It's kinda rare that I do this, but I'm going to try and give you guys some real exposition for once. Since A.J. is a creature we don't yet know or love, and this place they're in is the closest Max will ever get to a family home, I felt they deserved a little attention.

This is the hardest type of writing for me, other than poetry. Creating a bond from nothing. Arfg. So be nice. Please?

Yeah. Enjoy. Dark Angel style Mommy moments ahead.

Chapter Three

Max only stopped once on her way back, to top us the gas in the van, and it was dark when she pulled up to the gates of her home. She flashed the lights twice, and pulled out a handheld CB from the glovebox.

"I'm back, kiddo," it was a short message, but it was all they needed. She got out the van and as she unlocked the padlock at the bottom of the gate she saw a lamp bobbing down toward her. A.J dealt with the remaining locks with the large bundle of keys attached to his belt. She put her arms through the bars to help him lift the heavy cross-bar down, then he pushed the gates out. Max had refitted them years ago so they opened outwards instead of in. Showed A.J how it was harder to break open a door that opened toward you. He'd never even thought about it until then.

She drove the van through and then helped him to re-secure the gates. He hopped in and she pulled them up by the front door. They left all the solar items for the morning, and just grabbed the clothes, medical supplies, and food. As an afterthought, Max grabbed the Winchester rifle and Mole's shotgun. She hung the latter on the hat stand by the front door, and put the other on the desk in the library.

In the kitchen, A.J was already rifling through the food she'd found. He looked un-impressed at the tins of soup, but broke out in a broad grin when he saw the sugar. They'd run out of their last batch almost eight months ago and the boy had a sweet tooth worse than his father's.

"Please tell me you did something useful with your day, boy." She quipped, ruffling his hair as she went to grab a mug off the rack behind him. He nodded toward the refrigerator.

"I milked Asha," he replied. Asha was their cow. An affectionate, if fat and lumbering, black and white Holstein. Max had never told him where she got the name from and she never intended to. She was a responsible adult after all.

Most days.

They also had two pigs called Reagan and Ronald.

She opened the fridge and sure enough, there were four bottles of milk in the door. She took out the one with the least in it and poured herself a glass.

"That all?" she asked, seating herself beside him at the kitchen table.

"All the milk or all I did?" he quipped. She smirked, she often did when she thought he was channelling his dad.

"Let's say both." She replied. She crossed her arms and leant back in her chair, one eyebrow arched.

"Then yes, that's all the milk, and no, I fixed the sink too." Max started. She looked over at the kitchen sink, and realized he was right. There was no sound or sign of dripping water for the first time in three months. He did that a lot. Surprised her with new skills that she didn't know he had. Max ignored the voice in her head that said it was just Manticore breeding and smiled at him.

"What would I do without you?" she asked affectionately.

"Live in a crappy house?" he suggested instantly. She flicked the back of his head.

"Don't curse."

"Live in a shack." He corrected. Max narrowed her eyes at him, but her son didn't even flinch at the glare that had once sent grown men running for the nearest exit. On the contrary, he grinned, and looked so damn proud of his own quick wit that Max couldn't help but grin too.

"Dork," she muttered.

"That may be," said A.J. sagely, "but you're my mom, so you've gotta love me any way." Max made a non-committal noise and moved over to the coffee pot. She sniffed the contents warily, added a couple of spoonfuls of instant granules and put it on to boil. She never thought she'd see the day when she'd be excited about instant coffee. But she hadn't found any of the real stuff for a very long time.

"Did you get what you were looking for?" asked A.J., his mouth full of potato chips. Max raised an eyebrow at him and he held the bag out to her sheepishly. She grabbed a handful before replying.

"I think so. But it looks pretty complicated. Got all the manuals too, so thought you might want to try and give me a hand with it in the morning?"

"Is it just solar panels for the roof?"

"Pretty much."

"So… I'll get to go on the roof?" Max hid her surprise. Sometimes she forgot he was just a kid, and that stuff like climbing on the roof of the house was still exciting to him. But then, maybe the high place was a genetic quirk.

"Maybe," she said evasively, "got to figure out how to put them together first."

"That'll be easy." It wasn't just childish bragging. He meant it. It was a statement, simple and true, that between the two of them, with their scientifically crafted intelligence and strength, building things was never a chore. And he was only getting smarter by the day. If Max was totally honest with herself, even though she was proud, some days she also found it a little bit creepy. It reminded her too much of herself, maybe. The ease and proficiency she had with anything technical as a child, that sometimes drew more attention than she intended.

But those were thoughts she had long ago filed away under 'unimportant'. Or more accurately, 'the dark place that is better forgotten about'. And so she did it again now.

"Well, how about we get the 'easy' part out of the way in the morning then?" she asked.

"Okay."

"Good. Decision, decided upon!" she said this with as deep a rumble as she could manage, like the ring announcers she had seen at boxing matches once upon a time. Something that she would never let her son near if he had been born into the world as it was. Not how it had become.

But then, if her son had been born into the world that was, she would never have had to keep him locked away, like some cheeky male Rapunzel. Looking at him, actually, his hair was getting pretty long. The sandy locks had reached his chin, and had a wave to them that looked like her natural curl fighting against his father's straight, thick mop. She smirked a little to herself at the image of Alec's face if he had ever heard his hair being called a 'mop'. She had been reading way too many old books in the last few years.

"You'll be up all night if you drink that." Said A.J., indicating the brewing coffee. Max raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm the adult." She stated. "I'm allowed." She purposefully poured herself a mug of coffee, even though it wasn't quite hot enough yet, and took a long swig. "But thanks for reminding me how late it is." A.J. almost visibly deflated at that statement. He knew where it was going. Max put her mug back down. "Rather than eating us out of house and home, you should be heading to bed, kiddo."

"But I'm not even a little sleepy." He complained.

"Irrelevant." She laughed. "I am bigger than you, therefore I win."

"You won't always be." He lifted his chin defiantly.

"Well you can argue with me about it then." She skipped over and in one quick motion, picked him up, turned him around and set him on his feet facing the door. "Until then, bed."

"That's a very long time to be in bed for."

"Shut up, smart-aleck, and get moving." She gave his rump a quick tap, and A.J. walked away, grumbling quietly under his breath about mothers and stupid rules and how much it sucked to be little. Max smiled quietly, took another sip of her too cold coffee, then set about securing their home for the night.