Title: Wanderers

Rating: M

Summary: When someone gets hurt because of her, Max realizes the only way to protect those that she loves is to leave Seattle. But this may just make things worse for those she cares about. (Sorry, I really suck at summaries.)

Spoilers: Both seasons

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"Don't you see, 452?

You're poison.

You destroy everyone that you love."

Max wiped away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks as she realized how true those words actually were.

It was all her fault. They had been standing outside Crash when they first heard the hushed footsteps coming toward them. Their superior transgenic hearing was the only reason why they were even partially ready for the gunfire that showered down on them only a few seconds later. He had pushed her into the alley, throwing his own body over hers for protection. Taking the bullets that were meant for her.

There was blood everywhere, but she did not allow herself to think about how severely he had been hurt. All she knew was that she needed to get him back to T.C. Their attackers were blocking her path back to her bike, though she realized that her Ninja would have been useless anyway. There was no way she would have been able to navigate and hold onto his unconscious body at the same time.

So she dragged him to the nearest car she could find, using the gun from his waistband to fire back at her attackers. Considering that she had not fired a gun in years, at least not willingly, her aim was pretty on target. She guessed that it was a skill that just never went away, kind of like riding a bike.

She sped all the way back to T.C., blowing through two sector checkpoints. Max did not stop until she was parked outside the med building that they had only completed a couple months before. The night guards had instantly blurred over, ready to fire at the intruders who had just driven through the gate that protected the south side of the transgenic community. But when they saw it was her, and saw why she was so frantic, they yelled out for the doctor on duty.

That medically trained transgenic, who had been unlucky enough to be the only one who was assigned the night shift, was Wren, a female who had named herself after a bird she had seen when Manticore sent her on assignment to South America. When Wren saw him, she immediately went into professional mode and called for the others to help her bring him inside.

Wren discovered that he had two bullets in his chest, one in his leg, and there was a wound where a bullet nicked him on the side of his head. He had coded three times on the operating table before they were even able to remove all the bullets and repair the internal damage.

It had taken four transfusions just to ensure that he would survive through the night. Max stared at his prone form, at the ventilator that was the only thing that was keeping him breathing. Even transgenic healing was hindered by three bullets.

It was White's men who had attacked them. That much she knew for sure. They had been coming for her again. Just like they had at Jam Pony. And just like they would until they finally captured her. Until they killed her because of the freaky DNA and runes that condemned her.

How many people were going to be hurt because of her?

How many people that she loved were going to die because of her?

When she had first left Manticore, it had been so much easier. The only people that she cared about were her siblings, but they were separated and she had no idea where they were. Max never let herself get really close to anyone else, so what happened to them never mattered to her. All she had to care about was her own well being and what she had to do in order to get by.

Bu then she came to Seattle. When she came here, she knew she was home the moment she stepped out onto the Space Needle. But, as time went by, she had let herself get too comfortable. She had let too many people in. There had been her friends at Jam Pony, O.C., Kendra, Sketch, and then Logan.

She should have learned her lesson when she infected him with the virus, but she was blinded by the pain of having to be separated from the man she loved. Then there was the attack on Jam Pony, and all of sudden she had all this responsibility. Max had to lead all the transgenics that she had set free from Manticore. All these people who, though they deserved freedom like anyone else, were totally unprepared to just be shoved out into this new world that was not ready to accept them either. She was not only responsible for them, but she cared about them.

And then there was Alec…

Max could not think of any words that would correctly define their relationship. Depending on the day, they could be friends or enemies. He pissed her off to no end and had this unbelievable habit of putting himself in danger that would eventually somehow inconvenience her. But he also, despite what she initially thought, was incredibly reliable and would help her with anything she asked. Sometimes acquiring his help did require a little bargaining, but she soon realized that he would usually do it for a lot less then he originally led her to believe.

With T.C., though, they had a common cause that they were both passionate about. They both wanted to help their own kind and this caused them to become much closer. This did not mean that they stopped fighting though. It just meant that they stopped fighting over trivial things and started arguing more over the welfare of Terminal City. He still called her a bitch and she still slapped him when she thought he was being an idiot, which was most of the time

But things were different now, though she had barely noticed at first. One day, a couple months ago, they had been arguing in her office after a meeting. She could not remember what it was about, but it had quickly gotten heated. Reaching the limit of her patience, she had raised her fist and swung it at his face. He had seen it coming though. Grabbing her arm as it came within inches of his nose, he threw her against the wall. In an instant, he was on her. His lips crashing onto hers in a searing kiss.

At first she had stiffened, her highly intelligent mind moving too slow to actually comprehending what was happening. Then, when her brain had caught up to the moment and she was about to push him off, his hands released their iron grips on her forearms and slid down to her hips. After such a long time, the feeling of someone touching her so intimately had caused her quickly mounting anger to just melt away. She leaned into the kiss and pulled his warm body closer to her own.

It was not the most romantic night she had ever had spent with a man. Not that any of her heat induced frenzies had been all candles and roses, but screwing under the desk in her office among fallen papers and pens was not exactly ideal. Though, it was mind blowing sex and she was left more satisfied than she had ever been with any ordinary.

When they were done, he pulled away, shame written plainly across his face. They dressed in silence and he quietly slipped out the door. She had gone back to her own apartment, showering for a half hour to try and remove his scent from her skin. The whole time all she could think of was Alec. Or, more specifically, she thought about why exactly she was so upset that he had just left. This was not her first one night stand. That was the protocol, especially if a person wanted to avoid complications or entanglements. And it was already complicated enough without the post-sex small talk. Maybe she was just so hung up on this because it was Alec, her friend. The one she had to see every day. The one she depended on a lot more than she liked to admit, even to herself.

The next day, Logan walked into Terminal City's headquarters and she smiled at him, despite the lack of fluttering in her stomach that he used to invoke. When his latex covered hand slid across the table to cover her own, she had to force herself not to flinch away.

She and Logan both knew that they were growing apart. It was inevitable, with the still uncured virus standing between them like a fatal barrier. They still searched for the cure, but it was only when they could since most of their time was divided between keeping T.C. afloat and fulfilling Eyes Only missions. It had been eight months since the flag rose in T.C. and Max was losing hope. She could tell Logan was too.

Alec had barely spoken to her in weeks after that night in her office. When she had seen him at Crash, she waited until he was leaving and then followed him out. She told him that she needed to talk. Max was not sure what she was going to say to him because she was not exactly sure what she wanted from him. Her shifting feelings for him confused her, but more than anything, she knew that she did not want to lose him. But before she could explain this to him, they were attacked.

As she gazed down at his still body on the hospital bed, she wondered what he would have said. Hell, she wondered what she would have said. But it was too late now. So many of the people she loved had been hurt or killed because of her, Max would not let Alec be the next.

The moment Wren told her that he would be fine in a couple weeks was the moment that Max realized that she had to get away. Before she poisoned him too. Before she finally did get him killed.

Bending over the bed, Max quickly kissed him one last time. She was glad he was not awake yet. Not only because he probably would have tried to stop her, but also because while he was unconscious she could quickly dismiss that action and not evaluate its meaning.

She placed the letter she had written on the table beside him. It told him that she needed to leave. That White will probably follow her and so he will finally leave everyone at T.C. alone. She asked him to tell Joshua and O.C. that she loved them. She told him to take care of everyone at T.C.

Alec had changed in the time she had known him. He was meant to be a leader. Their leader.

She told him to make sure that no one would come after her. Max debated with herself about what to write next. She felt like she should say something else to him, but she did not know what. A goodbye letter did not seem like the place to start writing about her conflicting feelings for him. She decided to just sign her name and end it there. Saying nothing would probably be better for both of them in the long run.

Looking down at him one last time, Max quickly spun on her heel and walked out of the room before she lost her nerve. She brushed away the last of the tears that were clouding her vision and then walked out into the cold night air.

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A/N: This is my first Dark Angel fanfic, so I'm not sure I correctly captured the characters. I've read a lot of Dark Angel stories so I know this sounds like almost half the stories that are already out there, but I'm hoping the story will get more original as it goes along. The next chapter is in Alec's POV

A/N2: I'm probably going to change the title eventually. I couldn't think of one so I just named it after the song I was listening to at the time. It at least has some relevance to the plot so I guess I'm just glad I wasn't listening to something like "Boom Boom Pow".

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