Well, my muse is kind of back, and to celebrate here's a fic for Akili. In my head-canon (to borrow a phrase from Julia), this takes place halfway through my season three - the season one finale is my season two finale, and Kat becomes Max's full-time partner at the beginning of season three. There's quite a few allusions to what I'm planning, although some slight spoilers for the end of season one and beginning of season two (which, to be honest, you won't know are spoilers until I've written it -rolls eyes-)
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He knew it was bad.
He knew it was really bad.
He knew that the last time this had occurred, it had necessitated a major re-shuffle of INTEC's inner organization, as well as stern reprimands from the higher-ups.
He tried to reason with himself that it was okay, they weren't in the same division, thus it couldn't be considered office fraternization.
Completely ignoring the fact that he was Max's eyes and ears whenever he was on a mission.
He'd seen how Rachel had reacted when Max was on Sabre - constantly watching the screen, concern showing through her stern mask (although it did seem that only he noticed it) whenever Max was anywhere near a dangerous situation. As soon as the mission was over, she walked out with a look of relief on her face.
She'd tried to make out that she was seeing how Jake was doing, but Berto knew she was only using that as a pretence. Berto had wondered just how Rachel could sit there and watch, but having spent more time with Max, he knew exactly why.
You don't dare to watch just in case something happens, but you cannot tear yourself away just in case something happens.
Berto knew he had to do something about the situation, but knowing was completely different to doing. He couldn't transfer - well, he could, but with the time taken up training the new ops member, it wouldn't be a quick and easy break. He couldn't hide his feelings, no matter how he tried, but he wasn't sure if he should make them known to Max. He didn't know if Max had any interest in males, and he could easily be confessing his feelings for a simple "sorry".
Berto sighed and muted the connection between him and Max. He put his elbows on the desk and held his head in his hands - no wonder Rachel had asked for a transfer rather than deal with all of this stress and uncertainty.
Berto caught the tail end of Max laughing, and glanced back up at the monitor. Max and Kat, laughing and joking about the mission they had just finished; relief that everything went well mixed with some stress relief.
"If you can't laugh at the bad, you'll never enjoy life." Max - or was it Josh - had once said. Not directly to Berto, but once, on another mission, to Rachel when she had grown frustrated at the fact that Max always came out of missions with a smile. It hadn't been one of their best missions, but the bad guys were in handcuffs, civilians were safe, and the world was no longer in danger.
Berto had tried to laugh at his situation, but he couldn't find any humor in it. He could find irony in the fact that sixty-seven percent of Max's partners had fallen for him (just what was it about him that made him so attractive); when he was partnered with Kat there was even a few bets around to see how long it would be before they became a couple, they split up, or they split up because they'd become a couple and couldn't stand seeing the other in danger.
Kat had instantly shot down that idea whenever anyone tried to ask her, and most of the bets petered off. Berto knew that there was still one bet active, although he imagined that the people who'd put money in it were growing bored with the lack of evidence.
"Heading back to base, bro."
"Roger, hermano." Berto took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose, before replacing his glasses. How long had been harboring this secret crush? Certainly not before Rachel had been transferred out, but he did wonder if there was some unconscious competition which his brain had created. With Max's relationship with Rachel, who'd take a second look at an awkward, geeky lab-rat? Hell, even Kat was a better match for Max than he was - she was strong, had a sharp tongue, was willing and more than able to kick Max's butt whenever he did something wrong or hesitated because of a bad experience. Sure, they egged each other on but Kat knew exactly when to put away the jokes and wise-cracks and getdown to business.
Kat may not like it, but Jefferson was right when he said that she and Max would really complement each other. He just hoped she remembered when it was necessary to be serious, as he really did not want to see either of them dying in front of him.
Well, okay, he wouldn't see Max dying, but the warning beeps and flashes from the console would be worse than seeing it - Max's death reduced to computer read-outs and paper information.
"ETA fifteen minutes."
Berto slipped off his headset and made a decision. He was going to go down to the hanger, he was going to wait there until Hawk arrived, and hewas going to tell Max how he felt.
Okay, he wasn't going to tell Max in front of all the agents and engineers in the hanger, and he certainly wasn't going to tell Max in front of Kat - he'd never hear the end of it if he did.
Of course, he had to think of a reason to get Max alone…and that made it sound like he was going to jump Max as soon as they had the smallest bit of privacy.
Tests! They were always running tests on Max (much to his annoyance) and it would be the perfect reason as Kat always took off whenever it occurred.
Berto closed his eyes and took a deep breath before walking out of the ops room. He didn't know the way down to the hanger as well as he did the route between the lab, the cafeteria, and the ops room, but he knew it well enough to not get lost in INTEC's corridor maze.
It did take him almost ten minutes to arrive as it was on the opposite end of the building, and as he did he heard Max requesting permission for a landing. Hardly any requests were denied, but it was good to get practise in.
A few minutes later Max had landed and both he and Kat had gotten out of the plane. Max did a double-take upon seeing Berto in the hanger and was about to shoot off a quick quip to Kat when he noticed the stern look upon the scientist's face.
"I'm in trouble," Max said as he walked towards Berto, concern etched on his face.
"How're your t-juice levels?" Berto asked once Max was within normal hearing range, not letting his nerves get the better of him. Act normal, all business until you get back to the ops room.
Max held up his left arm. "Holding out at around seventy percent. I'll be fine without a recharge."
Berto frowned, faking concern. "You seem to be burning through t-juice a lot more than usual."
"I am?"
"Come on," Berto said. "It might be best to run a few quick tests to see if anything's amiss."
Behind them, Kat pulled a face which Berto did his best to ignore. "Well, have fun with that, Steel," she said, giving Max a solid thump on the back before walking away. "Hopefully you'll do better on this one than your last college test."
"Hey, I think I did pretty good with only ten minutes' study time."
"Sure, Steel."
Berto and Max said nothing more as they walked out of the hanger and back towards the ops room. Max was acting slightly sullen, but Berto presumed it was more because of the prospect of testing followed by more, invasive, testing, than anything he had done.
Yet.
"All right, do your damage," Max said once he was seated in the ops room, Berto grabbing the cable which connected Max's systems to the computer.
"It should only be a quick diagnostic," Berto said, plugging the connector to Max's bio-link and firing up the testing program. "If anything's amiss, I should see it."
"Should. So, Berto, what's with the sudden awkwardness around me?"
Berto closed his eyes and mentally swore. "Awkwardness?" Berto asked, feigning innocence as he concentrated on the computer.
"You know, acting cold. Anything we discuss now is all business. You're never concerned with small talk, how college is coming along…and you've stopped talking about your family or the latest techno-gizmo you've invented or read up about."
"I've…been busy."
"It's been a slow month for Team Steel, Berto. If anything you should have had more time to talk, but you haven't."
"I've been having some issues. You know, personally."
"Issues that you can't talk to me about? Berto, I'm your friend; if you can talk to anyone about it, surely it's me?"
"No, I can't."
Max was taken aback. "Do we really have any secrets from each other? We've known each other, what, over two years know? You've seen in toever aspect of my life…well, hopefully not every aspect…"
"We have this secret now."
"Why? What's so damned important or personal that you can't tell me?"
Berto sighed. "Hypothetical question: what if you had a crush on someone and you had no idea whether they even remotely thought of you that way."
Max paused for a moment. "Is this about Jessica? I've seen the way you two act - she's over you as much as you're over her. If you can't tell that she's interested in you from that…you're blind. Well, blinder."
"Just because I wear glasses doesn't mean I'm blind."
"Maybe when it comes to love, yeah."
"It's not Jessica."
"Then who is it?"
"I can't tell you."
Max groaned. "Okay, if you've met someone outside of INTEC and you don't want to say, fine, but don't keep -"
"It's you."
"- trying to fob me off by saying you can't tell…huh?"
Berto winced, turning his attention back to the computer screen.
"Berto, what did you just say."
Berto didn't answer.
"Berto."
"Your tests don't show anything out of the ordinary. It will be a good idea to keep checking on your t-juice levels at regular intervals so we canmonitor if this was a one-off or your probes are losing charge."
"All right," Max relented, taking the sheet of paper Berto was offering. He watched as Berto put a copy of the paper in to a file before putting the file in one of the cabinets in the room.
"I probably need to head back to Del Oro; I promised Pete I'd hang out with him tonight," Max said, feeling a rush of guilt. "And, uh, for the record? I do like guys as well."