"You can't do that, Alec! You can't go to some club or other out there all the time and party with the old gang like that! One day you won't be so lucky and those freakin' trannie-haters'll kick your ass big time! - Don't count on me to help you then!" Max shouted at Alec with as much venom as she could muster.

Which was a lot. She wasn't having this any longer, Alec stealing away like that every other weekend to one of his little stints in town. Although he knew what the people out there were capable of; although he knew they didn't camp here, in Terminal City, because it was such a nice and fun place to hang around…

He shook his head, then stared at her, the expression on his face unreadable. "Come on, Max, you know how much I hate being stuck in TC, you know I'm only staying on because of you, and still you give me crap about wanting out of it every once in a while? Seriously, Maxie. I'm sorry if it worries you, if I worry you, but why don't you just come with me some time. You'll see, it'll do you good, too."

Although his words gave her a pang and made her falter, she couldn't stop herself from hissing out: "You know what? As long as you don't stop leaving TC for the sole purpose of drinking some beer and hanging with the guys, I think I'll pass on the invite. Oh, and also: I think you should stay at your own apartment for a while, I'm tired of waiting here, worrying about you," she spat, throwing his duffel bag at him.

"Max," he said, coming closer, but she shoved him away. She knew she was probably overreacting. But didn't he realize how worried she was about him? Did he not see that?

"No, Alec. Leave. Then I won't have to be so worried, 'cause I won't even notice when you sneake out on me again."

She didn't know what she had expected him to do or say. But she had definitely not expected him to agree with her, which is what he did.

"Maybe you're right, Max," he muttered, grabbing his jacket that had lain on the table in their living room, before he turned his back on her. He didn't look at her, not even when he reached the door. He did pause there, briefly, as if hoping she'd ask him to stay. She was too proud, though.

Pride had never been a good thing. Unfortunately, they both had a lot of it…

"Crap," Alec hissed out between clenched teeth. This was not good. He didn't understand why the shaking hadn't stopped, yet. He had taken the tryptophan right away when his body had shown the first signs of a bout of the shakes. He had taken all necessary precautions. He had even thought of telling the Big Fella he wanted to be alone for a couple of days after the frigging fight he and Max had had. "To figure some things out," as he had put it, just to make sure Josh wouldn't barge into his room all worried about him brooding too much and finding him writhing on the floor in pain.

The Big Fella had once witnessed Max seizing when she had lost her pills and Alec had had to go on a scavenging hunt to restock their supplies. He had left Josh to watch over her, for wont of a better alternative. When he had come back, the poor guy had been so devastated, so shocked, and scared that Alec had sworn to himself he would never let Josh see anyone suffer from seizures again. Ever.

Geez, his head hurt like hell. Was it always like that? The shaking wasn't even so bad this time; still, he felt like crap. More so, maybe, because he was so frigging cold all the time, and it was so hard to get up and do anything. He barely managed to walk to the bathroom every once in a while.

He wished Max was there. She would know what to do. He could allow her to help; if no one else…

He didn't have any pills left, nor milk. Both hadn't helped anyways. In fact, the milk had actually made him feel worse, like his throat was coated with glue.

Alec wondered why Max never came to knock on his door. Then again, he was quite certain that she expected him to make the first move. She was probably really pissed by now because it took him so long.

Well, too bad, he thought. He really didn't feel like going anywhere at the moment. He was so terribly tired, but his body just wouldn't let him sleep through an entire night – or even a day. Everything hurt like a bitch, every frigging part of his body.

So much for the great genes he was supposed to have. Screw those!

Max was finally ready to give in.

As usual she was wide awake during the night and was just in the middle of cleaning the whole apartment, when she made the decision. Alec would probably think she was weak, and that he was the strong one, the one to forgive her, instead of the other way around. He would think that she actually thought she had been wrong – which was not the case, but she'd figure that bitch out later. Right now she only wanted Alec back; back with her. She hadn't even seen him around lately, though the Big Fella had assured her that Alec only needed some time to himself.

She would go to his apartment tomorrow, anyway, and knock some sense into that big stubborn head of his. She'd make him come back with her.

Max wiped a strand of hair out of her face before returning to the task at hand: cleaning the bathroom floor. If the guys at Command could see her now, playing the dutiful housewife in the middle of the night...

When she was finally applying the finishing touches to the newly cleaned bathroom, she suddenly heard a light knock on the door. She frowned. Who could that be, in the middle of the night?

Wiping some sweat off of her face, unaware of the smudges of cleansing agent she had managed to spread all over her clothes, she hurried to see whoever it was that had urgent enough business to call on her that late.

She wasn't quite prepared for what she saw when she opened the door, though: Alec, leaning against the doorframe, only inches away from her.

No, not at all prepared. Her heartbeat accelerated dangerously at the sight…

"Cute, is this your new style?" he mumbled, his voice sounding thick and throaty. "Coz I think I'd like to see you wear nothing else but those smudges..." He smirked and stretched his hand out to touch one of them that was apparently lodged somewhere on her right temple.

Max's frown deepened as she stared at him. He didn't look too great. In fact, he looked rather off. Forgetting to bitch about the late hour, or why it had taken him so long to come to her and apologize, not even noticing that he hadn't actually apologized for anything yet, she took a step closer to him, and hissed out in shock. The heat emanating from his body felt scalding and really really wrong.

She tilted her head a little to look up into his face as she asked, "How are you, Alec?" the words sounding ridiculous to her own ears, but she really needed to hear him say the magic words…

He sighed, then inhaled a pained and labored breath, before scrunching up his face, and whispering, "Not so good, Maxie…"

Right then, her heart broke a little. She didn't let it show, though, simply slid underneath his arm and dragged him inside with her. She was shocked at how much weight he put on her tiny frame, shocked that he didn't even try to play it down by joking. Gently, she guided him to the couch, which was simply closer than the bed, and saw him slump down on it almost instantly. Seemingly, the short walk from his apartment to hers had exhausted him beyond his current strength.

"Baby," she said, aware of the glare he gave her at the endearing form of address, and glad about it, too. She forced him into a lying position, which was easy because he was too weak to fight her much. She felt the violent shivers running through his body. Max bit the inside of her cheek in grave concern.

"For how long has this been going on, Alec?" she inquired, forcing her voice to sound authoritative and not scared like she actually felt.

"Don't know, Maxie," he mumbled, hardly intelligible and she had to bend her head down until she nearly touched his in order to understand everything he was saying. "I'm sorry, I just – didn't know what – to – do anymore… I can't – it's not the shakes, the tryptophan didn't do anything for me."

"It's okay, babe, just you rest now, okay? We'll figure out what's going on, alright? I'll just go and get my pills, anyw-"

She felt him grab her wrist with his too warm hand. She could have shaken it off with just one little movement of her arm, his touch was so light… "Please, Alec…"

"'s really not that. Emptied like, my whole stock of tryptophan; 's not the shakes, I… geez, it hurts. My head, my throat. Can't even speak, it's like I had – fr-iggin' razorblades for breakfast…" He grinned weakly, "Don't remember when that was, though. Breakfast; haven't really eaten much 'sides those pills…" he trailed off.

"Alec."

"I just wish I could sleep. Maybe my body's producing some shark-DNA or something. Huh, wouldn't that be weird? Sorry, Maxie, don't wanna – bother you. I just…"

"It's okay, Alec, it's okay. I'll go get help, you hear me? It's gonna be alright," she choked out, cursing silently when she remembered that her cell phone was still lying on the counter in the kitchen, so far away. She couldn't really leave him alone, he was drifting off.

"Stay with me, baby, open your eyes, you gotta stay awake…" she said, though maybe she should let him sleep, he had so desperately wanted to do just that. But she couldn't. What they had drilled into her back at Manticore was that you never let the wounded drift off into unconsciousness. So she tried to keep him awake by making him talk.

"You're so – beautiful when you frown, Maxie. So glad you didn't throw me out again…"

Let him talk. Talking was good.

"Alec, I'd never…"

"Yeah… thanks anyways; sorry if I was being a jerk, if I worried you."

"Worried? Past tense? You always do, Alec. Every frigging day!" she huffed out in mock annoyance and swept his hair off of his damp forehead. His skin was scorching hers. Definitely not the shakes.

"I'll be better, okay?" He suppressed a pained moan, but of course she heard it nonetheless, her own head already hurting from frowning for so long. She should probably just leave him for one short moment, grab the stupid cell and call for help. But whom could she call at this hour? Their own "doctors" wouldn't know what to do, they could set bones, fix some sutures, but this? This was nothing she had ever seen happen to any other transgenic.

"Couldn' figure this out myself" Alec continued mumbling, looking at her out of wide feverish eyes. "Don't tell anyone, Maxie, but I got scared. So glad you're here…" Eventually he started to talk too incoherently for her to be able to follow his words, and stopped reacting to anything she said or did, his limp arm sliding off of her wrist of its own accord.

Max clenched her teeth and jumped up to go and get her cell phone, never leaving Alec's shivering form out of her sight, taking in any uneasy movement before returning to his side and laying one hand on his heaving chest in a soothing gesture.

Max? What's up? She heard Logan breathe into the phone, his voice sleepy at first, then stunningly quickly very alert.

"I'm sorry, Logan, I didn't know who else to call. It's Alec, something's wrong."

With Alec? – What's wrong with him, Max?

"I don't know, Logan, he just – he's shivering like hell, and he's so – his temperature is way too high, even for a transgenic. He's burning up."

But it's not those seizures you guys sometimes suffer from? Logan interrupted her, his usual reassuringly analytical tone resonating in her ear.

"No," she replied, "I mean, I don't know, but he said he took his tryptophan and it didn't help – crap, he's totally out of it, Logan –"

Max. Max! Focus. You can do this, you are a trained soldier, you hear me? So focus and report.

She snapped out of her shock then, and wordlessly thanked whichever gods there might be for a friend like Logan. Talking to him made her finally feel a little calmer. She didn't know why she had been so paralyzed by fear only a second ago. She'd been through worse things in her life. (Hadn't she?)

"He said the tryptophan didn't help. I'm not sure for how long this has been going on, but I'm positive that it's been more than a couple days." The way she knew Alec, this had probably started the very first day of their self-imposed separation almost a week ago. Oh damn, you stupid idiot, she mouthed to Alec's sleeping form and stroked the side of his burning face, smiling a small and fearful smile.

Alright. So he has been in this state for a couple of days. He's got a high temperature, he is shivering, he is unresponsive at the moment. Anything else, Max? Has he complained of pain, for example?

"Said everything hurts, but mostly his head, and – I don't know, even speaking does, and he can't sleep alright. Logan, I'm really at a loss here, I'd take him to our docs, but I honestly don't think they'd know what to do about this."

Don't worry, Max, I think I know what it is. I'll send Doc Carr out to you guys. He's not on shift tonight, but I'll call him at home and tell him to go check up on Alec, alright? Just make sure your guards'll let him in, okay? – And don't worry, Alec's gonna be alright again soon.

Wait. Did Logan really sound like he was smiling?

"Logan… You sure about this?"

Pretty much, yeah. Don't worry, Max.

"You really think he'll be okay again soon? Coz, you know, I can't make him wake up and-"

Logan chuckled good-naturedly. Oh well, he still loved that girl, even if he gradually managed to let that love metamorphose into something else. With each day that passed it got a little easier to let her go.

Max and Alec, those two were priceless. When it came down to life itself, far away from all the Manticore past and trannie-hating public of the present, when it came down to simple everyday life, they were so innocent and unsuspecting of an altogether different kind of enemy.

Of course they knew how weak and fragile "ordinaries" like him were, but they had never applied the term weakness to themselves. Probably hadn't even thought possible what had apparently happened.

He smiled, and shushed Max, wishing he could hug her now, give her more comfort than just words.

"What?!" Max huffed out, indignantly. How dare Logan start laughing!

Max. Believe me, it'll be fine. Let the poor guy sleep. Transgenic or not, I think he's suffering from the flu. In itself that IS serious, but with his good genes and everything I'm sure it won't kill him.

"The flu?" Max checked back, scrunching up her face in a mixture of disbelief, concern, and relief.

Yup, exactly. I'll let Sam know, okay? - What you CAN do is try and cool down his temperature. You'll know how to, I'm sure.

She loved Logan. He was the greatest friend. "Thank you, Logan," she whispered, bending her head down to kiss Alec's forehead. A soft moan escaped him, but he didn't wake up. He still didn't look exactly peaceful, or at rest, or even out of pain, but at least now she knew he'd be okay again soon.

"The flu…"

Kinda like a very bad cold, Maxie…