Title : Kiss

Author : Melissa (a.k.a. CherryWolf713, or, Lyssa)

Summary : This is my version of 'K is for Kiss'

Pairing : Max/Alec

Status : Complete

Disclaimer : I don't own 'Dark Angel', nor did I come up with these prompts. Anyone who hasn't been hiding under a rock (or, egad, has been a Logan fan as of late...) should know we all need to bow down to the awesomeness that is nickeldime17 for coming up with these terrific prompts and then allowing all of us lower beings to play and with them :)

A/N : Ok, so I got stuck on a few of the earlier alphabet prompts and skipped ahead. And since I got ansty, I decided to go ahead and post this one. Once I get up to K on my post compiling all the letters, I switch this one over to there Enjoy!

K is for Kiss

Her first kiss was with Zane, of all people.

She didn't feel anything for him over her other brothers, nor was she as close to him as she was to say, Zack or Ben. But Zane was his own person, his own personality. He wasn't as stiff and precise as Zack or as soft and curious as Ben; Zane was a wild card in some ways (or, as brother Zack liked to say, lazy) and liked to do things his own way.

Which is maybe why him and Zack didn't always see eye to eye. No one could say that Zack wasn't an outstanding Unit Leader or a caring and compassionate brother; he delivered his 'criticisms' with the duty of a born leader but also the with understanding of a brother and protector. But, damn, he sure did have a lot of helpful hints and comments for Zane.

Max had arrived at the room that bunked their unit with a secret smile, her eyes quickly scanning the room for her wayward brother. Zane was on his cot, eyes closed and arms folded under his head. Zack would have rolled his eyes had he been there, commenting how their lanky brother always had his 'head in the clouds', whatever that meant.

She sat down on the bed without announcing herself, sure that he was aware of her the moment she had entered the room. Bored or not, Zane was a soldier and soldiers always knew their surroundings. He looked her way and his slightly-lighter shade of brown eyes focused on her darker-ones, one eyebrow raised in question. Max grinned slightly then, motioning him forward with her hand. Zane complied by sitting up and she leaned in, her eyes dancing with the knowledge of how Zack had failed to remember that rock on the second corner of the obstacle course.

The same rock right beside the rather large mud-hole...

But something had went wrong in their communication cause as Max was leaning closer to whisper into her brothers ear, Zane sat up straighter and turned to look her in the face, making their lips accidentally touch, just as she was opening her mouth to speak. Both transgenics froze, Max's eyes widening beyond normal proportions as she watched Zane rear back after a heart-beat. It took Max 3.2 seconds to finally jump up from the bed and race from the room, nearly bowling Syl over in the process as the blonde was trying to enter their bunk.

To say the whole experience was weird or off-putting would be an understatement.

Her second kiss (and the one she really considered her 'real' first kiss cause, lets' face it, kissing your brother, yeah, not something she wanted to think about) was when she had just turned 16. She had learned early on that Ordinaries had birthdays and they took note of the date every year. While, yes, technically, Max had been born she had no clue when that had happened. But she knew her first real taste of freedom occurred on December 21st.

Her first heat kicked in 3 days after that.

The boys' name had been Nate. Or maybe it was Ned. She didn't really remember honestly, she just knew she was feeling all kinds of tingly and hot and he seemed like the perfect candidate to help her out of this new bind she found herself in. She knew what sex was, was aware that humans and animals had to practice it to keep their species going - it was nature at its' base form. But she didn't really understand it; understand the want, the lust, the need to feel another's warm body flush against your own, the harsh cries and the feelings and enjoyment of it all.

When the hormones wore off and Max laid there, her clothes splayed around their bodies on the floor and his snoring filling up her ears, she had panicked. And, really, if Neil or whatever-the-hell-his-name-was hadn't woken up as she was pulling on her pants she totally wouldn't have freaked and punched him in the neck, making him pass out. It would take at least two more times of her crawling out of some strangers bed before she came correct and realized this wasn't going to stop and decided to get to the bottom of it all.

Feline DNA was truly a bitch.

After that came a nice line of losers and lowlifes that she had felt she needed to give a chance to after her heat had led her to their beds; skeevy Darren, scrawny little Eric, and light-hearted Rafer finally put an end to that. Then Logan Cale showed up in her life and Max finally felt like she was doing something right.

Their first kiss had been bittersweet and sad, a product of her leaving Seattle with Zack to try and outrun Lydecker. But it didn't stick and she was once more back in the rainy city, her eyes glued to the older man who always seemed to do the mature and right thing; the caring and sensitive man who wanted to show her right from wrong, who knew what she was and still stuck around.

But all that changed with that one damn kiss they shared while standing in the middle of his penthouse apartment. Alec had delivered the news of the Retro-virus and Max saw any future happiness with Logan go right out the window she used to love to enter his place through. It was kinda hard to have a romantic relationship with a guy you couldn't even hug. Sure, they tried cause, while touch wasn't an option, they still felt all those needs and wants and even lust.

'Heat' wasn't a problem anymore due to good-ole' Manticore dosing her with a two year suppressor, but heat heat was a real big problem just staring her in the face with those golden-green eyes and knowing smirks and damnable, touchable, hands.

Her first kiss with Alec destroyed Max's normal life and nearly killed Logan.

Literally.

TC was finally thriving under Max and (as she was finally able to force herself to admit) Alec's command. It was clear to just about everyone that the pair seemed to work well together, if you ignored their constant snarking and twice-weekly brawls in the middle of command. Most knew that if Max wasn't available, (which wasn't often, given the shark DNA and all) to go find Alec. And that if Max was in one of her 'moods' (which was often, given the shark DNA and all) to go find Alec. Their weeks started off rocky and by Wednesday they were always at each others throats, but by Sunday they were the best of frien-emies again.

Which totally wasn't working for Logan Cale.

The once mature and sensitive bespectacled man just couldn't look past Max's little plan to get him to move on. He had rightfully (in his mind anyway) reclaimed his spot by her side but was more than a little jealous over the fact that the spot on Max's other side was fully being filled by the brown-haired smirking transgenic. They ran TC together, they planned heists together, they went on said heists together; hell, they just seemed to always be together as of late and Logan was getting more and more upset with the X5 that was taking up all of his girlfriends' time.

It was annoying, it was degrading (who was he to down her SIC?) and downright ridiculous to Max how her older, mature boyfriend was acting - especially toward Alec. But there was no way in hell she was gonna admit that out loud. Nor was she gonna admit that Alec, smart-ass and cocky Alec, was actually taking the higher road and letting all of Logan's crap roll off his back with a smile. Maybe the guy knew something she didn't, maybe he understood the ordinary's insecurities, or hell, maybe he even had a huge revenge plan spinning around in that warped and cunning little head of his.

But she knew it was too good to last.

"I don't give a shit what anyone says," Alec proclaimed out of the blue. "It's a good plan."

Max ignored the knowing tone he had placed on the word 'anyone' and stood up, needing to stretch her legs all of a sudden. It was late and she knew Alec was getting tired but he was the one who had suggested stopping by her place after their shifts in command to nail down this food problem. The nice, long, hot shower she had taken when she had gotten home was helping with keeping her relaxed and she was even half-way in a good mood when she had walked back into her living room to find Alec already there, blueprint spread across her wobbly coffee table and one of the last few beers she had in her fridge raised to his lips as he eyed the paper.

"Going in through the east entrance is just stupid..."

Max's eyes slit then but she just lifted the last beer up and took a long sip, hoping he would give up after that.

"If I didn't know any better," Alec muttered then, shaking his head in disgust, "I'd think Logan had never planned a damn heist before."

She told herself that he had a right to be slightly bitter. Logan could be a jerk when he wanted to, Max was just now starting to see that, but he had meant well when he had suggested to do the exact opposite that Alec had planned on doing. She thinks. His voice had been a tad patronizing toward Alec...

"I mean, where does he get off correcting me?"

"Yeah, cause you're so perfect," Max finally bit out, not being able to hold back any longer. "We're going with your stupid plan so just move on and let it go."

"Yeah," Alec's voice was suddenly a whole lot harder, colder, causing Max to clench her jaw. "Cause it seems like I'm always letting crap go now of days."

The clink of her beer slamming down on the counter seemed to initiate the argument as Max spun and walked the few feet back into her living room, staring down at her some-times friend and almost all-the-time punching-bag. "Just what does that mean?"

"It means," Alec stressed, his toned and tight body gracefully unfolding from his spot on her sofa until he was standing face to face with her, "I'm sick and tired of your little boy-toy taking pot-shots at me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Alec, clearly seeing the bullshit that statement was, took in a deep breath and rubbed his finger over his eyebrow, an obvious sign to Max that he was trying his best to be calm. "I get that he was mad about the whole fake-relationship and all-"

Max crossed her arms here, her eyes focusing on a spot above and over his shoulder. She wouldn't feel bad about that; it had been in everyone's best interest at the time. Sure, Alec was getting the raw end of the deal and the whole thing had went down the crapper anyway after the raising of the flag, but she had, ultimately, refused to feel guilty over it.

Too bad she wasn't able to keep that up.

"But that is on you, not me. I wasn't the one going around telling the man we were screwing."

"I never told him that," Max exclaimed, her eyes coming back to his face in shock. "Like I would ever tell anyone I slept with you."

The look in Alec's slotted eyes accented his cold voice as he spat out, "This shit is getting old. Fix it or-"

"Or what?" Max demanded, taking a step closer to him. Maybe it was in her genes or something (probably not though, considering her heritage and all - seriously doubt Manticore made her to disobey authority, but whatever) but Max had never dealt well with being told what to do. Guilt or not - hell, even whether Logan did or didn't deserve to be put in his place - she wasn't gonna let no one, especially Alec, tell her what to do.

"Or I will," he finished and Max rolled her eyes, making Alec cross his own arms, his stance mirroring hers. "Did you even tell him that it was all your idea?"

"Of course I did." Who did he think she was, some kind of liar? She didn't lie...she just bent the truth slightly, maybe omitted some stuff here and there...technically, she never said the words 'I'm dating Alec' nor did she refer to him as her boyfriend. Logan just found that conclusion on his own. And she didn't deny it nor confirm it is all.

"Well, something's telling me that Loogey-bear is a little slow on the uptake. Maybe you should spell it out from him again; I'd use smaller words this time if I was you."

Electricity crackled in Max's veins and she saw red. "How dare you-"

"Me?!" Alec exclaimed over her. "The only one to blame here is you!"

Maybe it wasn't Max's best decision when she smacked him right in the chin, her fist forcing his head back. But she was angry and frustrated, and her guilt was strong enough as it was without anyone adding to the baggage. And it's not like she could pop Logan in the back of the head when he was being a douche like she could someone else. And that someone else just happened to be in arm-swinging reach when her emotions hit their limit.

Ice-cold eyes met her heated ones right before he swung out himself, catching her cheek in a wicked left-hook that almost had her spitting blood. She used her tongue to check for loose teeth before she nodded, realizing that all the effort her hot water heater had put forth earlier for her relaxing bath was about to all be for waste.

The fight started instantly, with Max taking a swipe at Alec's ribs while he dodged and kicked out, aiming for her leg. But both were fast and strong. They knew the others moves like the back of their own hands by now and their anger toward each other, toward the situation, only fueled them on more, made them try harder to outdo the other. Several minutes later her once wobbly coffee table was now unusable as Alec crashed back through it, Max's boot finally finding an opening and knocking him right off of his feet. She was on him instantly, dishing out a back-hand to his lips as she struggled to keep him below her. But Alec just had more weight on her, more muscle, and where her speed helped in hand-to-hand, it kinda lacked in grappling and holds.

He flipped them almost easily, maneuvering himself in between her thighs so she didn't get any ideas about her knee and a certain part of his anatomy. He could feel the split in his lip from her last hit and retaliated with a forceful jab. Her face flew sideways and she growled then, taking the hit hard. Alec, straddled above her, seemed pleased with himself until Max's fist struck the bottom of his chin, popping his whole head back forcefully.

She dug both her heels into the back of his legs, forcing Alec to loosen his lean over her enough till she was able to sit up. Max pulled her arm back, intent on landing a blow to his side when Alec snagged her fist, holding it still. It wasn't until after she had dug at his wrist with her free hand, trying to get him to let go, that she realized her mistake as Alec hauled her chest up against his, trapping her there with both arms pinned between them.

"Give up?"

Max bristled at his words. She had never felt this angry before, this frustrated and coiled and tightly-wound. She wanted to smash her fist over and over into his cocky little face, to wipe that smirk off his swollen lips. She wanted to be the one on top, the one in charge and in command and the fact that she wasn't grated more than it should.

Alec was still waiting for her response, his eyes intense and smoldering and making a pit form in her stomach and putting Max even more on edge. She took her time, slowly letting her tongue graze over the crack in her lower lip, not missing the way his eyes instantly zeroed in on the action before she finally tossed out, "fuck you."

Then headed-butted Alec for all she was worth. She was still trying to refocus her eyes when she heard his low growl, then she was suddenly looking up into his face due to the fact that the bastard had wrapped his free hand in her hair, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Are you done yet?" he demanded, his voice steel.

"Not where you're concerned," Max spat, ignoring the way his voice had sent a shiver down her spine, the way her stomach had fluttered and that little pit in her stomach, yeah, not so little anymore.

"Good," Alec growled right before he swooped down, capturing her lips with his.

Months and months of annoyance and frustrations and snarking and plain-ole UST had Max kissing him back before she even realized she was doing so. Her lip was busted and swollen and sore but, god, she had never tasted anything so wonderful before and she kept the kiss going, opening up eagerly when she felt his tongue demanding to be let in. Alec let go of her hands to put his to better use, allowing her to gain that little bit of upper-hand, switching their positions.

His back hit the floor solidly and Alec released his hold on Max's lips, letting her drag in some much needed air before she cut it off with a gasp when he settled her hips down on his, his head falling backwards in pleasure as he pushed upward to grind against her. Her own head fell backwards and he attacked her neck eagerly, his teeth and tongue lavishing her skin while Max started to pull his shirt out from his pants and upward, her hands doing some wandering of their own.

Alec made quick work of her shirt, his hand stroking and teasing through her bra and Max gasped, his name falling from her lips earning a heavy moan from him and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why they still had clothes on. She was stretched back over his form, her jeans undone and halfway down her thighs, his hands struggling to finish sliding them off of her without letting go of her lips when everything went to shit.

"Hey, Max, I was just-"

Max suddenly wrenched herself backwards, her eyes wide, mouth hanging open, and yup, that was Logan standing in her open doorway eying the two laying on the floor together, half naked. He swallowed back whatever else he had intended to say and slowly let his eyes met hers before shaking his head and turning away.

Oh, god, oh god, oh god. Max was frozen in her spot, her eyes instantly filling with unshed tears as she watched his back retreat through the door. No, she couldn't let it end like this, she had to do something, anything and was suddenly scrambling to her feet, tugging up jeans as she raced to the door.

"Wait," she called out, ignoring the sound of Alec's head banging down the floor; she couldn't deal with him right now. She had to find Logan, she had to try and fix this. "Logan..."

Her broken words reached his ears and Logan spun back around to face her, his own eyes misty and his jaw clenched in anger and hurt. Taking that as a good sign, Max walked farther out into the hallway, only stopping when he took a few steps away from her, like he couldn't even bare to let her get that close.

"Logan-"

His hand came up to stop her speech, his voice detached as he told her, "I don't want to hear it."

"Please, just hear me out," she begged after a moment, her insides churning and making herself sick as she saw the hurt and accusation in his eyes. "Please..."

His laugh was anything but cheerful as he let his hand fall lifelessly to his side. Max snapped her eyes shut at it, her heart nearly-breaking at that sound coming from him due to something she had done.

"Oh, please do explain," he told her finally, his cold words slicing her to the bone. "You were giving him mouth to mouth. And you clothes?" He threw glare at her chest, forcing Max to cross her arms over her bra, her face darkening in shame and modesty. His scorn increased as he realized this was least amount of clothing he had ever seen her in, and that fact was due to another man undressing her. "Let me guess, they were just restricting you, right?"

"Don't blame her."

Max's eyes flew open and she looked over her shoulder in shock, her blurry eyes taking in Alec's set face and his squared shoulders as he stood in her doorway. He refused to meet her gaze and she felt her stomach clench even more, if it was possible.

"You really need to not be here," Logan told him, hatred instantly filling his whole form.

"I kissed her first," Alec continued, ignoring the older man's warning. "Take it out on me, not her."

"And she shouldn't have kissed you back!"

Max had never heard Logan yell like that before. She made her eyes leave Alec's form and looked back at the man she had considered to be her soul-mate, her one big true love. She had done this, she had driven him to this anger and heart-ache. Just like with the fake-relationship, Alec may have had a hand in it but, in the end, she was the one who drove everyone apart. But she could still try to fix it, she had to.

"Alec," she whispered, her eyes staying on Logan, "can you..."

"I'm gone," he said finally and Max quickly blinked her eyes, forcing herself to ignore the pain that his tone had enlisted in her, ignoring her fear as he strode down the hallway, away from her, instead of going to wait back in the apartment.

Silence reigned and Max opened her mouth more than once only to shut it again, saying nothing. What could she say? That it was mistake? That it wasn't what it seemed? That she would never do it again? Her mind was fuzzy and numb and she just wanted it all to go away, for everything to go back to normal.

"Was it a lie?"

"Was what a lie?" Max asked, her voice demure and unsure.

"You? Him? All of it," Logan said finally, his eyes focused on the wall, on the floor, on anything that wasn't her.

Max bit her lip and swallowed back her sob. There was no answer to that, at least, not one she knew. Not knowing what else to say, she finally settled with, "I'm so sorry..."

Maybe she was poison, just like Renfro had said. I mean, look what she had did here. Logan, at the end of the day, was a good and decent man. Alec had his faults but he was loyal and protective. They both cared for her in some way, shape or form and she just fucked it all up royally. She betrayed Logan's trust, she broke his and her own heart. And she didn't know where she stood with Alec now...

Logan did another of his not-laughs and shook his head. "I knew-I knew from the second he showed back up in my apartment looking for you that he wanted you. And look where we ended up...I gotta know-" He seemed to ponder something for a moment before he asked, his voice slightly softer now, his eyes almost losing some of the hatred in them, "if there hadn't been a virus..."

Max swallowed again, her voice gone. God, she so didn't want to answer that, to actually look in herself and find that information. Did he, did she, really wanna know if it made a difference. Alec was an X5, he was like her and knew her past and understood so much more than Logan did; more than he ever could. He could hold his own, he could run with her and snark with her and fight with her. Logan could teach her, be there for her and help her in his own way but in the end, he was still in the background; he was still not where he needed to be to keep hold of her heart. Alec knew how to be there, to just be with her. And with a sinking heart, Max couldn't hold back her tears anymore as she realized that that was more than Logan could have ever did, virus or not.

"Logan..." Max paused. licked her lips, and tried again. "I never wanted to hurt you." It was true. She loved him, probably would love him for a long time after all this and the last thing she wanted to do was cause him any pain. But she couldn't lie to him anymore.

"It's just," she sighed, trying to make him see, trying to explain even a small amount of her actions. "God, after so long of not being able to touch, just to feel someone else...I need that in my life."

"You need touch..." Logan's voice trailed off and then suddenly he was striding forward, his hand reaching out to grasp the back of Max's neck and she froze in shock and horror as his lips suddenly descended on hers. The feel of his mouth over hers finally forced Max back into reality and she yanked herself backwards, nearly tripping over herself to get away from him.

"Wha-What are you doing?!" Max shrieked, her eyes wide and wild as she watched Logan already start to falter, his eyes blinking slowly as he leaned against the wall.

"You wanted to be touched," he offered finally before he slid down to his knees. The virus was working much fast this time, more than likely due to this being the 4th time he was infected and that his immune system was already taxed and strained from the chemicals inhabiting TC.

"No, no, no," Max sobbed, following him down. "You have to get up, we can fix this, I can fix this!"

"Max?"

Alec's voice carried from the end of the hallway and she looked up, her gasp and Logan's prone body on the floor drawing him closer. "Alec..."

"What the hell happened?" he demanded, coming to kneel on Logan's other side.

"He-he kissed me."

Alec took charge then, instantly seeing that Max was at her limit for the day. Logan was taken to their Med-bay and given a good, healthy dose of transgenic blood supplied by Joshua. Two days later he was walked to the fence separating TC from Seattle. His life meant more to her than any of this and it just wasn't a risk she would let him make anymore. They both needed to move on, to let go. Maybe there was a cure out there somewhere, she had no clue, but she knew know that stringing everyone along, hanging all their hopes and dreams on that big 'if' was killing them both and it needed to stop. She never went and told him goodbye, never let him finish telling her it was over; they both knew deep down that it had been done for some time now.

She avoided the other obstacle in her life for almost a whole week before she came home one night to found him sitting on her couch in the dark, his eyes focused on the remains of her broken coffee table.

"I woulda thought this would be gone by now."

Shrugging out of her coat, Max ignored the nervous fluttering in her stomach and said, her voice calm, "it's been a busy week."

Alec's scoff and muttering of "tell me about it" reached her ears as she practically ran to her bedroom, all the time telling herself that she wasn't running, just gaining some space to think, even though almost a week's worth of thinking hadn't told her much. So maybe there was something there between her and Alec like Logan had thought. Maybe Alec was a much better man than she had ever really given him credit for. There were a lot of maybes, way too many in her opinion, and Max was confused and tired and just plain in over her head with it all.

"You gonna talk to him?" Alec asked suddenly, having gotten up and followed her.

Max, focusing on her dresser, opened the top drawer and stared down into it like it held the answers to all of life's questions. "There's nothing else to say. It's over."

She could feel him move, feel every step he took in her direction. She watched in silence as his hands came around to brace on either side of her, effectively trapping her between him and dresser. Her hair had fallen down around her shoulders and she could feel his breath against her bare skin, the heat from it caressing her barcode.

"You gonna talk to me?" he asked then, his voice low as he leaned in, his nose sliding against her skin as he inhaled. A small gasp escaped from Max at the intimate contact and Alec growled in response before telling her, "cause this isn't over." Then his lips were over hers and Max wasn't even sure when she had turned around but suddenly she was in his arms and his hands were holding her close, practically lifting her right up off of her feet.

The kiss was full of need and want and lust and electricity and heat and passion and anything else that would make her toes curl and her breath hitch in her throat. And when he pulled away to look down at her face Max couldn't help but to smile ruefully.

She wasn't sure what number down the line this kiss was, but it didn't matter cause in the end, Alec's kiss was the one that mattered.

So there ya go! Please review and let me know what you think!