Dream
A/N: This is based on a dream I had. When I'm finished with all the chapters I will upload the actual dream. This story is MA all the way!
By Andy Depp Ackles
DISCLAIMER:I don't own anything to do with Dark Angel etc. (Wish I did own it though. It would not have been canceled on my watch.)
RATING: All ages-further chapters may differ.
SUMMARY: Max, Alec and all the transgenics have to move out of TC and set up camp in the forest. Max and Logan find a weird doctor who is their last hope but he has some unconventional methods. He asks Max a vital question -does her heart belong only to Logan?
Chapter1-Tense
"Max, Logan's on the line." Dix called from the higher level of command. Max walked up the steps.
"Hey stranger." Logan said looking at his screen.
"Hey." Max said swallowing a lump in her throat. "Thanks for hitting me up."
"Sure Max. What's wrong?" Logan looked worried.
"We have to leave Terminal City." Max said awaiting Logan's reaction.
"What?"
"We have to find a safer location, Logan."
"Why, what happened?" Logan asked looking concerned.
"Another mob broke in. They killed two transhumans that were patrolling the border." Max thought back to the bloody incident and shivered.
"What about the toxins?"
"They don't care. They want us dead, and they would rather breathe in toxic waste than let us live in peace." Max said angrily.
"Where are you gonna go?" Logan asked wondering what he would do if Max was gone. He tried not to show the hurt on his face. Assuming the worst he thought of her moving to another continent. 'Calm down. That's probably impossible.' Logan thought to himself. Maybe she would just be moving to another country. Logan braced himself for her answer.
"We're gonna try to find the most secluded part of the forest."
Logan was so relieved he was dizzy.
"I mean it's not as protected as TC but at least there won't be angry mobs or police around." Max said smiling at Logan. She saw the relief on his face.
"and no more toxic TC air would mean that you could become a regular visitor if you want." Max said once again smiling at Logan.
"You know I've been meaning to breathe in some clean forest air." Logan smiled back.
"It would have to be temporary though, until things have calmed down with the police and the public." Max thought about how long that would take.
"Then were would you go?" Logan looked worried again.
"Then we'd sneak back in when they weren't looking." Max said conspiratorially.
Logan laughed "Need any help with anything?"
"Actually I called to ask you to find a clear route through the sewers for us."
"Sure, no problem."
"Thanks." Max felt a new hope rise within her. Maybe everything would be alright. After everything was sorted out with TC maybe her and Logan could try the cure thing again. Suddenly Max could sense someone enter the command centre and her happy feeling was gone.
"Gotta get back to work Logan, call me later." Max tried to wrap things up with Logan as quickly as possible before-
"Hey Max." Alec called as he walked up the stairs to higher level command. "Oh, hi, Logan." Alec said with much less enthusiasm than his usual greetings. Their last fight had made things extremely tense between them. The whole of command froze and became silent. Alec and Max thought back to the fight.
"Max. Max. Maax. Hey!" Alec said waving his hand in front of Max's face.
Max swatted his hand away with more force than necessary. "What?" She said scowling at him.
"What's wrong with you?" Alec said holding his soon to be blue hand.
"Nothing." Max growled.
"Okay, well Logan said he was coming to see you today."
"Okay." Max said not focusing again. She was busy typing on commands main computer.
"Do you want to see him?" Alec asked gently leaning against the desk.
"NO! Make sure he stays out! He can't come here."
"and if he-"
"You just make sure he stays out at all costs, alright?" Max cut him off.
Alec knew that Logan wouldn't take no for an answer easily.
"Okay." Alec shrugged his shoulders. He wondered why Max was so adamant about not seeing Logan but he couldn't say that he didn't like her choice. Alec walked over to a group of transhumans and transgenics discussing the new firearm mission. They needed protection against the mobs before things got out of hand. The mission was extremely covert though. If Max knew about these missions she would figuratively kill them, or literally. Alec wasn't sure. He wondered where Mole was. He usually loved these meetings behind Max's back.
Max was aware that Alec had come to talk to her about something but she was too focused on her conversation with Mole. He was at the perimeter with a few other transgenics who were patrolling. Some stupid kid had thought it was cool to sneak into TC. He had actually made it to the sewer entrance a few times and was beginning to be a pain in Max's ass. She was trying to hack into some sewer surveillance that they had set up a week ago and it just kept bustin' on her. She would have to go down there herself and sort this out. A few minutes after Alec walked away Max told Mole she would meet him there and she took the earpiece off and walked down the stairs. As she walked towards the little group that Alec was standing in she wondered why they suddenly broke off their conversations. She was just too preoccupied to care. "Alec, I'm gonna help Mole at the border be back in 20."
Alec nodded and Max walked out of command.
20 minutes later the secret meeting was over and Alec was getting back to his office when Logan walked in talking to Dix. It was time to cover for Max. Command was extremely crowded and Logan didn't hear Alec try to call him into his office. He didn't want to tell Logan to get lost in front of everyone. Eventually Alec walked over to Logan who was still talking to Dix. He saw Alec walking towards them.
"Alec have you seen Max?"
"Actually she won't be able to see you today."
"Why not?"
"She's busy, you know, she's got too much to do right now. Everyone's busy."
Logan looked around and besides a few transhumans working to fix a piece of equipment, everyone else was talking or laughing and some transgenics were making a bet for how long they could hold their breath.
"Alec, she wanted to see me."
"She's not here." Alec was getting a little defensive.
"Where is she?" Logan raised his voice. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at the two men.
"I told you, she's busy."
"Then I'll wait."
"Look, she just doesn't want to see you." Alec had to tell him the truth.
"I don't believe you." Logan said shaking his head.
"Look, Logan, she doesn't want you here man."
Everyone in command was watching them argue, just waiting for someone to snap.
"She asked me to come Alec." Logan wasn't going to move a muscle.
"I guess she changed her mind." Alec said wondering why Max couldn't tell him to go herself.
"Why didn't she tell me herself then?" Logan asked almost reading Alec's mind.
"Like I said, she's busy."
"I know you're her so-called boyfriend Alec but you can't keep her away from me."
Alec was suddenly furious. Logan had hit too close to home. He was right. He was only the pretend boyfriend. He had no claim in this matter.
The two men stared each other down for what seemed an eternity when really it was only a second. The tension in the air was almost tangible
Everyone besides Logan could hear someone approaching command as they were silent.
Alec cussed under his breath, he was gonna be murdered when Max found out that he hadn't got rid of Logan. But Logan wasn't his job anyway.
As Max entered command she noticed that it had suddenly gotten full of people. Everyone was staring at her and it was silent. She could hear dozens of heartbeats. Two of them were skipping beats and one of them was slower than all the rest. She saw Logan. Why was his heart skipping beats? Was there something wrong with him? She had never really listened to his heart before but lately she had been fine-tuning her senses.
But whose heart was also skipping beats?
She scanned the room. She noticed that everyone seemed frozen in place and they were all looking to the centre of command which was were Logan and Alec were standing. Their stances were tense. Max wondered what the hell had been going on. Alec looked like he was about to start throwing punches.
"What are you doing?" She asked accusatorily as she walked over to Alec.
"I told him you were busy." Alec was confused.
Max grabbed his arm and pulled him into the nearest office closing the door behind them. "Oh great." She muttered as she realised it wasn't an office, it was a broom closet and it was pitch black as well. She had been in such a rush to get a little privacy from all the eyes focused on them in command that she didn't think. She suddenly turned towards him. Their faces were mere inches away from one another. Max noticed that both their hearts paced at 300 miles a minute as they jerked their heads away from each other. She ignored her heart and began to accuse him.
"What the hell was that?" She whispered and shouted at the same time.
"What?" Alec whispered back.
"I said I would be gone for 20 minutes! Not forever!"
"You told me to keep him away!"
Max thought back. Alec hadn't seen her earpiece. Right.
"I wasn't talking to you." She just whispered this time sounding only mildly irritated. "I was on the phone with Mole."
"I didn't see the phone."
"I was using the earpiece, Alec."
Alec thought about it. "Dammit." Why hadn't he been paying attention? He was probably too busy trying to get Max's attention. "Sorry Max I didn't know."
"It's okay." Max whispered. She didn't want to fight with Alec about this.
Alec was prepared for her wrath but backtracked. "What?"
"I said it's fine Alec, it wasn't your fault." Max was kinda shocked that he couldn't believe his ears. She wasn't that horrible to him all the time was she?
After that they had come out of the closet (literally not figuratively) and explained to everyone that it had all been a misunderstanding. Alec and Logan hadn't quite gotten over it though. That evening the mob attacked, killing two transhumans patrolling the border.
"Hi." Logan said with an unreadable expression on his face. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Alec was wondering if maybe he should just leave the way he came. Then Logan broke the silence. "So I'll contact you later about those maps Max."
"Okay, thanks." Max gave a reluctant smile. Logan pressed a button and the screen went blank.
Max turned to glare at Alec. He just looked innocently back at her. "What?" What had he honestly done now? Wasn't coming to say hi to his 'girlfriend' acceptable?
"I thought you and Logan sorted things out." She raised and eyebrow at him as he leaned against the desk. Alec thought about his answer. Max hadn't actually heard the fight. She didn't know that Logan had called them out on their pretend relationship. And to Alec's disgrace, everyone besides Max knew that he was desperately holding on to it. Alec had no choice now but to tell Max the truth.
"I think we should go someplace private to talk." Alec said looking around at the once again crowded command centre. Max saw what he meant and lead him into her office. As she closed the door Alec walked over and leaned against her office desk. She wandered if he had a problem remaining upright.
"So what's the problem?" She asked stopping a couple of meters away from him and crossing her arms.
"When there was that big misunderstanding yesterday…" Alec knew his neck was on the line here.
Max's eyes got suspicious. "Yeah?" She said impatiently.
"Well, he kinda knew that we weren't going out."
"How?" Max asked. She sounded more upset than angry.
"He just guessed." Alec cautiously shrugged.
Max frowned. She hadn't told him in some way had she?
Alec saw that Max's mind had turned on herself.
"It wasn't your fault Max. I mean we don't even look like we like each other…" Alec swallowed before continuing. "Let alone…love…each other." Alec said trying to hide the bitterness of his statement. He hoped Max didn't notice his hesitation and the hurt in his voice. But at the same time he just wanted to confess everything bottled up inside of him. It really was driving him crazy. He saw Max look at him with a puzzled expression and he just smirked at her before any true emotion was recognised.
"I guess you're right." Max muttered looking at the floor. "Who were we trying to fool."
Alec was about to correct her on the 'we' part but he accepted his responsibility and was guilty for actually enjoying the part after a while. It was an excuse to check up on her whenever he felt and an added excuse to be around her. He knew that now everything was out in the open he didn't have that luxury anymore. The thought made his heart…ache? He had no description for the emotion running through him recently. A sensation that was completely alien to him.
"So what are we going to do now?" Alec asked after a long moment.
"I'm going to tell Logan the truth." Max placed emphasis on the 'I' part, letting Alec know that this had nothing to do with him anymore. He couldn't take this torture. He had to get away from Max.
"Okay." He said leaving her office without another look at her.
Max sat in her office doing work for another two hours but what she was really doing was postponing her video call to Logan. How was she going to explain everything to him? She eventually decided to stop fighting her feelings for him. She wanted to find a cure and make everything go back to the way it was. So she would not give up hope. She frowned as she looked at the time. She walked out of her office and made the call. She had explained to him her reasons for using Alec as a cover. He told her that there was no need to protect him from her, that they would eventually find the cure and that they shouldn't give up. Once Max was finished with the call she walked out of command to find her usual nightly spot on the tallest building in TC. As she got to the roof she realised that she wasn't alone.
Alec had been sitting for over two hours thinking about everything. He despised the fact that he could process multiple thoughts at one time. It just made it difficult to distract himself from anything. Even if his mind was completely focused on other things he still had space to think about Max. When he could sense her approaching he knew that he shouldn't have been so stupid as to choose her regular place to sit but at the back of his mind he knew that it was just an excuse to see her again. As if he didn't see her enough! He was always working with Max. They continuously had to discuss new plans for TC. And since she had appointed him SIC, he had to be consulted on every matter. Her choice had startled him. Why she chose him as her second was truly a mystery. But it made Alec happy that she trusted him. As Max walked closer Alec turned around to look at her.
"Sorry for stealin' your spot." Alec said as she sat down next to him.
"It's okay." Max said really not minding Alec's company.
They sat there in comfortable silence for another hour before Max got up.
"Goodnight Alec." She said walking away.
Alec watched with forlorn as she disappeared.
"Goodnight Max." He whispered into the dark.
A/N: Please R&R! It's my first upload.
