Leash Laws

Summary: Max and Alec learn disturbing news that will affect all of TC. To make matters worse, a Familiar comes looking for help and they can't say no. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.

So Max has never been afraid to ask the hard questions…

Chapter Three

"You seriously want to talk about this now?" Alec asked grimly.

"Yes," Max replied, her voice flat.

"Now. When we have a Familiar inside the gates, clearly up to something."

"I don't give a crap what the Familiar wants. I want an answer."

Alec shook his head, then sat down on the sofa. He dropped his head to his hands, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Finally, he raised his head to look at her, looking as sad as she'd ever seen him. "What do you want me to say, Max?"

"How about the truth."

"Max, there's no good answer here. If I say I was sent to have sex with you, and would have followed orders, you'll be mad. And if I say I was ordered to let you kick me into the door so you'd trust me enough to help get you out of there and infect Logan, then you'll still be mad. Either way, I'm screwed."

Max's eyes narrowed. Her mind was going a mile a minute and she had no idea what she was doing or saying. She just knew their lives sucked and she was angry. Beyond angry. She was furious with the world and the life that had been forced on them.

"Just answer the question, Alec. Were you actually my breeding partner or were you sent just to manage me so they could trap Eyes Only?"

Alec pinched the bridge of his nose as if his head hurt. "Max, please," he almost begged.

"Were you supposed to have sex with me or not?" she shouted.

Alec's hand dropped back to the sofa and for a moment he just stared at her, or rather through her. It was unnerving, like he wasn't even seeing her, then finally, he sat back, and his entire demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. He purposely relaxed and wiped away all traces of the distress she knew he was still feeling. He smirked, the old smirk from the day he walked into her cell. It was the old mask, the one that said he found the whole world vaguely amusing and ridiculous at the same time, and that he couldn't be bothered to care one way or the other. "You know me, Maxie. I'll screw anything that moves."

"You think this is funny?" she snapped.

Alec's smirk didn't waver. "Funny? I think this a perfect example of how screwed up our lives are. There's no good, no bad, just screwed and we've got to roll with it." He pointed at her. "You're the one making it worse by asking questions that won't help."

"I'm making it worse?" She didn't think it was possible, but she was getting even angrier. "We just found out that this generation of transgenics is going to be the only generation thanks to our freaky genetics and I'm making it worse?"

Alec shrugged, that oh-so-carefully-constructed nonchalance still in place. "Last time I mentioned a baby, you almost ran out of the room. So now you know. Probably not gonna happen." He raised an eyebrow. "You should be happy."

Max could have hit him. "There's a difference between choosing not to have a kid and being told you can't. And you still haven't answered my question."

"Why are you pushing this?" Alec demanded. "So you'll know that you've got a better shot at being a mother if we were really breeding partners?"

"Yes," she said through clenched teeth.

Alec snorted. "You gonna ditch me if I say no? Go find some guy with the right genes to make it happen?"

That stopped her short. "No, I-"

"Then what difference does it make?" Alec stood, his mask beginning to slip. He pinched the bridge of his nose again, his brow furrowed. "Either we can or we can't. Ancient history doesn't matter."

"Why won't you tell me?" she asked suspiciously.

Alec's hands became fists and he actually backed away from her. "Because I don't want to."

"Why not? Just tell me!"

"Because you're asking me to admit that I was willing to walk into that cell and have sex with a complete stranger, an unwilling stranger," he answered, shaking he was so angry. "You want me to admit that I was willing to make a child and then hand it over to Renfro without a second thought. You're asking me to admit that I was willing to do anything those bastards ordered me to do, then go back to my cell and wait for the next set of orders to come down." He was breathing hard, visibly disturbed, furious, although she couldn't tell anymore if was at her or Manticore. "Because I would have, Max. I would have done anything to protect myself."

"Alec-"

"You think you know what we went through?" he demanded. "You think any of us like bringing up the things we did, or what we were willing to do to keep ourselves out of Psy-Ops?"

Max's mouth nearly dropped open as it dawned on her. He was ashamed. Alec, her Alec, was ashamed of what he'd done, what he'd been willing to do. She was so used to him just shrugging everything off that, even after all this time, she hadn't realized just how torn up he was inside.

He started circling around the desk, pacing frantically. "Months, Max. Months. That's how long I was in Psy-Ops after you escaped. I was practically a drooler when they let me out. After Ben started pulling out teeth, I was sent back in. For months. And all they told me was that 493 was off his rocker and they needed to make sure it wasn't genetic. By the end, I was pretty sure I was nuts. I'd barely pulled myself back together when I messed up with Ra…" He drew in a struggling breath. "When I messed up with Berrisford. They ripped me into so many pieces after that…" Alec looked up, his haunted eyes finally meeting hers. "So yes, Max. They sent me in there to have sex with you and I would have. I should have. Maybe they wanted a baby or maybe they were just using the sex as another way to break you, but they also told me I needed to do whatever I had to do so you'd let me stay close. Either way, they knew you were a risk and they needed an inside man. Whether that means the DNA match-up was good? Only Manticore knows. All I do know is that having a kid, entrusting a kid, to a guy like me?" He huffed out a strained, miserable laugh. "Probably not the best idea you've ever had."

Max just stood rooted to the spot. She felt battered. She felt dirty, cruel. She and Alec never talked about Manticore if they could help it. She remembered Joshua talking about Alec. Outside, lots of pretty colors. Inside, darkness, confusion. Alec always seemed so sure of himself, confident to the point of arrogance. She'd really started to see the cracks after his programming was triggered and he shot her. When the ex-Psy-Ops crew deprogrammed him the cracks had become fissures, and now she could see she'd reopened those healing wounds.

"The deals you were making with the guards," Max tried. "I thought that meant you didn't mind breaking the rules… that you'd just do whatever was easiest. When I put up a fight, it was too much trouble."

Alec ran a hand over his face and turned away from her. "I was buying friends, Max. You get the guards what they want and they take it easier on you. Maybe they don't crack your head against the door post when they're dragging you out of the cell. Maybe you get a glass of water when they're done kicking your ribs in for insubordination. I was willing to take whatever small kindnesses my dealing could win me. If I couldn't deal my way into their favor, I figured maybe the money I'd stockpiled would bribe my way out of the worst of it."

Max suddenly wanted to wrap her arms around him. She wanted to comfort him for dredging up their history. And yet, for no other reason than the veterinarian telling her she probably couldn't have children, she suddenly felt a pang of longing. She'd never really thought about children. In the past couple of years, their lives had been disaster after disaster. They were living in a toxic craphole. Their lives were beyond dangerous. None of that made having a child a good idea. Yet, being told it could never happen… the sudden feeling of loss…

She'd never felt particularly good about her body. It had always done weird things. It never acted normally, and sometimes went totally haywire. But this… sterile… It felt as if her body had offered her yet one more betrayal.

Now that she thought of it, it probably shouldn't surprise her. How many times had she gone into heat? How many different men had she had sex with just because of her feline mating instincts? Thinking about the rest of the female population in TC, she realized there should have been a lot more pregnancies. If the breeding program had actually worked, most of the females should have come to TC in the same state as Gem, yet very, very few had, and despite all of the pairing up among them, still there was very little to show for it. She might as well hang a for sale sign on her womb, Max thought bitterly. She certainly wouldn't be using it, not that it would be any good to anyone else.

Or would it?

Max gasped at the thought, her eyes flying to Alec. What if her closest genetic match was some other transgenic? What if her only chance was to have some other man's child? What if she was his only chance?

"Max?" Alec was watching her warily again, sadness clouding his expression.

"I…"

He held up a hand to stop her. "You know what? Now is not the time for this." Alec shook his head. "We've got a Familiar waiting for us."

"Yeah." Max shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, you're right." She looked up and their gazes met before skittering away again just as quickly. An awkward silence fell, unspoken words hanging in the air.

"Come on," he finally said with a sigh. "We've got to see what this guy wants. We can deal with this later."

Alec walked past her, not touching her as he usually would have. She felt the loss as keenly as she suddenly felt the loss of children she would never have.

Alec.

Alec was more than just a man, more than just another transgenic in the same boat she was. He was her husband, her friend. What would it mean if their genetics really weren't compatible? Just the feeling of awkwardness between them was hurting her. What if this news made it even worse? Could she bear any more distance between them? Even now she wanted to comfort him for the pain she'd caused, and she wanted him to comfort her. She was confused and thought that somehow if he would hold her, it would all start to settle in her mind.

"Come on," he said again, now holding the door open for her. She went through the door ahead of him, averting her eyes just as he was doing.

They walked side by side, although not touching. They got plenty of odd looks as they crossed the main floor of Command. Max wasn't sure if it was because news of the Familiar on the grounds had gone through the ranks, or whether it was that they could feel the tension between their leaders.

As they walked outside and headed for the building near the gate where the conference rooms were, Max noticed a small crowd was gathering. They were completely silent, milling around outside the building and Max could only assume they knew there was a Familiar inside.

As Max and Alec approached, Sig stepped out from the crowd. He was a butt ugly, bulldog of a transgenic and had a personality to match. After Max faced him down, followed by an actual knocking-down by Alec, he'd decided that he was willing to follow their lead. That didn't mean, however, that he still wasn't a thorn in their side. Even when the guy agreed with an order, he had to be a jerk about following it.

"You let this guy in?" Sig demanded.

"Yes," Max answered simply.

"There a reason he's still breathing?"

Alec snorted. "Because we won't learn anything from a dead Familiar."

"Who says we need to learn anything from him?" Sig growled.

"Better we know what they're up to than fumble around trying to figure it out later after they've already stuck it to us," Alec snapped.

Max could see that he was still agitated, although he was trying to hide it. Sig must have realized it too because he studied Alec closely for a second. It was rare for them to see Alec out of sorts, especially when Max was beside him. Normally, it was only the thought of her in trouble that set him off.

"Fine," Sig finally said. "But don't expect us to like it."

"Trust us," Max said grimly, "we don't like it either. And if we don't like what he has to say, you can help the security detail handle him, all right?"

Sig smiled at the thought of impending violence and stepped out of their way. "Deal."

The others let them pass without incident, but Max could tell that no one was happy. White's people had been trying to kill them for too long, and had been too good at their job.

Max and Alec walked into the building and down the corridor. There were more guards standing outside the conference room. Fred and Barney who made up Max and Alec's normal security detail were at their posts. There were two other guards, but they would stay outside. Fred and Barney would be going into the conference room with them.

"Guys," Max said by way of greeting. "Any problems?"

Fred shook his head. "Not so much as a peep out of him. We walked him in here and he's been sitting in there quietly ever since."

"You search him?" Alec asked.

Barney raised an eyebrow, but as usual it was Fred who answered. "You didn't hire us for our looks." He smiled and his wolfish teeth made their own statement of the owner's ferocity.

Max turned toward Alec. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he replied, although he didn't quite look at her when he answered and he was still standing a little too far away.

Fred seemed to notice the chill in the air and looked like he wanted to comment on it, but instead said, "Then let's get to it," and opened the conference room door.

Immediately, they were all on the alert. Barney and Fred entered the room first, followed by Max and Alec. The two guards stationed themselves on either side of the door, while Max and Alec walked to the conference table and stood facing the Familiar.

The man stood as they entered. He was above average height and had very dark, shoulder length hair. His nose was a little too big for his face and his mouth too small, but his dark eyes were full of intelligence, watching them closely. He was dressed in a gray suit, neatly pressed.

"Who are you?" Max asked without preamble. "And why are you here?"

"My name is Ingram." The man smiled, closer to a smirk. "And I'm here to hire you."

Well, hopefully that much awkwardness will hold you until the next chapter. More soon…