We Belong Together

Chapter one:

Max wound her way through the throng of people crowded on the streets of Seattle, on her way back to Jam Pony after a long day of delivering packages. She'd been in a foul mood all afternoon, since some fat old man had hit on her, tried to feel her up and then refused to tip her. So when she walked into Jam Pony, and the first person she saw was Alec, she saw a way to relieve the stress. She dumped her clipboard on Normal's desk without a word and strode over to Alec.

'Hey Max, to what to I owe this pleasure?' He asked when she tapped him on the shoulder.

'I need you to come somewhere with me, it's important.' Was all she said before she turned around and walked off again. He shrugged at Sketchy's puzzled look before he picked up his backpack and followed her out the door.

They rode for fifteen minutes, Max refusing to tell him where they were going. Finally she pulled over at the end of road, on the outskirts of the city. They were at the edge of a large property on which sat a very big, albeit rundown, house. Mansion, more like.

'Uh, Max, what are we doing here? I highly doubt you want to steal anything and I can't for the life of me think why Logan would send us here.' Alec said even as she was walking away from him.

'We're not here to steal anything, obviously, and Logan didn't send us.' She didn't bother to look back as she spoke, so Alec had no choice but to follow her into the building.

''So, what are we doing here then?' Now she did stop, and she turned to face him, and he could see what appeared to be a large, empty ballroom behind her.

'We're here to fight.' She said it so matter of factly and in a tone of voice that made him feel like a child who'd asked a stupid question, even thought he knew it had been a very reasonable one.

'Fight?'

'Yeah, as in you, me and that big old room back there.' She said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. 'Come on, I don't have all day.' And with that she turned into the room, slipping out of her denim jacket as she went. Alec followed tentatively, as he too removed his jacket. When she turned to face him, and dropped into a fight stance, he hesitated.

'Are you sure you wanna do this?' He decided to check one last time, and his answer was Max flipping around to land a kick to his stomach. He flew back and when he got up, she was smiling. Oh, it's so on now, he thought. No more Mr Nice guy, not like last time. Now he was smiling as he said 'Ok, bring it on.'

They circled each other, and then simultaneously flew towards each other. Alec landed a punch to Max's jaw, before she could block it. When she staggered slightly from the blow, he had another opportunity to kick her legs out from under her. He pinned her down, before she flipped them over, so she was now on top.

'Gee, Max, I should've known you liked to be on top.' Alec grinned up at her, apparently unperturbed by the turn of events, and if Max felt a flush of heat rush through her, she put it down to adrenaline from the fight. Her moment of thought cost her though, as Alec sent her flying off him with a kick. They stood up at the same time, and ran toward each other. For a minute they were a blur of arms as they both punched and blocked. Max's arm came out, aimed at Alec's stomach, and when he tried to block it, she snaked her arm around his and took hold of his shirt, using it to pull him closer so she could kick him. Unfortunately, she pulled to hard, and they both paused at the sound of the material ripping. They looked down at the piece of material in Max's hand, and they started laughing. But Max's laughter died down the second she looked up and saw Alec's torso.

He noticed her silence after a minute, and followed her gaze to his chest. He stood there for a minute before clearing his throat. She looked up at him, and looked confused. 'Uh…' Alec began, then trailed off, not knowing what exactly to say.

'Uh, yeah. Sorry about your shirt. But thanks for doing this with me, I really appreciate it.' Yeah I appreciate it, I appreciate seeing your gorgeous, naked chest. Wow, where did that come from? Down girl. Down girl? I only say that to myself… oh no, HEAT! Max started backing away from Alec, still holding the part of his shirt in her hand. She was almost out the door when she made the mistake of stopping for her jacket. As she bent to pick up her jacket, she accidentally brought the piece of Alec's shirt close to her face, and she was assaulted with his scent. That did it. She turned around, and noticed for the first time that Alec had come towards her. Now she was surrounded by his scent, and as she watched him, she saw his features change from confusion, to realisation, to fear and hesitation, then finally he smiled. It wasn't feral, but it wasn't quite human either. It was predatory, and Max felt her excitement course through her body in response. Her lips curved up until her smile matched his. She dropped her jacket, and the piece of material, and walked away from them, towards Alec. Somewhere in the back of her mind a little voice warned her, but then again, it was just a little voice, somewhere in the back of her mind.

Alec took a deep breath as she reached him and draped her arms around his neck. He took a moment to bury his face in her neck and simply smell, and surprisingly, she revelled in the moment. Then his lips found hers, and she found even more pleasure. Even through the haze of heat, she knew that no one had ever kissed her quite like this; no one had ever evoked so many feelings with one kiss. And his lips were still closed. Since he made no move to change that, she let her tongue snake out and seek entrance to his mouth, which he granted readily.

She was exactly what he'd thought she'd be, but more. He felt her yank on what was left of his shirt, and soon it too was on the floor. He broke the kiss, and earned a whimper from Max, which turned into a small moan when his hands started working their way up her stomach, and peeled off her top. He brought his lips down onto her throat, and she tipped her head back to give him better access. He worked his way down, and she didn't seem to notice when he undid her pants, although she did gasp when his found her breast.

A few minutes later, she could barely stand from the things he was doing to her, and he was still half dressed. He laid her down, and she wasted no time in stripping him of his pants, while he discarded her remaining clothes. Neither of them heard the rain start to fall, or the sun set. They didn't notice when at some point during the night, one of them crushed Max's pager, which had been beeping off and on all night. They only noticed each other.

'Damn Boo, where are you? Return your pages!' Original Cindy muttered to herself as she paced around her apartment. It was 10:00 in the morning, and she hadn't seen Max since yesterday afternoon, when she'd dragged Alec out of Jam Pony. And now she wasn't answering her pages. Finally, she decided to call Alec.

At first, Max thought she was imagining the ringing. She opened her eyes slowly, and took in her surroundings. It took her a minute to remember where she was, and another minute to realise what the ringing was. Looking down at Alec, she surmised he was still asleep, so she walked across the room to his jacket, and pulled out his phone. She flipped it open.

'Hello?'

'Boo? What are you doing with Pretty Boy's phone? Never mind, where are you? You haven't been answering your pages. You had me worried.' OC's voice came through the phone, and Max instantly felt guilty, for some unknown reason. She looked back over at the sleeping form that was Alec, and tried to figure out what to say to her.

'Uh, Alec and I got held up last night, and I crashed with him, it was easier. And I think I might've lost my pager.' Close enough, she decided. 'Look, I'm just gonna say goodbye to Alec, I'll be home soon, ok?' She hung up after Cindy said bye, and turned around to see Alec regarding her with cautious eyes.

'Oh, your phone was ringing, so I answered it. It was Cindy, and she was looking for me. Anyway, she was worried, so I'm gonna take off.' She collected her clothes and moved towards the door way. She stopped and turned back, and Alec thought she was going to say something, but she just shook her head before she turned and walked out. For some reason, Alec got the strange feeling that she was walking out of his life. He shook his head and then got up and started gathering his own clothes.

'Hey boo,' OC called from the kitchen when she heard the door slam shut. She came out of the kitchen to see Max heading straight for the bathroom. 'No ya don't, you sit your little ass back down here and tell me where ya been. You and Alec got hung up? You didn't really think OC was gonna buy that, did ya?' From the look on Max's face, she hadn't but she'd hoped. She sighed and turned to sit on the couch. Cindy took the space beside her, and sat patiently, waiting for Max to start.

'I had a really bad day yesterday, and I was feeling was off. This old guy hit on me, then refused to tip me, and all this other crap, so when I got back to Jam Pony, I was pissed off and looking for someone to take it out on. And, lucky me, Alec was standing right there. So I dragged him out to this old abandoned house I found one day, and I told him we were gonna fight. It was all going fine, until I accidentally ripped his shirt. And that was when I noticed how built he is, and how gorgeous he is… and when he caught me staring, it finally clicked. The reason I'd been feeling off all day was cause I was going into heat. So I turned to leave, but when I stopped to pick up my jacket, I smelt the bit of his shirt I was holding, and so I turned back, and then he was there and I think he only realised then what was going on, but it was too late and I was next to him, and god OC! I slept with Alec.' She turned to look at her friend for the first time, but instead of the sadness she'd seen there last time Max had been in heat, there was confusion. 'What am I gonna say to him when I see him at work? Is he gonna hate me?' Cindy had to resist the urge to laugh.

'Max, I highly doubt the boy's gonna hate you.' OC told her, smirking slightly.

'What? Why wouldn't he? I would. I'm not gonna be able to look him in the eye ever again. His beautiful, green eyes…' She trailed off, lost in memories, but OC's laugh shook her out of it. 'What?'

'Are you listening to yourself, boo?'

'So? It must be left over heat stuff. It only started yesterday.'

'I don't think so, boo. I mean, you didn't jump anyone on the way home, did ya? And you're not jumping out of your skin like you usually are. And you still haven't had a shower.' OC looked pointedly at Max, whose eyes widened in realisation after a moment.

'No way, OC. It was heat, nothing else. I love Logan. In fact, I'm gonna have a shower and go see him.' Cindy shook her head as Max rose and strode into the bathroom.

Alec came out of his apartment building, ready for work, but as when he got on his bike and started pedalling, he headed for Max's instead. He decided that if they were going to work together, they had to talk about what had happened. And since she'd run out of there this morning, he could only gather that she wasn't happy about what happened. Fine, but she was still going to talk to him about it.

When he reached her apartment, he knocked on the door just as Cindy opened it.

'Pretty boy? What are you doing here?' she asked.

'I need to talk to Max, and I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you know what about.' He answered, looking over her into the apartment.

'She's not here, she already left. But come in.' He shrugged, and followed her in, shutting the door behind him.

'So, you and Max, huh?'

'There is no me and Max, but yeah. Did she say anything to you this morning? We didn't really get a chance to talk, what with Max running out of there as soon as I woke up and all.'

'That's our girl. Always running. Don't know what to tell you, except that when she runs, it's usually cause she's confused or afraid about her feelings.'

'Huh, I'd think her feelings would be quite simple after this; hate Alec and blame him for everything. It's worked for everything else, right?' OC smacked his head when he said this, and he glared at her. 'What? I think that was a fair comment.' Cindy seemed to consider it for a minute, and then nodded her consent.

'Fine, I'll give you that. But this time, she was actually scared that you were gonna hate her and blame her.' She smiled at the look on his face, it was priceless.

'What? Why would I hate her? And I know it's not her fault. I swear, trying to figure out how her mind works would take fifty scientist a hundred years!'

'I know, boo, but that's why you love her, right?'

'Yeah… I mean, you know, as a…'

'Don't worry boo. She loves ya too; she's just harder to crack then you.'

'Somehow, I find it hard to believe Max loves me.'

'She does, and she'll realise it. Sooner, rather than later, if I have anything to do with it.' OC smiled, and then pulled him in for a hug. 'Now come on, if I don't get my but to work Normal's gonna go ballistic.'