A/n- I know that I REALLY REALLY shouldn't be starting another story…especially when I have 4 other stories to finish but…this idea popped up in my head and I couldn't resist.

Summary: Post Season 1. Starts off in the episode Designate This. The episode takes a different turn and Max and Alec get stuck together...Literally. Often. R&R please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, wish I did, but I don't.

Max could have screamed with frustration but decided not to, knowing that it would blow her cover. She had spent 2 months in Psy-Ops while they tried to 'reprogram' her. The past month wasn't much better. She had gotten out of Psy-Ops only to be thrust back into training, now believed to be 'Manticore' material again. Hmph. As if she would ever go back to that again! But for all intensive purposes she was Manticore again, well for now.

She had absolutely no intentions to stay here. She trained harder than most X5's, and made it appear that she was just trying to catch up, which was partly true. Know your friends well; know your enemies like the back of your hand. She needed to know what her enemies knew to even stand a chance against the new updated versions in the X series. She caught on fast and found herself slipping, however unintentionally, back into the life of X5-452, Manticore's prodigy soldier.

She came up with a defense system against turning back into a soldier. She focused on her memories of her life outside Manticore and locked them in a solid steel vault that could only be entered if you had the pass code. She unlocked the vault at the end of every day to remind her of who she was and then she locked them up again just as quickly. Despite fooling Renfro when she had spent those 2 months in Psy-Ops the head scientist of Psy-Ops, Doctor Flag, insisted that she be brought in at the end of each week to make sure that she wasn't remembering anything she wasn't supposed to.

Things had been going well lately and Doc. Flag had deemed her a soldier again, saying that any more trips to Psy-Ops were unnecessary. She had even been put in a unit as SIC. Her CO was an asshole but she and the others got along well enough, almost a little too well. She had unwillingly started making attachments to her unit members. They were a rather small, odd unit; all different ages and personalities.

The youngest member was X8-354 and she was about six. She had biggest cornflower blue eyes and blond ringlets that made a halo around her head. What made Max laugh the most was how indignant she was about her age. She always insisted that she could do everything the others could, regardless of her size or age.

The next unit member was X6-583 who was about as quiet as they come. He was handsome and already 5 feet 9 inches despite only being 13 years old. He didn't talk much but he did smile occasionally and was usually the first one to go hostile if someone was getting picked on.

If there was ever an X5 who didn't like Max it was X5-929. She felt the Max was a traitor and should be in Psy-Ops because she believed that Max was trying to escape, not that she was far from the truth but Max couldn't afford to let her believe that. She had dark brown eyes with fire red hair that made her look like any typical 16 year old American teenager of Irish descent. She would have been perfect for undercover espionage if it weren't for the fact that the girl was never happy. She never even tried to act happy and that was the problem. She looked like all she knew how to do was scowl.

The last member, and CO, was X5-423. He was tall, well built, and a complete and utter jackass. Everyone in the unit, even 929, hated him and would have preferred Max as CO. His eyes and voice were as cold as ice, always. He never showed any emotion; not remorse when he had lost one of his unit members, not regret when one of his members was punished because of his mistake, nothing. He was completely…hollow. Max sometimes wondered what made him this way but could never bring her self to ask. As outgoing and brave as she was there was something about him that frightened her, something dark and mysterious that made Max sure she didn't want to know.

Today had been boring and pointless, thus far. She had done her drills, sparred with her CO, kicked her CO's ass and went to meet with Renfro. The office was wide and spacious and Max couldn't help but notice Renfro's lack of taste.

Renfro approached her with a smirk on her face. "State your designation."

Max had been through this several times and had no trouble responding quickly and without thought. "X5-452, MA'M." Renfro looked at her for a moment and sighed, a smirk still evident on her face.

"You don't fool me, I know your just playing along. Come on, I want to show you something." She looked at Max once more and crossed the room.

A door opened to an observatory and Max choked on what she saw, though she gave no signs.

"Your brother Zack has been so useful to us. His liver and kidneys went to an X5 wounded on a mission and his heart, as you know, went to you. I wanted to give you a chance to say good-bye, he's being moved to another facility; we have some very interesting plans for him. One thing that is for certain, though, is that you are the reason he is there. Don't you see, 452? You're poison. You destroy everyone that you love; Zack, Ben, Tinga, and him…Eyes Only. Now, I know that you've had some kind of relationship with him and I know that you're hanging on to the idea that you're going to see him again. But that's not going to happen; he thinks you're dead which is why he's causing so much trouble for us. So we're going to find him,"

Max cut her off and said "You'll never find him."

Renfro continued "And we're going to kill him. You'll have nothing left and then, 452, you will be mine. Dismissed." Max walked out of the room, feeling devoid of emotions. She lay on her cot and became even more determined to leave, she need to warn him.

"Light's out. Light's out, 452."

Once the guard passed she worked hard to chisel the block underneath her cot. It wasn't long before she heard foot-steps coming and she quickly put the block back before they passed her cell. Yanking the cot back into place she lay down and quickly closed her eyes. She heard her cell door open and heavy foot steps approach her cot. Though the cell door had obviously closed she could tell that who ever had come in was still there. She kept her breathing steady and shifted a little in hopes that the creep would get the hint that she was asleep.

Despite all her years in training at Manticore and the 10 years on the outside that gave her street skills nothing could have prepared her for what happened next. She identified that who ever was in her cell was male and roughly about 185 pounds. Nothing, she deemed, she couldn't handle if things got rough. And they were about to get rough alright, just not quite in the way that she thought.

If she was surprised when the stranger sat on the edge of her cot she was even more surprised when she felt a strong mouth on hers. Her eyes shooting open she shoved her unwelcome visitor off her cot and sat up. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" The man, whoever he was, stood with a smirk and said "I knew you were awake." Max hadn't looked at him till this point and when she did her heart stopped for a couple of seconds.

She was looking at Ben. She shook herself out of it by reminding herself the Ben was dead and even if he wasn't he certainly wouldn't have come into her cell and kissed her!

"Who are you?" Despite her anger towards him she couldn't help but feel just a little curiosity. He looked at her and said "My designation is X5-494. You look like you've seen a ghost."

She sighed and murmured "Twinned… I knew your twin. His designation was X5-493." He frowned and said "Where is he now?"

Max felt her heart drop. "He's dead."

Looking down he said softly "I'm sorry. But what can I say? The dude went psycho! You know I had to spend 6 months in Psy-Ops too; they wanted to make sure it was genetic."

He continued "Well, we'd better get this over with."

Max stood and faced him, confused. He took his shirt off and threw it on her cot.

"What are you doing?" Max asked him, backing off a little bit.

He said "Well I guess you weren't warned. I'm your breeding partner. You and I are supposed to copulate every night until you get pregnant. Hurry up, princess, I don't have all night."

He moved toward her and she kicked him into the door.

"What the fuck was that?"

Smirking at him she said "The only kind of physical contact you and I are going to have."

He looked at her and stepped closer. "Oh, really?" He had her backed up against a wall now. He kissed her and Max knew she had to stop him. Trouble was, she didn't know if she wanted to…

The kiss seemed to last forever and Max, suddenly having an out of body experience, wrapped her arms around his neck. They parted after what seemed like hours, out of breath. Max felt a wave of confusion over her mind. There was no way that she just did that… no chance. She tried to push him away but found that she couldn't. Her strength seemed to have just deserted her. He pushed her back against the wall and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He leaned his face closer and Max found that she was having trouble breathing. He murmured in her ear "Tell me you don't want me, and I'll leave." Max opened her mouth but no sound came out. She tried again and found her voice, though stuttering. "I-I don't want you."

He smirked at her and said "Then I'll leave. But I'll be back tomorrow to complete the mission, 452."

As he turned to leave Max found her voice. "My name's Max. You should have a name too."

He rolled his eyes and said "I've already told you that my designation is 494."

She ignored him and said "I think I'm going to call you Alec; as in smart aleck."

He contemplated it and said "I could live with that."

She looked at him with a smirk, her confidence returning. "Good; 'Cause my second choice was Dick."

He laughed at her and moved closer again, his eyes filled with lust. He kissed her again and left the cell with a parting smirk. "See you around, Max." She stood there for several moment before finally murmuring under her breath. "I am so screwed." Luckily for Max, however, X5-494 had a separate mission to accomplish so he did not, in fact, visit her the next night and Max found her self relaxing a little bit more knowing that he wasn't there. She was also surprised when she realized that she was also, just maybe, a little disappointed.

A week passed and she had officially caught up in her classes, she hadn't seen hide or hair of Alec or Renfro in over a week, and she was almost ready to escape. She had met Joshua, a canine transgenic, a few days before and had almost finished sawing through the bars on the cell. She had been in a sparring session when she was called in to see Renfro. She sighed, knowing that good things tended to not last as long as you want them to. She stood at attention in front of Renfro and took notice of the smirk on her face, noting that it was just a little more smug than usual. "State your designation."

"X5-452, MA'M." Max replied without missing a beat.

Renfro shook her head at Max and said "I apologize for not letting you and 494 get… better acquainted but I had a very important job for him to do. Isn't that right, 494?"

She saw Alec step out of the shadows. "Yes, Madame X."

Max barely stopped her self from snorting at the new name Renfro had given her self.

Renfro smiled at her and said "I've made good on my word, 452. I promised you that I would find Eyes Only, your boyfriend, and kill him. Well, I kept it and another X5, 831, helped me accomplish it."

Max's breath caught and she forced her Manticore mask to stay in place.

"I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about, Madame X."

Renfro sighed and said "Always making thing's hard, Max… It's a wonder you don't turn people to stone. Well let's see here. Eyes Only, also known as Logan Cale. 25 years of age, glasses, dark brown hair with blond highlights, blue eyes, and enough computer equipment in his condo that it could have been a lab database. If that's not enough proof for you I also have pictures."

Renfro handed her a wad of pictures that were taken at different angles as if the photographer had been trying to decide how to better portray Logan's snapped neck.

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she threw the wad at Renfro's feet. "You sick bitch!" Her voice came out choked and tears pricked her eyes, no longer caring if they saw her weakness. She spun on her heel and exited the room. Marching her way back to her cell Max couldn't stop the tears, as hard as she tried.

She was still sobbing into her pillow when Alec entered the room. He looked at her before going into a slight shock. "Max, Max are you ok?" The tears came harder and Max shook her head 'no'.

Alec sat on next to her and pulled her into his arms. "It's ok, Max. It'll be ok."

She stopped crying and started panicking. "I have to get out of here… I can't stay here anymore." Alec stood and tried to calm her down.

"Max, I hate to break it to you but their not gonna let you just walk out of here."

She pushed him aside and pinned up her cot. Getting down on her hands and knees she pulled the bricks out and started to crawl through the small space.

Alec frowned at the hole and murmured "What the hell…? How long have you been at this, Max?" Getting no reply he realized that she had already gone through the hole. "Ah, hell… The things I do for this girl…" He muttered darkly before pulling himself through the hole. He dusted himself off and realized he was in a basement. He followed her scent trail and found her hacking away at the bars. He heard a growl come from behind him and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Acting like he wasn't too disturbed he said "Down boy."

"He can speak, you know. He's not retarded." Max said without looking at him.

Alec coughed and said "Yeah… Max, why do you want to get out of here so bad? I mean there's plenty to eat, a roof over your head; which is a lot better then most people have out there. And it's not like you have a boyfriend to go back to now." He winced at his harsh words but said nothing more.

She shook her head and replied "I spent half my life out there… I can't imagine not living there any more. Look, I want out of here and I can't do it alone. Will you help me?"

Alec held up his hands and said "Woah, Max, uh I'm not looking for trouble, which is exactly what your getting yourself into, not to mention the fact that you haven't even told me what I get out of the deal."

Max resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the selfish ass that was talking behind her.

"Look, Alec, you talk to me, right? You're my breeding partner. You've helped me catch up in the classes despite the attitudes of the others. Just by doing those things, and acknowledging that I exist, you've got trouble. Besides, I get out of here and you get a new breeding partner. Are you in, or do I have to K.O. your smart alecky ass?" She waved a file in front of his face for emphasis and he sighed before taking the file and saying "Move over."

A/n- This is just the beginning people so try not to judge me too harshly. Let me know what you think!