ENOUGH Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone that's taken the time to review. I'm planning on replying to each of you personally but things have been a little hectic. My goal is to write and post two letters everyday until this is done. ;) Cutting it a little close today but I think I'll get it in under the deadline. Lol
Disclaimer: Still don't own it, so don't sue. Not that you can get blood from a stone.
ENOUGH
Max was sitting on top of the Space Needle brooding again. Mole had spotted her and called Alec's cell to let him know, putting an end to almost an hour of searching. It wasn't safe for any of them to be alone these days because the situation with the ordinaries was still too volatile. Max knew better than to leave Terminal City alone and she knew better than to leave without telling the rest of Command where to find her. Which meant that this was more than one of her usual "oh woe is me, my touch can kill my "we're not even like that" boyfriend" brooding sessions. Alec approached her carefully, always a wise thing to do when you haven't had a chance to assess Max's mood yet.
"Everything ok, Maxie?" He asked, common sense kicking in too late to keep him from using the hated nickname.
She growled without bothering to turn around. It was quite possibly the most feral sound he'd ever heard a Manticore alum make. And damn if that wasn't saying a lot.
"My name is Max." She snapped, ignoring his question.
"I'll take that as a no." He said, sitting down next to her, chaffing his hands together for warmth. For a long time he didn't get the appeal of the place, it was always so cold up here. Until Max told him about Ben and the high place, that is. Now he understood it, still didn't like it up here as much as she did, but he understood.
"So are you going to tell me what's got you all worked up or did you want to hear about my day?" They both knew it was a thinly veiled threat. Either Max would open up willingly or Alec would talk incessantly until she caved and told him the problem. He wasn't surprised when she decided to talk, she was stubborn not stupid, he thought with a grin.
A grin that fell away like it had never been when she turned to look at him and he caught his first glimpse of her tear stained face. This was Maxie, she didn't cry. The night that she told him about Ben, she'd shed a few tears but it was nothing like the hysterical sobbing it would have taken to get her in this state. "Max?" He asked, unable to hide his building concern.
"You sure you want to hear about this?" Max asked with a weary little smile, "It's more of the kind of thing I'd talk to O.C. about."
He shook his head, sending up a secret prayer that the talk wasn't about a menstrual cycle or something along those lines. "Whatever it is Max, you can talk to me about it. It's my job to lend an ear, a shoulder to cry on, or my body…" He trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, trying to wring a chuckle out of her. He winced with his usual amount of exaggeration when she slapped him upside the back of the head. "Come on Max! Its in my SIC contract." Her snort of amusement filled him with elation.
"Come on, tell Uncle Alec all about it." He reached out and pulled her up against his side, throwing his arm around her shoulder. Her skin was freezing, he realized, and pulled away long enough to pull his leather jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders.
He could see that the gesture surprised Max, she knew how much he hated the cold but it still sort of made him question just how much of a jack ass she thought he was. He didn't have much time to think about it though because she had finally decided to start talking.
"I went by to see Logan earlier."
"Okay…." Figures that Logan was involved, he always was.
"He was with Asha."
"Okay…." It took a minute but eventually he caught on to the subtext. "With Asha…like in bed with Asha?"
"More like on the table."
"Awww come on Max…enough already. You can fill me in but can we skip the graphic details because my imagination is just too vivid and as hot as I'm sure Asha is naked, the thought of Logan's hairy white ass is enough to make me sick to my stomach." He was babbling, he knew it, but he needed to stall for time, let his brain catch up a little with the latest development in the drama of Max's life. And then there was that rage that was starting to boil in the pit of his stomach.
"Sorry…go on. I'm shutting up now." He told her, miming zipping his mouth shut, locking it, and throwing away the key.
The sight of Logan and Asha had ripped a gasp from Max. She didn't notice it but the two of them did. Logan jumped up, desperately trying to yank his pants back up into place. "Max…this isn't what it looks like. Let me explain."
Asha was doing her best to cover herself. Max almost felt bad for the blond, the tears in her eyes indicating that Logan's attempt to explain her away cut deep. "You need to leave." She told the other woman, the words as close to a growl as humanly possible. She felt bad but not that bad. There was a flash of fear before Asha nodded and practically ran for the door.
"So if its not what it looks like than what is it Logan?" Max asked, head tilted slightly to the side, eyes watching his every moment like a jungle cat watching its prey.
"Max…" he cleared his throat nervously. "Since you came back…things have been different. You've been different. I've tried to make allowances but you're not the girl you were, the girl that I fell in love with." He took her raised eyebrow as encouragement to continue. "I don't know if its what they did to you there or if its because you've been spending too much time with Alec and Joshua but you're not…as human any more."
"So what you're telling me, is that you ended up banging Asha on the table because I'm not human ENOUGH?" The reasonable tone of voice that she started speaking in quickly dissolved into an undignified screech.
Alec surged to his feet. "He said that to you? He had the nerve to blame it on you and tell you that you weren't human enough?" He was shaking in rage. In a distant part of his brain he realized that his reaction was strange but it was too distant to concern him.
Max just nodded miserably. Tears starting to slip down her cheeks again.
"Why?" She asked him in a broken whisper. He never wanted to hear her sound like that again.
"Why what Maxie?" he asked, distracted by the various ways he could dismember Logan that were flashing through his head.
"Why wasn't I enough?"
Alec literally felt his jaw drop and he sank back down heavily to sit beside her. Reaching out he grabbed her jaw and forced her to turn and look at him.
"It wasn't you. You weren't the one that wasn't enough. You are beautiful Max. You are strong and smart and kick ass with the best of us. Logan's the one that's not enough. He's probably threatened because you're stronger and smarter and better looking than he could ever hope to be. He's trying to prove something with this whole Eyes Only gig, trying to make himself feel bigger than he is and I'm pretty sure that his ego couldn't handle you when you suddenly got the spot light and he wasn't the one calling the shots anymore."
Max had been starting at him, mouth open in surprise, since the second that he started to rant. He bit lightly on his lower lip for a second before he lost the internal battle he'd been fighting. Leaning forward, he cupped one hand around the back of her neck, fingers resting lightly on her barcode, his other hand sliding up to bury itself in her thick silken hair before he pulled her forward slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away. Seeing that she wasn't going to he lowered his head a fraction of an inch at a time, until his lips brushed feather light against hers.
A gentle sigh escaped her at the touch of his mouth on hers and it was all the encouragement he needed to let go of his control and kiss her with all of the passion that had been building in him since he'd stepped into her cell that first night back at Manticore. And she kissed him back.
"Logan is an idiot," He said matter of factly as he pulled back just a little, "It's not that you're not enough Max, it's that you're so amazing. I know I'll never get enough."
"Oh shut up and kiss me already Pretty Boy." She said with a happily little laugh before dragging him back down to her.
FROSTING
Max was standing in the kitchen humming happily to herself when she heard the sound of keys rattling as the door to the apartment was unlocked. "Hey you!" She called out, her whole face lighting up. "Come in here, you've got to see this!"
Alec came bounding into the kitchen, a wicked grin making his face look devilishly handsome and boyish at the same time. "Something smells good, whatcha makin' Maxie?"
"Cake," She told him unable to stop herself from grinning back at him, pointing to the chocolate cake cooling on the counter, waiting to be frosted. "This is the seventh try but I think I finally got it right." A small amount of doubt leaked into her eyes and caused her lips to turn downward into a frown.
"Cake?" He asked trying to sneak past her, intent on sampling it. She slapped his hand away, without even looking.
"Don't touch its not for you. Its for the birthday boy." She said seriously.
"Come on Max! Just one little taste, gotta let me sample it so we know if it turned out right, don't we?"
She rolled her eyes but allowed him to pinch a tiny piece off of the cake anyway. She watched anxiously as he popped it into his mouth, her good mood evaporating when he grimaced and swallowed painfully. "That bad?" She asked sadly.
"Horrible." He told her, hazel eyes twinkling with laughter. "I don't think we have any choice but to let me eat it all and save everyone else." He ducked away laughing as she swatted at him.
"Jerk." She muttered, turning away to grab the frosting, secretly pleased to have made something edible for once. Transgenics might have been able to do things like master the piano in a day but blessed few of them could cook. The only reason that the food in Terminal City hadn't been toxic was because the transhumans had done all of the cooking.
Alec headed into the living room and flopped down onto the couch as Max started to smear the frosting over the cake. "So what time does Joshua get here?"
"He's supposed to get here in about an hour. Everyone else is supposed to be here anytime now." She said, before starting to hum again, a knock at the door sounding as if on cue.
Before long the small apartment was full of friends and family. Logan, OC, Sketchy, Normal, Biggs, CeCe, Mole, Luke, Dix and the rest of the gang happily catching up with each other waiting for the birthday boy to arrive. Alec was the first to hear the sound of tell tale footsteps approaching, his hiss of warning sending the others scattering throughout the room to hide behind different pieces of furniture, only to jump out and yell "Surprise!" excitedly as the door opened. There was a grin on every face at the sound of the happy, if ear-piercing squeal of happiness that echoed in response.
Max came out of the kitchen carrying the cake she'd worked so hard to get perfect, five little candles lit, flames dancing merrily. "Happy Birthday, baby." She told the little boy cradled in Joshua's arms as everyone began to sing. She leaned against, Alec, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of their son. He looked just like his father, handsome and hazel eyes except for the dark hair that he'd gotten from her.
"He's gotten so big." She whispered to her mate, trying not to cry.
"Hey, is there any of that frosting left over?" He asked, trying not to laugh at the confusion on Max's face at the abrupt change of subject.
"A little, why?" She replied before catching a glimpse of the hungry look in his eyes.
"Oh…nothing, just thinking of something that it would taste so much better decorating." He informed her with practiced nonchalance before grinning.
"Smart aleck!" She accused, laughing and swatting at him playfully.
"Always Maxie, always."
