Ring, ring, ring… "Wha-huh?!" Alec was startled into wakefulness. In the less than half a minuet it took him to grab the ringing phone, he was fully awake and heading for his closet. "Hello?" Alec said to the phone.
"Alec?"
"Hey Max, what's up?"
"I need you at the hospital. Now. Sam's practice."
"Max, what's goin-"
"It's Logan. I infec-"
"I'm on my way." Alec hung up the phone and pulled his shirt on, then one sleeve of his jacket and locked the door. He pulled on the other sleeve as he walked to his bike, and was dialing Original Cindy's number as he started it up.
"Whassup?" Cindy sounded but annoyed and apprehensive. "I'm at work. Ya know, where you should be."
"Cindy, you gotta get to the hospital. Where Max goes,"
"What's wrong with Max?!"
"She's fine- physically. Logan is infected with the virus again. He's not so good, and Max is gonna need you. I'm on my way to give Logan a blood transfusion."
"I'm going. I'll just… grab a package that's headed that direction and call Normal from the hospital."
"Great, Cindy. See you there." Alec looked down to put his phone in his pocket and nearly ran off the road. I gotta slow down on those curves, he thought. After all, he was pushing 70, having left the residential district and its enforced speed limits behind minuets ago. He was dodging the traffic that couldn't keep up with him, and hadn't caused any accidents, so he was fairly happy with the time he made. When Alec pulled into the hospital parking lot, he was still running 50mph. He stopped just short of the sidewalk and killed the motor. He raced into the hospital and up a flight of stairs, heading for the Emergency Room—the place he expected to find Max. He dodged four civilians and three medical personnel. Why do I always thinking military terms when I'm… okay, yeah, I'm scared; for Logan. And for Max. When he came across the floor of the Emergency Room, people got out of the way. Alec was too busy looking for Max to notice that he was in military stance, surveying his surroundings with a completely closed expression—which was bothering most of the medical staff, and starting to scare the people waiting to be admitted. When he saw Max, his military mask dropped, and he ran to her side. She hugged him, and then took him to the Doctor who was treating, or trying to treat Logan.
It was 15 to 20 minuets after Max had called him, and he was lying in a hospital bed next to Logan's, blood streaming through a tube stretching between them. Alec knew better than to look at it. He would start feeling the blood loss soon enough anyway. He let his mind wander…
And found himself thinking of Max. She had looked so scared, and even worse, she looked lost. Max, who had saved his ass more times than he cared to count. She had actually Thanked him for coming—like he didn't have to. Like I don't owe her my life a dozen times over. She seemed to know I would come, she was just glad I had come so quickly.
The truth was it scared him to see Max looking so helpless. She always saves the day, and now she's sitting in a waiting room chair, just hoping for the best like everyone else.
Alec dozed off, thinking about Max, Logan, and himself. He woke up when a pillow landed on his stomach. He looked around to find Logan sitting up in bed and staring at him.
"Oh, hey Logan. How ya feelin'?"
"I'm fine. Where's Max?" Logan asked, his tone suggesting annoyance. Alec looked toward the chair where Max had been sitting, then back at Logan.
"I don't know, Buddy." Alec paused as Logan glared at him, "But I'm sure she's here somewhere. I'll go check the waiting room. I called OC on my way here, maybe they're sitting together." In reality, Alec knew that Cindy was sitting alone—he could see her in the waiting room.
"Okay; hey, tell her I want to see her, will you?"
"Sure thing, Buddy!" Alec said, grinning. Logan almost cracked a smile. Almost. I wonder if I'm loosing my touch? Alec thought as he left the room. He let the fake smile fall as he approached Cindy, who was staring into her coffee cup.
"Cindy," Alec said, and she looked up. She'd been crying, which he knew was Not a good sign.
"My girl left." Cindy answered the question before he asked it. "Said she needed time to think. Didn't tell my where she was goin', though. There was something—off about her, Alec. I'm scared for her."
"I'll find her, Cindy. I think I know where she'll go." Alec gave her a smile. "You get to keep lover-boy busy." At Cindy's perplexed look, he added, "Logan. He's awake."
"Awh, dammit," Cindy said under her breath, and turned to head for the hospital room door. Alec saw Logan go pasty white when Cindy walked in instead of Max, and he took off in a dead run. He stopped to mount his motorcycle, and made a beeline for the Space Needle—Max's favorite place to think.
Why do X-5s have to like heights, Alec wondered. He was half way up the building, and he was very sick of stairs. He wasn't in the slightest bit winded. All the stairs were just annoying.
He stopped for a second or two on the second landing from the top, and then started the next flight of stairs.
When he stepped onto the roof, the first thing he noticed was the fresh air. Then he saw Max. She was standing and looking—not at the lights of Seattle, as she normally did, nor at the stars as she occasionally was wont to do, but straight down at the pavement.
"Max," Alec said, just glad to find her.
As Max looked over her shoulder, Alec noticed something odd.
"Uh, Max, why are you so close to that god awful drop off?" Alec asked, feeling a little nervous. After all, it's over 600 feet down, he thought.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the hospital!" Max said sounding a little ticked…
"Max, Logan's fine. Actually, I came to find you. He's asking for you. Went stark white when Cindy said you'd left. What's that about, huh?" Max just looked at him. "Oh, I get it. You're scared to see him, after what happened. Well, don't be. And if you have to be, get over it. None of us are going to let you make the same mistake twice."
"Alec, just what are you talking about?" Max asked, looking him straight in the eyes.
"Cindy told me months ago that the last time you infecting Logan, you left the hospital and told him you could never see to him again. And here you are, obviously not at the hospital, so it looks kind of familiar."
"Oh, well, you don't need to worry," Max said, looking out at the view of Seattle.
"That's good to know. Why not?" Alec asked, feeling slightly more nervous than before. He had not expected Max to be reasonable about this thing. She should be all emotional and "it's for his own good" right about now, he thought.
"Because I'm not going to bother anyone anymore." Max stated firmly. "I'm going to stop it all, right now."
Why is she wobbling like that… And Alec saw it. He realized that he was about to loose his sister. She was going to jump, and fall off that sickeningly long drop, and hit the pavement, and he would never be able to run fast enough to catch her before she hit…
He had started to take a step when he saw that Max was moving too. Alec darted forward—any human would only have seen that he disappeared—and grabbed her by the only point he could. He almost went off the roof with her, but he crouched and regained his balance at the last second. Alec didn't care that he had almost gone over the edge; he was too busy holding on to his sister, his Maxie, for all he was worth. She looks so confused, he though, reading the emotionss in Max's eyes. Then comprehension slowly came to her. Alec watched it play across her face. She had obviously realized what she had almost done to him—and to everyone else, he hoped. He felt Max's muscles bunch as she started to lift herself up, using his arms to pull herself, and he helped her, putting her feet back on the roof.
They walked a few feet from the edge, and sat down together, Alec with his arm around his 'sister'. They sat in silence for a while, then
"Max," he said, finally putting thoughts into words.
"Yes, Alec,"
"Why?"
Alec listened as, after a short pause, she told him everything. Everything she had been thinking, feeling, all the reasons she had wanted to end her miserable life, and why she had thought she could do it. He knew it was everything because her shoulders drooped, like she was deflating and embarrassed. And she was crying, apparently without noticing.
Alec sat in silence for a few minuets, digesting what he had been told. Then he pulled Max into a tight hug. "Max," he said quietly, "the next time you get this bad, come talk to me. Or talk to Cindy, or even Joshua." He looked Max in the eyes, still holding her shoulders. "I never want to come this close to loosing you again."
Max leaned into his shoulder, and Alec let her rest there. My god, he thought, how did this happen? How did none of us notice? Why did she think none of us needed her? Well, no one but me. I can't believe she told me that. I have to talk to Cindy later. She should know that, that this happened. That this Almost happened. Alec couldn't even think the word suicide, knowing that he would be applying it to the woman in his arms. Alec knew that she had been crying silently on his shoulder, and didn't say anything about it when she looked at him. Instead, he wiped the tears from her face, and hugged her again, feeling like he had a family even more than usual.
"C'mon Maxie," Alec said, standing up and holding out a hand. "We need to get back to the hospital before Cindy and, and Logan think I have you hold up somewhere."
Max smiled. "Okay. But don't think I'm going because you told me to. And don't expect me to start claiming you in pubic."
"Wouldn't dream of it Maxie, wouldn't dream of it."
As Max walked into the hospital room, Alec let out a sigh of relief. He was surprised there had been no argument about going to see Logan. She was actually smiling when she walked in. It was a weak smile, but it was there.
Alec watched as his sister walked into Logan's hospital room and started talking. Logan, he saw, looked like someone had threatened to cancel Christmas on him, but he'd been given a reprieve. Well, Alec thought, if I thought I was going to loose a woman like that, I would have that look too, I guess. Then Alec smirked—As if there's a woman like Max anywhere.