"Alec, please just let it go. It's really not important, don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Max walked into her office and put the lists of requisitions that she just got off him on her desk. She turned around to look at him and saw him leaning against her doorway with his arms crossed.
"Come on, Maxie. D'you really expect me to believe that? You've been in a bad mood for like three days."
His smirk was replaced with a serious face. "You know you can talk to me right? I don't mind."
Max felt herself caving so she did the only thing she could think of. She went on the offensive.
"Oh yeah! That way you and all your buddies could have a big laugh at my expense! You really think I'm gonna be so stupid as to tell you anything!" As she spoke she walked slowly towards him. "You would only use it against me!"
She looked in his eyes and thought she saw a flicker of hurt. But then it was gone.
"Max, you've got it all wrong!" He stood up straight. "I'm just trying to help…" The door was slammed in his face. "…because I care." he whispered as he turned to leave.
Max leaned against her door for support as she felt all these emotions flow over her. She slid to the floor as they overwhelmed her and her tough public persona slipped away. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them as the first tears streamed down her face.

Two hours later….

"Max…MAX!! We know your in there. Open Up!" Mole banged on her door, quickly loosing his temper. Alec walked over to him and put his hand on the lizards arm to stop him from making such a racket.
"Hey Mole, what's going on?"
"The chick's locked herself in her office. I was supposed to see her about the ammo that I wanted to get. You know…just in case." Mole gruffed.
Alec frowned. "Don't worry 'bout it man. I'll go see what she's up to. You should probably wait 'til tomorrow." Alec patted him on the back for reassurance.
Mole walked away mumbling something about being surrounded by unstable X5s.
Alec turned back to Max's door after making sure Mole was gone. He knocked gently on the door and waited for a reply. Silence.
"Max. It's Alec, can I come in?"

Max heard Alec knock on the door and panicked. She had to get away from him. She needed to escape. But there was nowhere to run. She looked around her office, looking for somewhere to hide. She ran behind her desk and crawled underneath. She silently prayed that he would give up and leave her alone. She just couldn't be around him right now. No such luck.
"Max, I'm coming in okay?" She heard the door open and footsteps approaching her desk.
Alec was seriously worried about her. She was hiding from him and it was obvious she was upset. But she never let her emotions get the better of her. He sat down at the chair in front of her desk, knowing that she was behind there. He put up his feet and let out a loud breath of air.
"Go away!" Max's voice cracked.
At least she's talking "I would see, but I can't. There's this person I know who's obviously upset about something. And I want to help."
He waited for a response. Finally, he got one. "No help needed." her voice faltered. "There's nothing you can do….nothing" she sobbed. Alec felt his heart wrench. He wanted to do nothing but hold her until her pain went away. But he couldn't. He took his feet off the desk.
"Max, please talk to me. You can trust me."
There was nothing for a few minutes but the sound of her ragged breathing. He knew he couldn't push her too much or she wouldn't open up at all. When she finally spoke, he had to strain to hear what she was saying.
"Have you've ever been in love with someone so badly that it hurts and they have no idea?"
"It's the story of my life." he thought of how much he loved her and how he knew he'd be nothing more than an extremely annoying brother to her at the most.
"It hurts so much, Alec. Why won't the pain go away?" She started to cry again.
He could smell her tears. It was tearing him apart. "I don't know, Max." He wanted nothing more than to take her pain away.
"How d'you do it? Live without her knowing?" Her pain increased when she thought about him being in love with some girl.
"Self-preservation tactics. She can't hurt me if I don't let her in, right?"
Max finally crawled out from under desk and leaned against the wall opposite him.
"That used to work for me. I would act like such a bitch and pretend to hate him. I'd hit him every chance I got and called him names. Just to make sure he would never know. But lately I haven't been able to. I guess I just love him so much that I can't stand treating him that way anymore." She looked at the floor as she spoke.
Maybe she's talking about me…Yeah right, don't get your hopes up Alec.
He got up from the chair and went to sit beside her on the floor. He looked straight ahead and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you should just tell him how you feel." he turned to look at her and saw she was staring at him. "What?"
"Why don't you tell her?" They just stared at each other for almost a minute before he answered.
"No. She'd never like me. From the minute she met me, I've screwed up her life. I act like a total jerk, always trying to push her buttons, just to get her attention. She wishes I would simply disappear."
Max realised he was talking about her. She felt like she'd won the lottery, on her birthday. She flashed him a genuine smile that made his stomach lurch.
"She doesn't want you to disappear. I'm sure if you tell her, she'll feel the same way."
Oh my God! She is talking about me. I can't believe this is happening. "Maybe I will," he leaned closer to her.
"Go on then!"
He flashed her his trademark smirk before he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss. She returned it with as much hunger that he had. When they finally broke apart, it took them a few seconds to catch their breath.
"Max, I'm so sorry."
He's going to say that was a big mistake "For what?"
"I should have done that a long, long time ago."
"I'm sure you can make it up to me somehow…" She captured him in another kiss that she quickly broke. "Alec, I love you."
I'm must be the luckiest man alive. "Oh Max, words can't express how much I love you."
"I think life just got a whole lot better." she smiled before jumping on to him.