Someone to watch over me

By Sinful Starlet

Disclaimer: guess what - Dark Angel still doesn't belong to me! I tried to convince them to give it up, but it's not working so far!

Rating: I'm gonna say R but only because all my other ones have been 'R' rated!

Summary: What do piano music, family reunions, gunshot wounds, torture, hospital scenes and big, relatively slushy happy endings have in common? Well they're all in this story for one! Now doesn't that sound like a synopsis?!

Author's note: Right - here we go! Sorry it's taken SOOOO long to finally update this but things have been kinda hectic! Never try to write chapter fanfic while studying for A levels and have a Dad prowling around because he's taken time off work to help you study!!! This is honestly the first time I've managed to get near my computer in over a month!

Anyway - rant over! One of the X5 escapees features in this chapter as part of the main story kicking off (kicking off - god help me, the world cup's taken over my writing style!!). Not gonna say who it is yet - READ and find out! Plus oodles of M/A sweet angsty type stuff! Enjoy! *SS*

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PART #9

The club was starting to look a little more atmospheric as Max and Alec arrived there that evening. It still wasn't open, Mitchell wanting Alec to rehearse with this 'Nina' before then, but things were a lot more business like. They actually got stopped by a bouncer at the club door before Mitchell came out to let them in. "Sorry about that", he said as they walked inside, "Tony can be a little...overbearing on occasion!" "Not a problem", Alec said, reaching for Max's hand as they walked down the steps into the centre of the club.

"Okay", Mitchell said, once they were there, "well Nina should be here in about ten minutes she said, so...hello!", he stopped then, apparently only just noticing Max then. "And who might you be darling?" "Oh this is Jessica Guerin", Alec said, quickly interrupting, "she's my girlfriend". Max played along, flashing Mitchell a huge smile, a la 'Dorothy' - the flake she pretended to be a few months ago on that job for Logan. "Well aren't you little miss heartbreaker?", Mitchell joked kindly, kissing Max's hand, "She's quite a catch buddy!"

"Yeah I noticed!", Alec smiled, squeezing Max's other hand. "I just came by to wish my man here good luck!", Max enthused, hugging closer to Alec as she turned to face him, "I have to get to work now, but I'll see you later okay?" "Count on it!", Alec grinned, letting her kiss him rather than trying anything again, hoping to prevent himself from getting into too much trouble with her later. She kissed him lightly, then, flashing another huge smile at Mitchell, she made her way back out of the club, waving to both of the guys as she went.

Mitchell whistled once he figured that she was out of earshot, but she could hear everything anyway. Alec had a microphone hidden in the collar of his shirt so Max could hear everything that was being said. "Damn!", Mitchell said, grinning, "I don't know how you found a girl like that, but if I were you I'd hold onto her like my life depended on it!" "That's actually the plan!", Alec replied, also smiling, perfectly well aware that Max could hear, "She doesn't know, but I'm actually planning to propose next week on our anniversary!" "Congratulations!", came another voice behind them, making both guys whirl round to see who it was, "She's a lucky girl!"

* * *

Max paused when she heard that - 'Nina' must be early she thought. She had been making her way around the back of the club, trying to find a back way in so she could wait for Alec and listen in on what was happening. She had just managed to find a door and knocked out the one guard there, before dragging him inside and out of the way. She found the back of the staging area where the piano was set up and got herself into a comfortable position to sit and wait for him, while being out of sight the whole time.

* * *

She was right as it happened, Mitchell smiled and embraced the new entrant to the conversation, complementing her on her 'fabulous' appearance! "Thanks Mitch!", she smiled, flashing the same winning smile to Alec. There was something about her that seemed ever so familiar to him at the time, but he couldn't figure out why. "So who's the new guy?", Nina asked, offering him her hand to shake. "Max Caulfield - replacement piano guy", he said to introduce himself, knowing that would cost him with the real 'Max' later!

"Good to meet you", she said, "Nina O'Brien". He took in the sight of her fairly appreciatively. She was very beautiful with long blonde hair and a stunning blue evening dress, and he could practically hear Max telling him off as his mind wandered (even though that wasn't possible - she could hear him, but he couldn't hear her). He started to feel under dressed. He was wearing a white shirt and black suit, but had refused to wear the tie Logan had offered, though Mitchell didn't seem to care.

He caught Nina's eye as he looked up again and he could have sworn that she was trying to tell him something with that look, but he couldn't tell what. "Okay then", Mitchell said, moving things along, "we've got a few minutes before opening so why don't you two get acquainted?", he prompted, gesturing to the piano. "I've got a set list", Nina said as they moved away from Mitchell, "but if you don't know any of these we can mix it up a little". Alec quickly glanced over the list and he found a couple that he didn't know, which he quickly substituted.

"What about 'Someone to watch over me'?", Nina asked, "You know - just to warm up - see what you're doing". Alec nodded and started the introduction to the song, letting his eyes sweep the club as he did so, getting a lay of the land. But his attention was quickly distracted as she started to sing. She was really good, even he could tell that, her soft and slightly breathy voice mixing perfectly with his emotive playing.

*~ There's a somebody I'm longing to see

I hope that he

Turns out to be

Someone to watch over me ~*

Max steeled herself as she listened backstage. This 'Nina' was good, she had to admit that, but it wasn't her that was holding her attention. She recognised the song that Alec was playing from that morning at Joshua's, and the same feeling washed over her. She found herself getting more and more drawn into the music, an image of his fingers dancing over the keys coming to the surface in her mind.

She only came round when the song finished, the sudden silence jolting her back to reality. She shook off whatever thoughts had been running through her mind, forcing herself to concentrate on why they were there in the first place. "Well I think we can call that a success!", Mitchell said, clapping his hands appreciatively, "You two are fabulous together!" "Though not too fabulous right?", Nina joked, smiling seductively at Alec, which he couldn't help but notice, "What would your girlfriend think?"

PART #10

The evening passed fairly slowly after that for Max. She was starting to get cramp in her legs from sitting curled up for so long. She did think about getting up and stretching but she didn't want to risk being seen. She also wanted to make sure she was still in com-range with Alec. She couldn't work out why it was bothering her so much, but the fact that this 'Nina' was getting so cosy with him was really getting to her.

She didn't get too much longer to think about it though, because just at that moment

Alec's voice crackled into her earpiece, making her focus again. He had the microphone turned up as loud as he could so he barely had to whisper for her to hear him, meaning that no one could see him talking. He had noticed Anderson walking into the club and was giving Max a heads-up. Max dialled Logan's number into Alec's cell phone which he had left with her. "Logan he's here", she said, "hold on a second".

She kept the call running while she waited for Alec to come through with some information. "No go", Alec said after a few more minutes had gone by, "they're just meeting tonight - the deal's not going down till tomorrow". Max cursed under her breath, realising that they were going to have to come back and do this all again the next night, but she relayed the information to Logan. "Thanks Max", he replied, "I'll make sure Matt Sung is at the club tomorrow, there's nothing else we can do tonight".

She agreed and hung up, thankful that they only had about another hour to wait before the club closed. The evening did eventually come to a close though, and Alec was half way through telling Max that when he saw Mitchell walking towards him. He shut up quickly and turned off the microphone receiver, managing to pull it out of his collar before Mitchell saw a thing. "Great show tonight man", Mitchell said, shaking his hand warmly and patting him on the back. "Same time tomorrow?", Alec asked and Mitchell agreed, going off to have a word with one of the bouncers about something else.

Alec stood up, closing the lid of the piano and was just about to go and meet Max when Nina stopped him. She sidled over to him, making sure no one was watching and then dragged him round a corner out of sight. Alec whistled under his breath, damn this really was not the time for this, regardless of how hot she was! As soon as she was sure that no one had seen them though, she turned back to him, whispering quickly. "Ben?" Alec panicked then, who was this girl and how did she know Ben?

"It's me Syl", she replied, helpfully answering his question for him, showing him her barcode. Alec weighed it over and realised that she must have been one of the '09 escapees with Max and Ben. "You shoulda gotten here earlier tonight", he said, "my so-called 'girlfriend' would have wanted to see you". Syl frowned for a second, then guessed, hoping she was right, "Max?" Alec nodded quickly. Syl was practically tearing up by then, "She's really alive?"

"She is and she's fine", Alec confirmed, realising that Syl would have had no way of knowing what had happened to Max once she was taken back to Manticore. "Look I can't say much more right now, but there's something major going down", Syl went on, "can you get Max to meet us here after work tomorrow?" Alec nodded, but before he could ask her anything else, they heard Mitchell calling for her.

She flashed him a smile, "It's good to see you again big brother!", she grinned before she walked back out to greet Mitchell. He waited for a few seconds, then sneaked a look round the corner. Luckily Syl was keeping Mitchell busy so he took that chance to sneak out of the club unnoticed. He snuck round the back of the building, watching for any more security but they had all gone home now. He practically walked straight into Max, and boy, did she look pissed!

"Nice to see you too sweetie!", he joked and instantly regretted it. "What the hell took you so long?", she hissed, "The club closed 25 minutes ago!" "Hey sorry Max!", he snapped back, not sure why she was so mad, "Mitchell caught me - what was I supposed to do?!" Max looked up at him questioningly, but she didn't buy it. "So it was the old sleazy guy that you were talking to? You sure it wasn't little miss karaoke? I swear to god Alec if you were trying to get yourself----"

"Hey!", he cut her off, now angry himself, "Is that really what you think of me?" She stopped then, feeling bad for going so far, she really hadn't meant to, but damn, he was infuriating at times! "I'm sorry", she said quickly, "I guess I've just got too much stuff on my mind right now - I didn't mean to take it out on you". He smiled back at her - all was forgiven.

"But did you really have to pick 'Max' as your alias?", she questioned, jokingly this time, a smile crossing her lips. "Well you know it is a guy's name too!", Alec replied, knowing she was teasing him, and teasing her back, "And is that any way to talk to your future fiancé?!" "I don't believe I said 'yes' yet!", Max joked, playfully slapping his arm, gesturing for them to start walking back to her bike.

"And anyway", Alec started, remembering what he had to tell her, "it's a good job I did stick around to be chatted up by Nina...", he stopped as he saw Max jokingly look offended again, "...because she just so happens to be a friend of yours". Max frowned, not sure where this was going. "Could say she was family", Alec went on, lowering his voice instinctively, "you know anyone by the name of '701'?" "Syl?", Max said, stopping him and gripping his arm firmly, "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure!", Alec replied, letting his eyes fall to her hand on his arm, but she didn't withdraw it, "She was just slightly pleased to find out that you were okay after you got taken back to Manticore". "What else did she say?", Max questioned earnestly. "She said something major was going down - she asked if I knew where you were. She wants us to meet her after work tomorrow". Max nodded, taking this in. It had been quite a few months since she had last seen her sister, and she had never had the chance to tell her that she was okay, or what had happened to Zack.

"And Max?", Alec said, jolting her out of her private thoughts, "She called me 'Ben' - she doesn't know". Max took this in grimly, looking to him for answers. "I didn't get the chance to say anything - it happened really fast, but you can tell her yourself tomorrow right?" Max nodded firmly, seemingly only now realising that she was still gripping his arm. She let go, looking a little embarrassed and turning round to start walking again. "You okay?", Alec said, after a minute, already knowing really what was the matter.

She was worried about telling Syl about Ben, he could see it in her eyes before she even said anything. "It's just--", she started weakly, but she just trailed off, unable to finish. "It's okay Max", Alec said, soothingly, feeling a little bolder and catching her up, letting one arm rest round her shoulders, "Syl's your sister - she of all people would never judge you for what happened to him. None of us ever would". She knew he was right, and she also knew what he meant by 'us'.

He meant all of the Manticore brood. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, they always were going to be an 'us' separated from the rest of the human race, but she was only now starting to see that that might not be such a bad thing. She thought about pulling away from Alec, letting his arm fall from her shoulders, but she didn't. There was something comforting about him right now, and she needed to feel that from someone.

They didn't say too much for the rest of the night. Alec called Logan to report in and explain about Syl, but stopped short of saying that they would come over. "It's late man", he said, making Max check her watch and seeing he was right, "we're not coming over now. Max has had a long day and she needs to go home". Max seemed to wake up as she heard those last words - Alec defending her against Logan's occasionally oppressive 'protection'. She could tell there was an awkward moment between them as Alec rolled his eyes.

She knew Logan only wanted her to come over to stop her from going home with Alec. Maybe they were a little more convincing than she thought. But she found herself siding with Alec. He cursed under his breath and then held the phone out to her, "He's insisting on talking to you", he said, rolling his eyes again. She took the phone quickly, dropping her eyes to avoid his gaze and spoke quickly.

He tried to convince her to come over again, supposedly so they could talk about Syl and what her being back in Seattle could be about, but she just cut him off mid-sentence. "Logan, nothing else is going to happen tonight. Like Alec said, it's really late, I am actually tired and we're going home now". She almost choked as she realised exactly what she had said, but couldn't say anything else as Logan quickly said a 'goodnight' and then hung up on her.

Alec took the phone from her without a word, putting it back in his coat pocket. "Come on girl!", he said, trying to jolly her along, "I'll let you drive!" She couldn't help but smile then, jutting her lip out in mock indignation, "Let me drive?!" He held his hands up in mock surrender, "No more please!", he said through laughing, "I'm too tired to fight with you properly!" Max smiled as she unlocked her bike and Alec got on behind her, just trying to push any thoughts of Logan to the back of her mind as she drove off into the night.

AN. I know - kind of a cliff hanger again! Sorry! But I really am getting there! I promise, and this was quite a long chapter. LOADS happens in the next part - and if you're not confused yet - you soon will be! *SS*