pre-pulse boarding school.
Shaking the thought aside, he sat down on a chair to listen to Logan's latest foolishness.
"Hey, beautiful! How are you doing tonight?" he asked as she joined him on the table.
"Same old, same old, gorgeous." She replied, smiling. "Any new trouble we need to get our favorite transgenic out of?"
"Nope. Actually, I need you to do me a favor." He said, shining his most charming smile at her.
"You know that sexy smile won't have no effect on Original Cindy, don't you?" She replied, trying to sound aloof.
He pouted. "It won't?" He looked at her out of the most compelling puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen.
She gave up. "What do you need, Boo?"
He told her.
She was laughing hard at the end of his tale. "You know m'girl's gonna kill ya when she finds out, don't you?"
"That's where you come in, Cindy. You have to cover for me." He said matter-of-factly.
"And what is Original Cindy supposed to say? You have chicken pox?"
"Nope, that wouldn't work. We don't get sick."
"I know that. I was being sarcastic."
"I know that. I was being annoying." He smiled at her.
"Aiight, suga'. I'll manage. Just pray she'll believe me."
"Cindy, have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Not nearly enough, Boo."
"Okay, OC. Where the hell is he?"
"Told ya, Boo. He just said he had to leave town. That he would be back in a couple of weeks."
They were both sitting on Joshua's couch, waiting for the transhuman to finish cooking their dinner. He had invited them since he was all alone now.
"But WHY did he have to leave? He must have said something!"
"What are you asking me for? You are the one who should know whatever is wrong with your fellow transgenic. Original Cindy don't know nothing about no damn black helicopters!"
"He left cause they came looking for him?" She sounded really worried now.
Original Cindy took pity on her, "For what it's worth, he didn't seem too concerned when he left. He seemed to be looking forward to whatever it was."
Max growled frustrated. "If he left to go make money gambling or fighting I'm going to kick his ass so badly he won't be able to sit for the next millenium!"
OC laughed. "You know, Boo, that would be a shame. Even when she doesn't swing that way, this lady here can't fail to notice your boy has o-ne ni-ce be-hind!" she drawled.
Max went back to muttering.
After looking at her for a few minutes OC finally said casually, "I wonder what Logan wanted with Alec, though…"
"Logan?" Max asked immediately.
"Yep. Doggie-Dog said he'd been calling you and Alec for the past few days before Alec left…"
"What!?!" Max got up, grabbed her keys and stormed out of the house.
Joshua poked his head out of the kitchen and looked questioningly at OC. "Max not staying?"
"Nope, she ain't. She had some business to take care of." She replied smiling smugly. She loved playing around with those two's minds.
Max stormed into Logan's apartment, banging the door.
"Where the hell are you, Logan?"
She went through the different rooms of the penthouse, getting more angry as she passed form one to the other.
"Logan!" She shouted, barging into a room, where the object of her search was lying in bed, a pained expression on his face.
"Where the hell is he?"
"Good to see you too, Max. I'm feeling better, thank you."
"Cut it out. Where the hell did you send him? He's on one of your stupid missions, isn't he? If you don't tell me right now I swear I'm going to kill you. Slowly. Painfully. You are going to wish you had never met me. You are going to feel every part of your body being torn a..-"
"All right, all right!" Logan interrupted her. He was getting scared. He was sure she didn't mean it. She couldn't mean any of that! Could she? Surely not. He decided it was best if he told her. But it wasn't cause he was afraid of her. Not at all.
She was tapping her foot impatiently and he swallowed. "Eyes Only received an anonymous call, stating that there was some serious abuse going on at the Army base over in Fort Lewis."
Max's eyes grew larger. "The army. You sent him to the ARMY?!"
"Well, yeah, I would have sent you, but he insisted he could do it alone, and I couldn't find you, so..-"
"Oh, Gee, Logan! Thanks for thinking about me!" She said, her voice filled with sarcasm. "You sent Alec, my Alec, to an Army base to find out about some abuse going on? They are fucking soldiers! They should be able to take care of whatever abuse they found. Do you think anyone actually cares what happens to a bunch of stupid soldiers everyone hates in the first place?" She was shouting again now. And she never noticed her slip. Neither did Logan, who was too afraid of her at the moment.
"Well, Eyes Only is the only free voic..-" he tried weakly.
"If you say one more word, you are going to have a very good view of each of the floors below this one. From the outside." She said through gritted teeth. "Go get me some papers. Now. I want to be there yesterday!"
Alec was bored.
He was sitting in a tree. He had a pretty clear view of American Lake. He could see the old cabins, set there for recreational purposes in a time when fishing was still possible in the lake. He could almost see the ducks and geese that must have inhabited the place before the pulse.
Great, now he was starting to sound like Logan!
He glanced back around. He'd been sitting in that very same position for over two hours now. He had been chosen to be a part of the sniper team, of course. He had thought it would be fun. At least it was something where he didn't have to hide his skills. Snipers were supposed to be perfect shooters. And so he was now on a training exercise at Yakima Training Center. The place was great. It was an Army cadet's nightmare. But it was an X5's dream. The place had been 327,000 acres big and had been the Army's premiere training location back in the beginning of the century. It had had a state of the art Multipurpose Range complex, useable by heavy, wheeled and light forces. It had been one of the few places where weapons systems could be live fired at their maximum ranges. They had exercised full range Joint training here. But it was much smaller now. And in pretty bad shape.
He checked his M24 once again. The 24'' stainless-steel barrel was rifled with a special Remington- developed rifling, a 5R. The edges of the lands were slightly rounded to reduce friction. The stock was a composite of Kevlar and graphite. It had range-finding reticle and built-in compensator for bullet drop. All in all, a nice weapon, if a little old. The maximum effective range was 800meters, but Alec was confident he could reach any target he wanted at 1000 meters. Which was why it was so frustrating having to wait up here, when he had seen his target some 2500 meters away. His enhanced vision, with the addition of the Leupold-Stewens M3 Ultra telescopic sight, made for a very boring practice. What was the fun if he spotted his target hours before it could reach firing distance?
He sighed again, cursing Logan. He was tempted to start singing. Maybe he would scare some birds and they would compromise his position? He smiled, yeah, and then he'd have to find a different one. At least that would provide a nice distraction. And he sure as hell had the time to do it! Yeah, right. Like he would ever compromise his position. Not even in practice. He was too well trained for that.
He started day dreaming again. He saw Max in a short green skirt, dancing to the rhythm of a 'merengue' played by three old Dominicans. She had looked as one of them, her skin and complexion made her fit perfectly. Of course, she couldn't pass as the average local. She was too beautiful for that. She was too beautiful by any standards. He doubted she could go unnoticed anywhere. Especially since he had started feeding her.
He smiled slightly. It was his current project: Feed Max. He had started on the island, and kept finding excuses to make her eat more and more. She was naturally thin, but a few pounds wouldn't hurt her.
A small movement caught his attention. Yes! Finally. He calculated the distance, wind speed, the weapon's slight deviation to the left and pulled the trigger. He smiled as he saw the blank hit the lieutenant's helmet. 1200 meters! Not bad.
And the best part was, the exercise was over.
Reveille was at 0600. He got up and folded the sheets, military style. He changed into his green warfare camouflage and donned his ankle boots. Breakfast wasn't until 0700 hours. The instructor's motto seemed to be 'Kill them before breakfast'. Every one of the cadets hated the guy. Everyone except Alec.
He made them run twelve miles every day. Of course, they had started at seven, so the others had told him. But Sgt. Clarence had seen no reason to go easy on the new recruit, just because he had joined them a couple of weeks too late. Alec had been among the five first to reach back the barracks that first morning. He snickered as he remembered the instructor's impressed look. If he only knew! Of course, he'd been the first one, from that moment on, but he had thought it would look too suspicious on his very first day.
They made their way into the obstacle course. All right! This was supposed to be a heavy drill, so they were carrying their entire cargo. Alec had remembered to bring a magazine this time, tucked in one of the pockets of his back pack. After running the first mile through the brush, and having left his fellow soldiers out of sight, he blurred over the wet trunk across the creek, jumped easily over the obstacles, and climbed the 50feet tall wall. He sat perched atop it and after looking around to check if there was anyone around, he slid to the other side and, resting against a tree, took his mag out and started to read.
Fifteen minutes later – his internal clock told him – he got up, placed the reading material back in the rucksack and blurred around a little, then used the tree as a punch-bag. He had to look somewhat sweaty, right? He started trotting again, and he was some 2 miles away when the first soldier crossed the wall. Losers! He sympathized with Sgt. Clarence. He didn't expect them to run as fast as he, but they were getting slower!
He was thinking about going back to Seattle that very same night. There was clearly nothing wrong here. If there was any abuse, it was the cadets abusing the army!
As he reached the barracks he took a quick shower and changed his white tee-shirt for a new one – this wasn't mandatory, but he hated being filthy – and went for breakfast.
"All right, soldiers! I'm Sgt. Drake!" The black man said looking scornfully at the four squads formed before him. "You all know the rudiments of hand to hand combat. It is my job to determine how much you really know and to teach you a couple of things you might not know yet."
Alec resisted his urge to yawn.
"Who is the best fighter among you?" The man continued, stopping his pacing.
"Sir. That would be O'Neill, Sir!" The young Lt. that commanded Alec's squad said.
"O'Neill!" Sgt. Drake said.
"Sir!" Alec stepped to the front, his eyes looking straight ahead.
"Are you the best here?"
"Sir, yes, Sir!"
"So you think you are good, huh?"
"No, Sir!" And then he added, "I know I'm good, Sir!"
Sgt. Drake raised an eyebrow, but only said, "Fine, I like confidence in a soldier, let's see how accurate that is. Who volunteers to go against our fighter here?" He looked at them. "No one?"
Alec smirked cockily. After the first couple of days it had been clear to everyone else, he was way above them. And Alec had used less than a quarter of his skills and strength!
He was bored enough to consider suggesting that Sgt. Drake himself go up against him, when a voice could be heard coming from the barracks.
"I'll take him."
Every head turned to look at the slim brunette that came to stand at attention before the sergeant.
Alec groaned.
"Lisa Jones, reporting to serve in the alpha squad, Sir!"
"You are late, Soldier."
"Sir, yes, Sir! I just got here, Sir!" She said.
"Well, soldier, I like the attitude. You think you can fight O'Neill here?"
"Oh, I know I can, Sir."
The big man moved to let her step onto the mattress.
They circled each other. Max could see the wariness in his eyes. Good. It served him right.
She had arrived at the base only an hour before. It had taken Logan some time to get her papers ready. A time she had used to explain to Logan in great detail exactly what she would do to him if he ever tried to send one of them on another mission that was not directly related to her siblings, the Familiars or the transgenics in general. And even then, he better have all his facts clear. She had taken great pleasure in it. She hadn't known she felt that way about Logan's Eyes Only foolishness, but she felt a lot better now.
As she rode to Fort Lewis, however, her anger at Logan was rapidly deviated from him and slowly replaced by another recipient.
And he was standing right in front of her.
She smiled as she took a step forward.
Oh, boy, I am in big trouble!
He recognized the look in her eyes. She was furious. And he could see all that glorious ire was directed at him. He sighed and dropped into a fighting stance.
As she approached him, he tried in a very soft whisper he knew only she could hear, "Max? You might want to keep in mind we have an audience?"
"Sure." She replied, starting to circle around him. He matched her movement.
"We don't have to fight, Maxie."
Her foot connected with his leg, making him take a couple of steps back to regain his footing. "Oh, but we do, Alec, dear."
He held up his arm to block a punch from her. "This wasn't my idea, you know?"
"Oh, of course not!" She dropped to the floor, and twirled, right leg extended to kick his feet from under him. "You just went along with it."
He jumped up and landed back a couple of feet to his right, as he anticipated her left leg lashing out after the failed attempt. "You know how insistent your Logan can get."
"Oh, yeah, but did you call Max?" She jumped back to her feet and tried a right cross, "No, of course not!" her left fist followed, "I can do it alone," two more rights. "You think I can't handle a little training?"
He blocked every one of her moves. "No, Max, that's not...- Ouch!" He hadn't seen that last one coming. He scowled at her. "That hurt!"
"Not as much as it's going to." She promised, lunging herself at him, knocking him on the ground.
He twisted his body, so he was on top of her. "Max…"
"You traitorous," Her knee hit his back. "..arrogant,.." he eased some of the pressure as he tried to hold her arms away from him, "..selfish,.." she tried to use both her legs to throw him off her, but he wasn't moving. She started to pant from the effort. He was lying on top of her now, using his weight to hold her down, "..cocky,.." she was squirming under him, her voice grew thicker "..sexy,.." he looked down at her. "..gorgeous,.." he swallowed, his eyes fixed on her soft lips. He bent his head down slowly.. "bastard!"
She shouted the last word, throwing him to the side, her right fist connecting with his face. She watched his confused expression as he lifted a hand to touch his bleeding lip. He looked up at her. All traces of apology vanished from his eyes.
He stood up. "That was very cheap, Max. Very cheap."
The fight became more intense.
As he blocked her moves, she started to think maybe she had gone too far. She was aware of the fact he wasn't really fighting back, but his blocks were more precise and her arms and legs were beginning to be sore from all the hits against rock solid muscle. She watched his eyes. They were a very dark green now.
"Alec?" she tried, while she kicked her leg back towards his stomach.
"Max?" he replied, grabbing her foot and twisting it, making her lose her balance.
"I'm… I'm not angry anymore." She said, standing back up and turning to face him.
"Great, Maxie. Now we can stop." As she lunged a fist at him again, he grabbed her wrist with one hand, pulling her towards him. His other arm went around her, effectively pinning her against his body. "Is your lack of anger supposed to matter to me?" His lips were only an inch away from hers, his eyes were a hot, liquid green, his breath was hot and sexy, his smell was intoxicating…
Max felt her feet being taken from under her. Literally. One minute she had been in his arms and the next she was laying on her back and he was towering over her, smirking smugly. That arrogant, self conceited, smug, full of him..- she could have continued with her list, but her thoughts were stopped by his raised eyebrow. She felt a blush coming to her cheeks. His expression was clearly daring her to recriminate him for using the same weapon she had only minutes before. And the worst part was, he hadn't actually said or done anything. He had just let her walk herself right into the trap.
When she looked back up at him, he was holding out his hand to help her to her feet. As she stood up, wiping her hands on her pants, he stood to attention. Belatedly, she remembered where they were. Of course, he hadn't lost track for one second. Not that she had entirely forgotten. It had been there, at the back of her mind. It was the reason why she hadn't used any of her feline abilities. She turned to face Drake, heels together, arms firm at her sides, chin up, eyes front.
"Well, done, soldiers. Of course I still have a lot to teach you." The sergeant was saying. Max looked at Alec out of the corner of her eye. He was like a statue, completely immobile, his eyes blank. "You evidently haven't had enough training. You wouldn't have lasted two minutes in a real fight." He continued, turning to face the rest of the soldiers.
Max couldn't believe the guy. You come fight us! If they gave him a 30 seconds advantage, the fight would be over 30 seconds too late. She couldn't help glancing back at Alec. He was still being the perfect soldier. But as she was about to turn her eyes back to the front, without turning his head, he winked.
Max's lips started to tremble. She bit them, to prevent the laughter from leaving her mouth. She almost had it controlled when, after some other stupid comment from Drake, Alec rolled his eyes. She couldn't help it. The smile extended across her face. She saw Alec's eyes go wild, and he pressed his lips together. Oh, yeah? When she was sure he was watching, she stuck her tongue out at him. He snickered and she let out a giggle.
As the instructor turned to glare at them they couldn't help it. The both burst out laughing at the same time.
Alec was sitting on a stool. His profile was defined by the light coming from the small window behind him. He was holding his head up high, his shoulders were tense and his frown of concentration was visible even in the dim light. He sighed heavily.
"You know, I was ready to believe Logan was again exaggerating. I hate to admit it, but he was right this time. This certainly constitutes what I would call abuse!" He said, raising his right arm to wipe the sweat from his temple.
"Serves you right, for being such a moron."
"Well, excuse me, I thought I was helping your boyfriend. And saving you from having to come here!"
"He's not my boyfriend." When he just said 'Suure, Maxie. What ever you say.' she added, "Oh, this time it's for real."
"Oh yeah? What makes you think that?"
"Well, probably the fact that he's so scared of me right now, he'd hug me if I came near him, just to catch the virus again."
He raised his eyebrows. "And why would he do that?"
"Well, maybe cause he'd rather have a quick painful death, than the ones I suggested to him?"
"You threatened to kill Logan? Slowly and painfully?"
She just nodded.
"Why?"
"He was starting to annoy me." She shrugged.
After a few seconds, Alec suddenly smiled. "You attacked him for sending me on a mission! You were worried about me!"
"Shut up and pass me another one of those!" Max answered exasperated.
He sighed again and handed her the element of his torture. But the smile was still lingering on his lips.
Max caught the potato and started chopping it into perfect cubes.
Alec grabbed another one from the large brown bag and started peeling it.
"So… Soldier boy had a lot of fun?"
"Oh, yeah!" Alec answered, a little too happily.
"Aww! And I thought you were going to enjoy yourself! You know, playing little soldiers again and all…"
"So did I, Cindy, so did I." He shook his head in disappointment. "Argh! You wouldn't believe how boooooooring the whole thing was! I almost died in there." His pout was so cute that OC couldn't help herself. She leaned down to hug him.
She immediately stood back up when she realized what she'd done. "Darn, suga'! You're good!"
He flashed her a blinding smile. "I try, Cindy, I try…" and then he looked at her speculatively. "You know, somehow, Max found out where I went…" he raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Oh, yes she did." He nodded.
"I wonder how…"
"You wouldn't have told her, would you?"
"Me? I promised you I wouldn't, didn't I?"
"True. But…" He said, looking at her face intently. "…you arranged for her to find out." She looked at the ceiling innocently. He shook his head. "You are one sneaky lady, you know that?"
"I try, Alec, I try…" She said imitating his previous comment and winking at him.
Alec glanced around and, seeing Sketchy coming their way, quickly got up and kissed her on the nose, before he arrived.
She looked up at him startled. "What was that for?"
He just smiled at her, and turned to look at Sketchy that was rushing towards them.
"Alec, OC! Guess what?"
"What, Sketch?" OC asked, and then added, "And stop moving your head so much, you are dripping water all over me!"
"Sorry. But guess what?" This time, he didn't wait for the question. "Max and Logan officially broke up!" Neither Alec, nor OC were surprised by his happy voice at that statement.
Cindy, however, did smack him in the arm. "You fool! They're always breaking up!" She said, rolling her eyes.
"But this time, it's for real! She threw her beeper away and that one pic she had in her locker! AND she was smiling when she did so!" Sketchy hastily added.
OC looked at him out of narrowed eyes and then turned to look at Alec, who was looking like a kitten with a bowl full of cream.
She gaped at him openmouthed. He just nodded. So that was it! She thought.
A smile slowly broadened on Original Cindy's face. "Oh, no!" She said, her voice dripping sarcasm. "Original Cindy is sooo gonna miss'im." She shook her curls and then threw back her head as she started to laugh.
As Max arrived she saw her three friends laughing wholeheartedly. "What are we celebrating?" she asked trying to join the fun.
Alec cleared his throat and looking her straight in the eyes said: "Freedom, Max."
As she took a seat, she wondered what OC and Sketchy could possibly find so hilarious about that.
END