Seeing Double

Chapter Three

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There was no slow climb into consciousness this time. The click of the door shutting snapped Alec into awareness. He tensed immediately and opened his eyes, ready for fight or flight.

He could hear someone breathing near to him, the rate of respiration picking up slightly as though the watcher was also anticipating possible action. Alec rolled his head cautiously towards the sound.

A figure rose from a nearby chair and stepped forwards into the lamplight, stopping at a distance Alec recognised as being near enough to react, but not close enough to be at risk from a first strike.

The familiar scent flooded his nostrils again; at the same time his gaze fixed on the face staring intently in his direction. Green eyes met green eyes. Alec shot upright in shock, swinging his legs to the floor, his rapid movement causing a corresponding step backwards from the other man.

The abrupt change in altitude was a mistake. The mirror image of his face was suddenly right in front of him as hands braced his shoulders, preventing him from face planting the dirty carpet.

"Whoa… easy there."

Alec's eyelids fluttered. He lost a few seconds and came back to find his forehead leaning heavily on a blue shirt. He recoiled instinctively, pushing weakly at the arms holding him upright.

"Who the hell are you?" He managed.

"Right back at ya dude." The man sounded disgruntled, stepping away a little but still keeping one steadying hand on Alec's shoulder.

Alec frowned, trying to pull the man's grip from his shoulder and wondering why he didn't have the strength to prise the fingers loose. He was fine. He didn't need help; he just needed to sit a minute.

The door burst open and a tall guy entered, precariously balancing a cardboard tray of coffee, a large paper takeaway bag tucked under one arm. He came to an abrupt halt, staring at them from under a mop of brown hair.

"Dean, what have you done to him?"

"What! What have I done? Oh that is just typical of you Sammy."

Looking pissed, Dean pulled away his supporting hand, ripping his sleeve free from Alec's grasp.

Alec had a brief, glorious sensation of triumph and then promptly toppled off the bed. Dean caught him just before he hit the floor, hefting him up and dropping him back onto the hard mattress with a grunt.

"Stay down will ya. You're heavier than you look."

Alec took a deep breath and forced himself back up to lean on his elbow.

"I've gotta go," he bit out, glowering at Dean.

"Right. Sure you do. Good luck with that." Sarcasm laced Dean's tone as he glared right back.

Breakfast safely deposited on the table, Sam approached slowly, stopping well before he encroached on Alec's self-imposed bubble of space.

"Hey," he said quietly. "You're Alec, right?"

There was a flicker of acknowledgement on Alec's face as he sat up in slow stages.

"I'm Sam," continued Sam smoothly. "And this here's my brother, Dean. We're not gonna hurt you."

Alec snorted, a look of disdain settling on his features.

"Too right you're not." He glanced around quickly. "Where am I?"

"A motel, on the outskirts of Seattle."

"Why'd you bring me here? What do you want?" There was accusation in the tone.

Dean's voice broke in. Deeper, gruffer than Alec's, yet still somehow the same. "You fainted in the street, kiddo."

"I did not faint." Definitely a higher note now, Sam thought in amusement, as Alec scowled. "And I'm not a kid, Deano."

"Whatever dude." Dean sounded irritated. "Maybe I should've just left your ass lying there."

Alec had his feet on the floor now, his hands braced on the edge of the bed, seriously considering making a break for the door. He paused, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Why didn't you?"

Dean simply raised an eyebrow.

"Ahh, you picked me up because we look alike? Well I hate to break it to you but I'm not a long lost little brother. Because you are older than me right? You're looking a little worn around the edges there fella. You might want to take better care of yourself. It's a shame to ruin a masterpiece like this."

The words dripped sarcasm. Alec smirked, then raised his eyebrows airily.

"So, I'm gonna go now?"

He stood carefully, swayed, swallowed heavily, then forced a little grin.

"You're not gonna try and keep me here against my will or anything shady like that? No? Well if you'll just point me in the right direction..."

"Now you hold it right there!" Dean's eyes blazed.

"Dean, wait." Sam interceded hurriedly. "Alec, look, we were only trying to help, okay? Now we can take you back to where Dean picked you up, but you've got to be wondering why you look so much like my brother here? I know I am."

Alec smirked again. "I look way better than him. What can I say? Just good genes I guess."

Truth was, he was finding it hard to stand upright; bright spots were gathering rapidly at the edges of his vision. He was reasonably sure he wouldn't make it as far as the door.

As much as he knew he should leave, Dean's resemblance was uncanny. He was clearly a few years older, his voice a little deeper, the bones of his face more clearly defined, more bulk around the shoulders. Too many years older to have been an earlier X series, but he was no transgenic anyway, Alec was sure of that.

He'd have put it down to a spooky coincidence, that one in ten million chance of actually meeting your mythical double, if it wasn't for the scent. Shared looks were one thing. The same scent? That was something else. And Alec's enhanced sense of smell told him it was identical to his own, minus only his own hint of cat. Sam, biologically related to Dean, smelt similar but not quite the same, like a different blend of a distinctive perfume.

Despite his instincts to escape, Alec found himself intrigued. Curiosity killed the cat, he thought wryly; he wanted to find out more about these two strangers.

First though, he had to sit down.

Now.

His knees folded of their own accord and he plumped back onto his ass on the bed, trying to ignore the fact that his ears were ringing and his vision was going patchy.

Sam, of course, saw right through the false front. Alec's face was paper white, his freckles stark against the skin. It was a familiar look, one he saw on Dean's face all too often.

"Okay," he said kindly, ignoring Dean's glare and acting as though this was all just a normal morning. "We'll drop you off later. I need to eat first… I brought us some breakfast."

He headed over to the table, deliberately turning his back on Alec and fishing in the paper bag. A smell of breakfast burger filled the room.

Alec's stomach gurgled. Now his nausea was passing he was suddenly hungry. Actually he was starving. He swallowed against the surge of saliva, wondering if he was included in the breakfast offer. There did seem to be three cups of coffee. He looked hopefully at the paper bag.

"Alec!"

Dean threw a wrapped breakfast burger at him. It was moving at some speed. Alec snatched it out of the air with ease and ripped back the paper. There was a little curl at the corner of Dean's mouth that made him feel he'd passed, or maybe even failed, some sort of obscure test.

He was about to sink his teeth into the tantalising warmth when it occurred to him that it may be poisoned or drugged. The thought was dismissed immediately. If they'd wanted to harm him, they'd have done it already. He bit down on the burger with gusto, completely missing Sam's amused chuckle.

By the time he'd sucked down a strong coffee, Alec was feeling more himself, but he couldn't ignore the insistent pressure in his bladder any longer. He stood up carefully and edged towards the bathroom, slightly surprised when there was no protest when he went in and locked the door.

There was a window; it was small and high up, but he guessed he would be agile enough to fit through, even in his current shaky state.

Dean's voice filtered through the door, interrupting his thoughts. "You wanna try going out the window, be my guest. But don't expect me to cut you loose when you get stuck."

In the end Alec decided the possibility of becoming wedged and being left behind wasn't worth the risk. He relieved himself, splashed some water on his face and slipped back into the main room. He needed to get back to his part of town. He could call in sick for a day or two; Normal would be okay with that. Perhaps Max would know something about his mystery illness?

He pulled up short. Dean was leaning casually across the main doorway.

"So… Alec. How about you tell us a bit about yourself?"

A defensive mask of charm and deflection appeared on Alec's face. It made Dean uncomfortable; he wondered uneasily if his own mask was as flimsy.

Alec lounged back against the wall, obviously trying to disguise the fact that his knees were visibly shaking. He looked up at Dean through his lashes, a self-deprecating smile on his face.

"You'd be bored."

"Try me." Dean crossed his arms.

"There's nothing to tell. I live in Seattle, I'm a bike messenger. That's it."

"A bike messenger?"

"Yeah, you know... parcels, packages."

"Dean..." Sam jiggled the Impala keys. "He's not what you thought he was, okay? Let's drop him off and get out of here. We're meant to be working a job, remember?"

Dean sighed. Every fibre of his being wanted to know more about this stray, but there was no logical reason for not taking him back into Seattle. Sam was right. The job wasn't going away. He was going to have to write the encounter off as just another strange event in an even stranger life.

"Yeah, okay." He picked up his duffle and headed for the Impala, leaving Alec to struggle into his boots.

It was a silent ride back into the city.

Alec starting off sprawling on the back seat, playing it cool and trying to convince himself that it wasn't going to bother him one bit when the brothers dropped him off and drove away. He wasn't going to spend the rest of his life wishing he'd found out more about them.

As the Impala growled into the main streets he sat forwards a little. Seattle looked… odd. Too clean, too busy. Smartly dressed people and shiny cars wherever he turned. No graffiti, no trash, no crumbling infrastructure. At first he didn't even recognise the street where he'd collapsed.

"Here you are dude."

Dean pulled up next to the alleyway. He'd intended to just drive off, but there was something distinctly off about Alec's expression as he climbed wordlessly out of the car. Every instinct pinging, Dean put the Impala in 'park' and stepped out onto the sidewalk instead.

Alec was staring up the alleyway, his shoulders tense.

"Alec?"

Alec turned to look at him. He appeared confused, maybe even scared?

"Alec? You okay there?"

His double looked suddenly very young, very vulnerable and very ill.

"Have you got some place to go?"

It seemed as though Alec was about to speak, but his gaze slipped past Dean to focus on something up in the air. His breath puffed out in a little shocked huff and the remaining color in his face leached away.

Dean turned on his heel, staring behind and above him. Nothing. Just buildings and the Space Needle outlined against the blue sky.

Alec froze. The Space Needle was pristine, undamaged. He swung his head back to look at the street, back again at the Space Needle.

This wasn't the Seattle he knew. This wasn't the place he'd left his bike and parcels. He understood, with horrifying clarity, that in this place there was no Max, no Joshua, no Jam Pony.

He'd lost his unit.

He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what had happened.

He was lost.

"Alec! Come on man, breathe! Deep breaths, come on."

A hand was rubbing his back, another holding his shoulder. Alec found he was on the Impala seat, his feet on the sidewalk and his head between his knees.

He followed orders, dragged in some air, then some more.

When he managed to raise his head, he realised the only things he knew now were the Impala and the two men at his side.

Continued in Chapter 4…

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