Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel

Pairing: To Be Determined

Rating: T

Warnings: a lot of original characters.

Note(s): thank you for reading, reviewing, adding this to your favorites and alerts.

Chapter Three

6 AM. What the hell was she doing up this early, heck what the hell was he doing up this early. "CeCe why are we doing this at this time of day again," stifling a yawn, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"You didn't have to come," she snapped, shifting through papers searching for the slightest clue on where to begin with her new agenda.

With a frown he watched her. Sure he was happy she was out of funk, but this was insane. Finding dad's Magic 8 was like getting his their hands on the code to the nuclear arsenal, frigging impossible. But if it distracted her long enough to forget her despair, he was all for it. Besides, a little madness never hurt anyone. "I'm only here to make sure you don't get your ass into any legal trouble or otherwise," propping his feet on his father's desk and leaning back further in the leather chair.

"This would go faster if you got off your ass and helped me," she remarked, moving to shift through another cabinet. She had to find something, rather she needed to find something or she'd lose her mind. If the eight were what he died protecting; then they'd know why they were so important to their father.

True, but what exactly was he supposed to help her find? It's not like dad was brain dead to label a file Magic 8:My Big Secret, "look for what exactly? We don't even know if the file is here or if it even exists."

"Look, if you're going to be a pessimist, then leave me alone, Biggs. I don't need your negativity here –it's not helping," she sighed tiredly, not finding anything already weighing her down.

"Hey…hey," moving over to her quickly, massaging the tension from her shoulders to soothe the helplessness he'd evoked. "I'm just… I'm an idiot. I'll help you look for whatever –no complaints," he hugged her, placing a soft kiss in her hair.

She touched his arm, "You're all I got now, B. Please just help me in this."

"I'll try my best," he promised.

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At first she had been pissed at her new babysitting assignment, but Max realized that 494 wasn't so bad sedated. Heck, he was tolerable. Maybe it was the fact that for once the idiot needed someone. As much as he was sociable he never really needed anyone and wasn't afraid to show it. So far it had been 24hrs and no incident, probably because he was still asleep.

"What did you do to piss off 'Deck?" his husky voice inquired, hazel-green eyes fluttering open regarding her with light amusement.

Well that's the end of tolerable, rolling her eyes. "Someone's got to help with damage control, since your sorry ass got high on Renfro's to-do list," discreet eyes noting the paleness of his skin. He still wasn't 100%, she could tell not only because of the paleness, but the tiredness and dark circles under his eyes.

"What can I say, people can't help being attracted to me," he joked, reaching for the jug of water on the nightstand, but she beat him to it and poured it herself, handing it to him. "Thanks."

"You're hot," she commented on his elevated temperature, that was high enough to practically scorch her skin at the brush of his fingers.

A grin pulled at his lips, "you finally noticed or are you finally voicing you inner most thoughts?" his dry throat moving back to normal state, his thirst quenched.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm totally in love with you," she said, sarcasm dripping in every word as she settled back in her seat. I take it back, utterly intolerable even when sick, she noted mentally.

He still didn't understand why she still disliked him so much. He admitted on hitting on her once, but she'd turned him down and that had been that. His golden rule was never go back, and hadn't tried after that day, instead settling on riling her because he could. "Who wouldn't be?"Stating it as if it was mere fact, he had always been well aware of his good looks and its effects on the female, and sometimes male, species.

"Do you ever listen to what you say or do you just spout bull shit hoping no-one notices?" she feigned false curiosity. His arrogance and conceit had to have its limits, right?

He chuckled, taking another gulp of water, "I wonder what pisses you off more –the fact that it is totally true or you know it," What, he just couldn't help baiting her when it was so damn easy riling her up.

"You know, I liked you better knocked out. At least then you were the a bit bearable," refusing to get baited, just to amuse him.

"Now, 452, that hurt. Are you always this mean to sick people?" placing a hand over his heart for dramatic emphasis, a false serious expression on his face.

This guy is unbelievable, "No. Just the jackasses, you know, like you," a sickly sweet smile on her face, to accompany the less than sweet remark.

"Has anyone ever told you your bedside manner sucks? Seriously no compassion at all," he tsked. Yeah, he liked her fiery, because 452 was beautiful but completely sexy when angry. He still didn't know why on earth Lydecker thought it was a good idea to have her watch him he didn't know, but he couldn't dismiss that he kept him entertained.

"How about you do us a monumental favour and …SHUT UP, like a good sick person?" entertaining the thought of smothering him with a pillow more and more.

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"All of them are off the ice as ordered, Sir," Dr. Hollander reported once Denny Morgan stepped closer to the observation window to watch the proceedings.

As much as the man had a handsome face at his age, he always managed to intimidate with his presence. Why he always insisted on dealing with her specifically when visiting the facility was beyond her.

He raised an eyebrow, feeling her eyes on him, watching warily like he would pounce on her at any minute. "Anything else?" he asked, turning swiftly to catch her in the act. She did make a pretty dear caught in headlights.

"Y-yes sir," averting her eyes from his penetrative gaze, a blush coloring her cheeks, "Fox, Red, Nikki and Angel are all undergoing some type of cellular change –we are monitoring them, but so far it looks harmless." Reading from the notes she'd taken during observation, hoping her hands weren't shaking too much.

"Do you have any idea of what is causing it?" he inquired concerned by the new development. Mutation had and would never be a good thing, but he calmed his thoughts with the fact that Megan hadn't used the word mutation but cellular change.

She dared looking up at his chocolate orbs, "I can only make a guess and say it's genetically-linked to them. It's almost systematic in its occurrence, since it began with Fox – who is the oldest. The younger ones Skyla and Cassidy are yet to exhibit any changes, but –like I said before –it doesn't look like something we should worry about."

"Keep me posted," he requested, but his stern tone made it sound like more of a demand, making her cower slightly. Maybe he was at fault since their first meeting hadn't been all that pleasant, due to his foul mood and he never smiled. But, she had nothing to fear from him; he would never hurt her, even if he wanted.

With a nod she made a quick exit, eyes hidden under dark bangs.

"When's the wedding?" Jason asked, entering the room. It was a fact that his friend was always in a much better mood after seeing the young doctor. He couldn't blame the man though, because Megan was a very beautiful woman, with innocence about her that many working on the project lacked, which he guessed was refreshing for his friend.

A smile graced Morgan's face, "Any problems?" obviously avoiding the object. It was a well known fact that he was still deeply in love and devoted to Elisa, even in death and entertaining the idea of being attracted to another woman, especially one so young, was foolish and unacceptable.

"None," Jason answered, well aware of Morgan's obvious deflection. "She's infiltrated Madison's work place and is probably establishing contact as we speak."One thing was for sure, Denny was definitely attracted to the doctor –otherwise he wouldn't have deflected so clumsily.

"You sure you want her handling it? It could get ugly," Denny reminded, well aware of the emotional tie between Jason and their inside-woman. He would hate for her to be injured –for his friend's sake.

"Cindy is an effective and efficient agent, she can handle herself," Jason assured easily knowing Original Cindy was still a competent agent even if she'd chosen to quit. The added advantage was that she was human, and her infiltration methods had always been praised for being the best.

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"Would you quit, I'm fine," swatting away Ryan's persistent hand, Madison declared.

"Maddie you're stiff, tired, pale as death and –" finally managing to get a hand to her forehead, only to retract it at the sheer heat of his skin, "burning up!"

With a roll of the eyes, she stood. "I'm fine Ry, seriously, quit worrying," but she contradicted her statement almost immediately, as she stumbled before he knees finally gave way. The only thing preventing her from connecting with the ground were Ryan's quick reflexes that were holding her up.

"Quit worrying?"He repeated in question, eyebrow raised in skepticism. "I'm taking you home. Can you walk?" he asked, hazel eyes looking her over.

She wanted to maintain her okay-status, but he knees still felt weak. "Not really," she admitted sheepishly, knowing she was on the wrong and required help. Without further argument, she looped her arms around his neck, allowing him to pick her up in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Traci asked with her usual curiosity.

Ryan almost rolled his eyes at the nosy blonde, but he wasn't one for childish antics. "She's not feeling well, so I'm taking her home," noting the look of pure mortification on Madison's face at having to be carried out of the office bridal style.

"She does look worse for wear," the blonde commented, following them out of the office.

Ryan guessed the blonde was too preoccupied by her prying to take heed of his instructions, so he opted for the African-American female who seemed less stunned by Madison's prone appearance. "Could you please get her jacket, keys and bag for me?"

"No problem, sugar," she immediately set out on her requested task. "Hope your boo gets well soon," handing the items over.

"Thanks," he told her gratefully, leaving them with task of telling their boss of Madison's absence.

Once she was far enough from curious eyes and prying ears, she hit speed dial one. "Our girl seems to be sick, her boy took her home a few minutes ago. Do I follow?"

"No remain at your location, we already have someone on her tail," Jason replied.

As if he was standing in front of her she raised a sassy eyebrow, "so what's Original Cindy suppose to do when baby girl ain't in the office? You know Original Cindy don't like being idle."

"You could always work," he suggested in amusement before hanging up.

Boy was so damn lucky, she got love for him or he'd be hearing quite a bit of French from her. There were perks to her jobs though, like the girl she was watching being all types of fine and Traci was being in denial of being into the hunnies.

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Ames White had never been a patient man, and Hoyt making him wait was really aggravating him. It had him wondering whether taking that favor from the man all those years ago was really worth it, now that the moron was demanding payback.

"What is this about Hoyt, I'm a very busy man," White stated coolly once the car settled from the entrance of a new occupant.

Hoyt frowned not appreciating being regarded as some sort of nuisance. White had and would never be above him, even if he tried to make it seem that way. "Don't act like you have better things to do, White, I'm the reason you have the life you have."

"Don't waste our time, Hoyt and just get to the point," ignoring the man's remarks that sounded rather similar to the devil coming for the soul he'd been promised, like he somehow owned him. Back then he'd needed help, but that didn't give the man the right to threaten him this way. NOBODY owned or threatened him.

"I need you to find someone and take care of him for me," he replied ignoring the annoyance in the other man's voice. His request said so easily and simply like he was asking him to go buy him some ice-cream, and not telling him to track someone down and kill them.

"Why not hire a hit man, rather than coming to me with this?" he asked, not at all amused at the favor.

His reply was a file being dropped in his lap. Was he really serious? He wondered with a raised eyebrow, but humored the other man anyway and opened the file. Eyes immediately hardened when they landed on the photograph.

"I figured you'd be interested in killing the bastard that killed you lovely wife," Hoyt told him, pleased at the reaction he'd evoked.

More soon

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