Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters don't belong to me…trust me it's a realization that I had the hardest time accepting (smiles).

Title: He Looks Just Like You

Rating: I have to rate it M just to be safe.

Author: Masaia (Messiah)

Summary: The last delivery of the work day leaves Alec with a package of his own.

Reviews are graciously accepted, no matter how harsh…but this is my first fic and I am very sensitive so please be nice…just playing if I suck or I'm not writing the characters in true form let me know. I know I hated reading the books…Max seemed so different from the show especially in Skin Games…anyway without further ado…..

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Alec's Apartment

"Go over it again for me" Max stands in the middle of his living room chewing on her lower lip lightly as if she is trying to desperately wrap her mind around what's happening.

"Max…" Alec sighs sympathetically "I explained it six times on the walk over here. No matter how many times you hear it…its not gonna change anything, he's here and we have to deal with it". And as if on cue the baby cries out, albeit a little muffled since Alec still has him wrapped up. "Maybe we should unwrap him" he tries to smile to lighten the mood, but his attempt fails as Max remains rooted in her spot in her own world.

'Ben I can't carry you' Max replays the final moments of her favorite brother's life in her head, her face contorting in pain and sorrow. 'I'm so sorry Ben' she wraps her arms around herself as if the act will bring warmth to her suddenly bitter body.

"Max…Max" Alec calls her trying to get her attention and snap her out of whatever reverie she is in. "Max" he places a hand on her shoulder effectively snapping her back to reality.

"I killed him" she startles him with both her words and the distant look in her eyes, a look that he knows all too well. She may have run away from Manticore, but she was still a master at masking her emotions, and Alec had to admit it wasn't a look he enjoyed seeing her wear.

"Killed who Maxie" he uses her nickname to allure her away from shutting down completely.

"We were in the woods…we had just got done fighting…his leg was broken and Manticore was moving in" she continues, her emotions finally breaking threw as tears fall longly down her face. Alec listens, face showing trace amounts of remorse, his senses having picked up that she was referring to Ben.

'How can I feel sorry for a guy that was the cause of so much of my suffering? Hell because of him I had to go to psy-ops… twice' Alec thinks incredulously while Max pours her heart out to him.

"He was my brother and I killed him…he asked me to so I did" she cries harder, her tears running onto her neck "and then I just ran and left him there for them to take his body" she closes her eyes as if the act will alter her reality.

'That's how' Alec answers his own question looking at the pained expression on Max's face. Even though he considered himself a pretty damn good solider that was unaffected by phony sentimentality, he absolutely hated seeing Max hurt, even if he absolutely refused to admit that out loud. She had a way of doing that too him…making him care. Finally finding his voice, he speaks softly knowing that his words won't change anything she is feeling "Max I'm sorry".

Unaffected by his words she continues to let her tears fall, the baby having forced her to deal with the loss of her brother and the guilt that came with it since she was the reason he wasn't alive, an act that she had desperately tried to avoid ever since she met Alec.

"How weak am I?" she asks rhetorically remembering the deaths of Eva, Ben, Tinga, and Zack…deaths that she blames herself for.

"You're not weak" he watches her as she walks to his couch and puts her head in her hands.

"I cant believe I told you" she says once he sits next to her, her face still stained with tears and Alec remains quiet knowing that she just needs time to vent her frustrations and sorrow to somebody. 'I couldn't even tell Logan' she thinks getting more comfortable on his couch, sitting back pressing her back against his surprisingly soft pillows. Whether it was the pillows or her finally talking about Ben's death, she comes down from her temporary loss of control, cracking a small smile as she watches the baby squirm restless in Alec's arms. 'He looks uncomfortable' she thinks warmly. Reaching with apprehensive yet careful hands she grabs the tiny infant from him, holding him to her where he immediately calms down nuzzling into her.

"Sure, he calms down now…I guess I just don't have the means to properly cradle him" he teases pointedly looking at her chest where the baby looks quite comfortable, but Max is once again lost in her own world, lightly rubbing her nephew's back so that he stays relaxed...or was it so she stayed relaxed.

"Whenever I couldn't sleep or something had scared me, Ben would let me sleep with him" she breaks the silence and Alec sits back, fully intending to listen attentively this time "or he would make up these incredible stories to explain why things were the way they were. He always had a way of making me feel safe. There was nothing he wouldn't protect me from…even the Nomalies" she laughs slightly remembering her brother's protectiveness and Alec can't help but smile.

'She's feeling better…but what are we gonna do about the kid. I guess it can wait til later' he decides that's its best to give her some time to grieve. "Tell me about them" he asks catching her off guard.

After a slight pause she begins, a smile playing across her lips. "There were fifteen of us. Zack was our CO with Eva as our SIC… she was always arguing with Zack that he was too hard on us but he never listened. Then there was Tinga, she was the mother of the group, always babying us…well especially me since I was actually the baby" she lets out a small laugh "oh and Jondy…she was the crazy one always testing Lydecker…"she continues on into the night mesmerizing Alec with the stories of her siblings and their antics stopping only when she hears not one but two sets of light snoring.

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I had a hard time writing this chapter. I decided to have Max tell Alec right away about Ben instead of later because I needed them to have something to build a friendly relationship on since he is going to have to be apart of the baby's life seeing as he looks just like him…and Max being Max isn't going to abandon her nephew. I don't think it's too far fetched that she just opened up to him instead of OC or Logan because in HG she opened up to him pretty easily…and if it worked on the show I'm hoping it can work here (smiles). Please review .