A/N: Wow and just wow. Thank you for the response. I guess that fandoms never die, they just go into fanfiction syndication. Can you believe that I never watched the show until three months ago? I'm so glad that you guys are still here keeping this alive. Its sad, but hey we all have to pass the time some way.

For the doubters, this is Max and Alec . Please have faith that I won't make this too tragic and hopefully not too trite. Max makes things difficult enough and this is so not a story about long paths and they have to pine away, blah. However it won't always be cookies and all things wrapped up in the nice little sitting. Trust me though I will make things have good and bad. Kind of like an ideal life.

For all those who expect me to keep writing ten to fifteen pages every few days, I'm sorry, I can't. However I will post things when I think they say what I want them to say without being forced.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing.

Knowing you like this and are interested is a fire under my butt to keep it coming.

PS If you think that a chapter seems a bit too easy or lacking tell me. I don't want to write anything that doesn't seem believable. Bring on the flames.

Part II

Escaping from TC was a joke. Max gave everyone she passed on the way out a smile and had pleasant conversations while her mind was screaming. She didn't let on that anything was wrong. She laughed with some kids playing in the street on their way to the makeshift school that had been pulled together in TC. Organized classes and organized games were instituted for all of the X-6 and X-7. Max insisted that they still learn and exorcise, but she argued heavily that they not be trained.

Alec pointed out that everyone in TC was in danger and should know how to protect themselves. Mole had agreed. The compromise was that they learned self defense, how to blend it, and only minimal gun play. The rest of their time was spent in an extreme form of sports and an advanced education.

Max watched the children and marveled at how normal life had become inside of a barricade.

Max also stopped and gossiped with some of the other X-5 milling about. For people who were taught to only speak when addressed and only then speak in frank sentences, the transgenics were becoming remarkably adept at expressing their own opinions and talking about everything.

Max watched the interaction and almost smiled despite herself.

There was always someone to speak to. She took a second to check out an X-5's new knife. Some of the women found some cloth and they were debating if making a garment was anything like stitching up a fifteen inch leg wound. It was just a normal day in TC.

She heard the laughter but couldn't be a part of it, because for the life of her she couldn't figure out how she was feeling. She slipped through the sewers and then she slipped back into the world that she hadn't seen for four months. In truth she hadn't wanted to. She had Alec run all of the missions on the outside.

Part of her knew it was because she didn't trust herself. She didn't know if perhaps the weight of people actually needing her, believing in her was too much. She didn't know if she would run if she was given the opportunity.

Now she had the cure, now she had a place to run to.

She held tightly onto a painted rock that one of the young X-7 had given her, the boy had been in Joshua's painting class and had given her a stone that echoed the runes that occasionally appeared on her skin..

When she entered the 'normal' streets suddenly things felt bleaker and she didn't feel a part of this world either.

When she walked the streets of TC people said hi, smiled, or asked questions. As she walked the streets of Seattle people barely noticed she existed. She was completely isolated here. She walked for hours, through the crowds.

People were wary these days. Twice she had to pull her pack closer as pickpockets came near. This outside world was what she had known for so long, but it was so alien to her now. She remembered living on these streets and having people look away or look down on her.

This world of normal was harsh and cruel.

Which was an odd thought for her. Manticore had been so much more harsh and cruel and plain brutal, but this place was agonizing.

As the sun set she was a top the Space Needle, she watched the brilliant colors of the sunset. When the sun went down she couldn't sit anymore. She stood up and ran. Running was what she was good at.

&

The thud echoed through HQ from the committee's office. Dix didn't look up from his screen, "Eighteen."

Mole sat in a chair and looked up at the ceiling. HQ was empty except for Dix, Luke, Joshua and Mole. Alec had come raging in the morning and by noon everyone had cleared out. No one wanted to be in visual range of Alec, the few who had were immediately chewed out in a way that would make any of their Manticore drill instructors proud. Alec had reeked of alcohol by two and at three he had begun to pace. At five he had declared war on the steel beams in the office and every half hour or so he would hit them or kick them and the reverberations would echo through TC. He was up to eighteen now. An X-5 could only stand twenty-three such blows on metal before they destroyed something on their bodies.

"What do you think is going on? He hasn't been this bad since Max was in heat," Luke asked.

Dix looked up, "Well if Max is gone then she probably found out about the cure."

"I told you it would be bad if we figured that out," Mole said gruffly, "Helping that ordinary shouldn't be on our list of priorities."

Luke shrugged, "What else did the tech have to do?"

No one could think of anything, everyone in TC was coming up with projects and teaching each other random things to keep from thinking. It was chaotic and random, but Manticore had drilled anything lazy out of them before they could walk.

Right now there was nothing to do in HQ as well as everywhere else. TC had a strange sort of calm around it. In HQ the brave four lieutenants were just waiting to make sure that Alec didn't kill himself with alcohol or by bashing his head against the wall.

"This is just great," Mole grumbled, "We have to meet with the damned army in three days and our director is AWOL, our CO is drunk, and they're not really going to want to talk to me."

"Fubar?" Joshua asked.

Dix and Luke nodded in affirmation. Things always had the possibility of being volatile. Being on the edge of a crowd calling for the genocide of your kind could make one on edge. Things could have been bad. They hadn't been, either on the inside or out. Max and Alec had run a clean ship. Everyone was fed, taken care of, put in a group, and given something to do. It hadn't always been perfect, but they were getting positive results and most of the city inhabitants were content and even productive.

Now things seemed shakey.

"Beyond fubar. Things start to go well and now we have to deal with their romantical drama," Mole pointed out.

Joshua thought for a moment. He had watched Alec lead the past few months and there was always one thing that worked when nothing else did.

"Alec misses Max," Joshua pointed out, "Alec needs to hit something that will hit back."

Dix and Luke backed up leaving Mole standing in the forefront.

Mole put up his hands, "I'm not going in there unless I have a gun and I think that will turn out real bad."

There was silence.

And then a thud.

"Nineteen," Luke said to no one in particular.

Dix considered things a moment, "What about a boxing round. Alec sets those up when the males are going all heat crazy. Why not have one now. He can pummel something, we'll get everyone to come. TC will get entertainment and maybe in the morning he'll be in too much pain to be angry."

They looked at each other, attempting to figure out if this was a joking thing or something they could possibly spend the night doing.

"Max would hate that idea," Luke pointed out.

Mole looked thoughtfully at them, "Well Max ain't here. With Alec out of his mind I'm in charge and I like the sound of a little cage match. Luke find the biggest fastest fighters. Joshua get Alec to the arena. We're going to have some fun tonight."

&

Original Cindy heard the door open and grabbed the frying pan next to the sink. When she whirled around there stood Max.

OC's face split into a grin, "Shit girl I was going to bean you."

Max's face didn't change. She looked exhausted and worried and about ready to cry.

"Boo, what's wrong?"

Max's bottom lip began to tremble all she could do was hold the vial. OC didn't waste time with words. those could come later right now her girl just needed her to be there for her.

&

Alec stood viciously in one side of the arena. He was hunched over looking over the movements of his opponents. It was Alec, it was 494, but at the same time it wasn't.

On the other side were transhumans and the best hand-to-hand combat fighters that the X-5 line had to offer. Some of them looked scared to be taking on their CO. Others just looked read to one up the Alpha.

Around them in the 'arena' or baseball field as the ordinaries called it were three hundred of the residents of terminal city. After four months of just trying to survive the last two days had brought good news, a party and now they had more entertainment. After a lifetime of regimented lifestyles and a few months of hiding and scrapping they were thrilled to actually do something extracurricular. Unlike behind the walls of Manticore, they weren't expected to learn anything from this. They just had to enjoy it. It was new for most of them, and they kind of liked it.

Alec had readily agreed to fight, seeing how he was drunk and the steel beam was a poor opponent he was easy to convince. Fighting meant thinking of only one thing the task at hand. In a fight you had to watch one opponent and read them. Any other thought would mean loss. All Alec wanted to do was loose himself because in his body and in his head things were a bit raw.

Joshua watched his CO and for a second he was worried. This could quite possibly turn out badly. The scary thing was that the kid getting ready for the fight didn't look like Alec. He looked predatory. He wasn't doing this for fun. He was doing this because he needed the release.

Alec caught his eye, but couldn't offer any reassurance. He wasn't sure who he was right now. All he knew was that he had put everything out there that was Alec, and she was still gone.

He didn't know what the hell that meant for the part of him that was still Alec.

In front of the crowd Mole sat like a king flanked by Dix. He was enjoying this.

"While the cats are away…" he began.

"The lizard will play?" Dix volunteered sarcastically.

Luke came up to them and nodded.

"Everyone knows the rules. The winner is the one who takes down Alec, no matter which round. There is no punching to the face by request of Mole who thinks that Alec needs to look pretty when he meets with the military guys. There is no kicking in the balls by request of Alec due to some other cage fight he was in."

Mole snorted, he had heard the story of Max versus Alec. It was still one of his favorite things to tease Alec about. Getting beaten by a transgenic girl still was getting beaten by a girl, even if that girl could kick the ass of most of the population. Tormenting someone didn't always have to be logical.

"I give him five rounds," Mole announced.

Dix looked at Alec and calculated, "I give him nine."

"He's been drinking all day and his hands are shit from hitting the beam," Mole pointed out.

"Is this a bet?" Dix asked.

"I don't know you still owe me a flame thrower," Mole replied, "I don't know if I can trust you not to neg."

Dix rolled his eyes.

"What are you going to do with a flame thrower?"

Mole shrugged.

"Toast some protesters, make flambé a la Familiars, keep me warm in the cold Seattle nights."

Dix looked haughtily at Mole.

"Must be a bitch not having any females of your lizardness type."

Which was only partially true. The transhuman females were just rare.

Mole snorted, Double or nothing?"

"You're on."

&

"He can't really kick you out," OC said. Max sat next to her on the couch, the crying jag was over for now, but Max's face was still puffy and her words were less than coherent. OC thought that she had most of the story, but she still was unsure about the details.

Max shook her head sadly, "That is the thing. He's not kicking me out. He is giving me an out. In this bag that he gave me is enough for me to start a new life with Logan. All we have to do is pack up Bessie and make it to the Canadian border. Stupid Alec, making everything more complicated."

OC looked confused at Max. For so long she had been so focused on Logan. OC thought that this would be an easy decision. As she watched her friend and she suddenly understood. Max wasn't just confused about leaving TC and the trangenics.

Max was looking down at the vial. OC tilted her head and asked Max a pointed question.

"So your boy, what does he think of this cure?" she said slowly.

"I don't know what he was thinking. He doesn't even want to be a part of TC, but suddenly he gets some power and he thinks that I don't belong there. I don't know why he had them find the cure, I don't know why he gave it to me. I think that he just wants to be rid of me. We share something real and suddenly I'm too much in the way of his women, and his drinking and his being."

OC smiled. She had been right. Something had gone on. Something was going on and it had to be important if Max was contemplating not going back to Logan. For an entire year all that was keeping Max away from Logan was the damned virus. Now something else had entered the picture and OC knew damned well what that might be. She had figured something might happen that first day when Max started in on Alec's talking and laughing and breathing.

"Boo," OC said softly, "I was asking about Logan."

"Oh," Max said, deflating realizing how much she gave away, "Well he doesn't know yet."

OC nodded, "Does he know about you and Alec."

Max wrinkled her nose and got defensive, "There is no me and Alec, we are nothing."

"Please, I know you better than anyone. There is something going on."

Max sighed and stood up. she began pacing and gesturing with her hands. She seemed to be collecting her thoughts and it was a few moments before she spoke.

"We sleep together, and not in the naked sexy way. We just end up in his bed at the end of the day and talk."

She tested the words and then grimaced. It seemed a little off to her too.

OC studied her skeptically, not believing a word of it.

"We don't do anything. I have nothing to feel guilty about. He's one of us, he gets me, and we are working together. I have nothing to feel guilty about."

"Hmm," OC said skeptically, "Let me tell you a story honey."

"I dated this fine honey once," she told Max, "We were fire in the sack, but we didn't have much in common. I didn't sweat it, we were good together. She started meeting up with this intellectual babe. They would talk for hours. I still was fine with it. She never lied to me about where she was going and they included me. At first I wasn't jealous because she still loved me and it was hot when we were together, but there was something in her I couldn't touch. I began to feel left out. There was part of her I just didn't get. This other person could. They denied it for the longest time, but eventually I came home and all I had was a note. She left me for that girl they had 'never done anything' but they realized that they had something."

Max stood with her hands on her hips.

"Its not like that with us, she said, still defensive, "I mean we talk and we get each other, but we're Manticore. You can't understand what it is like to be us unless you are us. I mean his speech today was amazing. It was more amazing to me because what he said were the words I can never say. I saw my sister be shot for being weak and it is something that I can't bring up with friends. He stood there and in a calm clear voice told the world what they did to us. He read every agony I've ever lived out loud. That was a big no no on Manticore rules and he stood up to his reindoctoration and everything. He's the bravest person I know."

And as she said it Max realized that it was true. Logan as Eyes Only once held that position, but now suddenly her heart lurched at the thought that she had left the transgenics at TC behind, she had left Alec behind.

"What are you feeling, Boo," OC asked her searching her face, "Do you have feelings for Alec too?"

Max shrugged helplessly and sat down and buried her face in her hands, "I don't know. I love Logan, but Alec, well Alec is home to me."

"So what do you choose, home or heart?"

Max looked so lost, OC gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, "Could your home ever be your heart?"

Max could feel the tears well up in her eyes. She saw the people at TC that she had convinced to stay. She saw Logan and the comfort he offered. She saw Joshua, Zero, Bullet, Ralph, Fix-it, and Bugler safe and happy to be back among their own. She saw Mole and Dix listening to her, following her lead. She saw the girls she taught to dance just last night and the young X-6s flirting, or attempting to for the first time.

And she saw Alec. From the moment that he entered her life he had been there. He had been against her and for her.

But no matter where she was he was there, Jam Pony, Crash, with Mermaids, at cage fights, and at the ready whenever there was something going on, even on the nights when all there was to do was play pool. He never asked her to change who she was, he accepted whatever she was feeling whether it be that she was not going to breed with him or she was going to start a transgenic power struggle. He sat with her and listened to her and told her what she didn't want to hear.

Max opened her mouth and words came tumbling out.

OC leaned back and listened as Max ranted and raved. The girl had to choose and like all the decisions that she was facing lately it was not an easy one.

&

494 ducked a blow aimed for his shoulder and delivered an uppercut to the X-5's jaw. He gave it all the power he had left, a supply that was dwindling, and the hulking soldier fell backwards. He had lost the ability to see clearly long ago. He had ribs that were badly bruised, his hands were a pulp and he was pretty sure that something in his left hand was broken. He stood tall and waited. Once one went down another would come up.

This time no one did. He felt a presence behind him and turned to face it.

"Medium Fella, its over," a familiar voice said brokenly.

"Bring on the next one," he said through a sore jaw. His voice was commanding.

"There is no one left," a gravely voice said.

494 stood tall.

He couldn't see them, but he stood at attention.

"Alec, you won," another voice said.

Alec.

494 closed his eyes.

He was Alec. She had said so. He was Alec because her second choice was Dick.

Right now he wanted to be anything but Alec.

But his legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

Everything hurt.

He looked up and could see the faces of his SIC and his lieutenants. They looked at him with a little bit of awe and a lot of fear. He choked back the last of the rage and managed to stand up again. He couldn't lie down. He had to make sure that he was still Alec. He breathed in and he felt it.

He had been many people in his life, he had been a soldier first, he had been a twin of a freak, he had been a myriad of aliases. Those things they had told him he had to be. However inside of him had always been that spark of personality that eventually she would name Alec.

No one could beat it out of him. the strength, the weakness, the power, the vulnerability they were all still there after the fight, after loosing her. When she walked out he was so terrified that "Alec" would go with her, Manticore had named him so many things, but he put 494 away when they weren't in control, he had put away all the people that they had made him become when the mission was over. In the back of his mind he wondered if "Alec" was just another face that he wore.

Alec was still here though.

He felt the same, even with her gone. He felt empty and he missed her, but he was still Alec.

He smiled a bloody smile that freaked out his lieutenants.

"Be happy Maxie," he said a promptly passed out.

&

"This was a good idea," the Doc said sarcastically looking at the patient in the bed.

Dix, Mole, and Luke stood before the doctor while Joshua made sure that Alec was comfortable in his completely unconscious state.

The doctor scowled at them, "He's probably not slept for four days, he's intoxicated, and you had him fight eleven opponents."

"Fourteen," Joshua injected.

"But only five were any good," Dix pointed out.

The doctor glared at him, "That is so good to know."

The sarcasm made everyone but Joshua flinch.

Joshua competed setting up the room and looked at the stalemate at the door.

"Bedtime now. Tomorrow we will make everything better."

The doctor looked at the clipboard I his hands, "Atleast for most of you tomorrow will be better. Alec probably won't be up for a day or so. So maybe you want to try to make things all nice so that way when he wakes up he thinks less about killing you."

Mole, Dix and Luke wisely chose to remain silent as they left the room.

The Doc looked at Alec and rolled his eyes and left the room. Joshua lay down on the floor and covered himself with a blanket. Alec would need him when he woke up.

&

Max stood on the porch of Joshua's house.

Last night had not soothed anything. She still felt as if there were a fight between herself and her home.

The first day that Alec had begun work at Jam Pony he had followed her on her deliveries. It was a day of his voice and his smile and his laugh. Now that feeling was multiplied. As she had tried to sleep last night he haunted her. She felt his arms and his voice at her neck. She felt him arguing with her, laughing at her, holding her while she cried.

Her thoughts had been a mess of random snippets.

She thought of Alec.

Everyday he had been there with everyday ordinary issues.

She had thought of Logan.

Logan was exhausting with his continuous crusades to help people that he barely knew.

Logan fought causes and Alec fought for those he had begrudgingly come to think of as family.

She tried not to think of that other thing, but that haunted her too.

He had kissed her.

Why the hell had he kissed her then?

All the nights he had her at her most venerable she had been in his arms his hands had never strayed. For four months he had been the perfect gentleman. She had been in his bed almost every night. There had been no one but her, and he had never taken her. He had never kissed her until she forced his hand.

That was when it changed.

He had told her and showed her. He had made her toes curl and her body melt.

Max remembered something from her conversation with OC last night.

"He's just a man whore anyway," Max had said, " He was just probably kissing me because if he didn't do it then he would never get the chance and that would ruin his chance at becoming the first man in the world to kiss every woman within a thirty year age bracket."

OC gave her a exasperated look, "Sugar I won't be telling you that your boy…"

"He's not my boy," Max said automatically.

OC stared her down, "As I was saying ALEC may be quite a player, but the way to recognize if a player is doing something more than playing is if he stop playing games."

Max looked at her confused, "So you're saying that Alec is hitting on me by not hitting on me?"

"No Boo," OC said quietly, "I'm saying that players will play as long as there are no feelings. When there are feelings they avoid the situation completely."

Max jumped up suddenly, "No Alec and I are…"

She trailed off, not knowing how to define their relationship.

"What are you and Alec?" OC asked.

"Logan and I…" Max began.

OC shook her head, "This isn't about you and Logan. I'm not asking about you and Logan. What about you and Alec."

Max sat down. She really couldn't answer that one.

So she stood at Logan's door.

When he opened it he had that smile on his face. It was the sweet one that he always greeted her with. Without thinking only feeling she smiled back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, "Not that you shouldn't be."

"I have something for you," she said with a smile.

"I have something to tell you. I was just about to call you," Logan said excitedly gesturing her into the room, "I just received a call from Washington. There is a group forming there to champion the rights of transgenics. I've pulled a few strings and if you and all of the people in Terminal City want I will be your representative there. This isn't some underground movement. This is for real. There are going to be Congressional hearings and there are actually some groups out there who think that you need to be heard. It's a great opportunity. I know that you guys in TC are all busy. You all have places. You're running the show Alec is the face, now I can be the muscle for you. The very boring muscle in a suit, but the muscle none the less."

"What?" Max asked, confused at the track that this was taking..

"You need someone in Washington and seeing as you all will be lynched on sight it seems like a good idea to have someone who isn't a transgenic. I know that I'm not one of you, but you have to admit that you don't have that many options."

Logan was so excited. He always did love a cause. He had a beaming smile and she knew that this was partially for her, but also mostly so he could feel useful, so he could be doing something to save the unfortunate. He was honestly a really good guy.

Max bit her lip. It would be so easy. This was completely a way out.

But it wouldn't be her if she didn't just add to the pain.

She held out the vial.

"What's that," Logan asked.

"The cure," she answered.

"For what," Logan asked.

"For the virus."

"What," he said, "How did you get that?"

Max was amazed at the parroting of her own words. There was something about the similarity of reaction, there was something about how both of them thought first about the how they had obtained the cure, and not the ramifications.

The fairy tale had yielded to reality.

Logan sat down.

"So…" he said looking at the vial in her hands.

"So," she agreed.

"I can stay here," he said after a moment, "I can stay and we can find someone else to go to Washington. I'll stay here with my informants and we can make changes from the inside."

She looked at him and was surprised by the lack of the conviction in his voice. For so long he had hid behind Eyes Only. He was thrilled to actually be making a difference using his face, but he would give it up for her. She felt selfish because she realized that she couldn't. she couldn't give up her family for him. In fact she couldn't even say that she would choose him if it were a sunny day and they were all back at Jam Pony.

Something had changed.

Something was coming dangerously close to her heart.

"No."

It was a whisper. She looked up at him and sucked on her lip. He looked at her curiously.

"We can't do this anymore," she said, feeling real tears because as much as what she was right, it still hurt, "We go through all of this stuff apart. We try and we try and something always comes up. I need you to be in Washington, but I can't wait for you back here. We've always kept this distance between us even before the virus. Whenever we start to get close one of us pulls away or something pulls us away. There is something missing here, something about touch. We've only had a few moments of touch and what we have is slipping away. We can't keep postponing life in order for a hypothetical future touch. It will kill us."

"Tangibility," Logan whispered, "We had the emotions but not the tangibility."

She noticed his use of the past tense and she felt her heart constrict. This wasn't easy.

He looked up at her, "Just tell me it isn't Alec."

Manticore taught one how to lie very well.

"You know I was just doing that to push you away," she said tiredly about her not so cunning ruse to get rid of him without dumping him, "There was nothing between Alec and me."

She paused and thought of those words.

"Alec's not the kind of guy to steal another guy's girl," Max said realizing what it meant that he never touched her. She thought it was friendship, she thought it was disinterest. She never thought that it was respect. That was something strange and new.

Logan looked down at the ground and then he looked at her seriously.

"I know that Max," Logan said slowly, "But from the first day he waltzed into our lives he has been there. He's at work and at Crash and he's just so tangible."

Max smiled that was probably the closest that Logan would ever come to saying that Alec was good looking. There was no need to ruin a good break up with a truth that she didn't even know was a truth.

"So perhaps I should worry that you have a crush on him," she asked as lightly as she could, hoping her smile was true enough, "I did see you hug that one time."

Logan smiled a sad sort of relief.

"I know its just that it has always seemed like there was something there. He popped into our lives and suddenly everything somehow comes with Alec baggage, everything we do seems to incorporate him. You made him CO for goodness sake."

Anger was always a good cover. Manticore deception lesson #319.

"Right, everything has come with a Joshua baggage too," she said silently asking Joshua's forgiveness, "What now are you going to ask if I've been with him too? Alec escaped and I was a familiar place in this world. He's CO because I know he can handle it. Logan it is over between us. We both know and understand that. Don't make this about blame."

Logan looked at her and let out a long sigh.

Max put down the vial, "Use this. Call Asha, don't touch it just in case."

"Max," Logan said sadly, "If you ever need me call me, find me, you don't even have to knock. I will do anything for you."

Max smiled an honest smile, "I know you will."

She left Joshua's house and began walking towards TC.

She just wished she knew if she was walking towards her home or to her heart.