Heat Induced

Author's Note: So, this is one of those shorter chapters I was warning you about. So as long as I remember, I should get the next chapter up in twelve hours.

Chapter 4

Max was not having a good day. Asha wasn't being understanding. Rafer had run her over. She'd lost her pager. Her bike was in pieces. She had no clue on how to find Sandeman. And she was pregnant... with Alec's baby, which was probably going to be the icing on the crap cake until she died.

"Hey," said Rafer, coming into Jam Pony to see her.

He was wearing a paramedic uniform as though to spite her. He really wasn't helping her out. Even if he had solved one of her problems by finding her pager and brought her lunch, which was kind of sweet.

"I'm not really hungry," she said, as they sat at one of the tables at Jam Pony. The whole pregnancy thing meant she had to eat even when she wasn't feeling it, though. Even if the whole room smelt like sweaty feet because that was the scent of Jam Pony. She picked at her food.

"Came by here looking for you a couple times," Rafer said. "No one knew where you were."

"I had to deal with some family stuff," she said, not looking at him. "It's complicated."

"Family stuff's always complicated."

"You have no idea." Max would bet money she didn't have that Rafer's family was not a bunch of genetically engineered super soldiers, some of whom didn't look human in the slightest.

"Thought maybe you had a boyfriend somewhere." Was he actually fishing there?

"That's complicated too."

Rafer looked up at her, inviting her to explain.

"I just got out of a relationship with this guy, Logan," she said, fiddling with a serviette. "We danced around each other for a year then when we got it together... it just wasn't."

"So you're not seeing anyone now," said Rafer.

"No, but it's still complicated," said Max. "The thing that happened between you and me happened with me and someone else about a month back. So, eight months from now, hello baby." Max didn't know why she was telling him this. She hadn't even shared with OC yet.

"So, uh, are you trying anything with him?" asked Rafer.

Max shook her head. "We're really not like that. We barely know each other. He's... trouble, I guess you could say. Almost got himself killed last I saw him."

"Sounds like you miss him," said Rafer.

"What? No way. I'm sure he's just out running some con or getting some other girl pregnant."

"See now you sound like you're worried about him. Or jealous."

"No," said Max. "No, no, no. There is nothing between me and Alec. That was a once in a lifetime mistake. You got me?"

"Okay," said Rafer, raising his hands. "If you ask me, though, he'd be lucky to be with you. Anyone would be."

Max looked up at him, as though really seeing him as more than just some random guy for the first time. "Rafer..." But she didn't know how to finish what she was saying.

"I'd better get back to work," he said.

"Yeah, me too." But Max made no move to get up.

x x x

Logan was waiting for Asha at Crash. Max would probably be with her and Logan needed to figure out how to apologise to her. He knew that he wasn't just jumping to conclusions when he connected the transgenic in Chinatown with the recent deaths, but it was wrong of him to not sort things out with Max before forcing her to do something for him that he needed done. He still wasn't exactly sure why she'd been so sensitive. Maybe that was why things hadn't worked out between them.

The guy beside him was asking the bartender about Max. And if that didn't set alarm bells off in Logan's head, nothing would.

"You know Max?" Logan asked. He didn't look like one of the guys from Jam Pony.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yup," said Logan.

"Rafer," the guy said, extending his hand.

"Logan," he said, shaking it. If he was willing to introduce himself, chances were he wasn't a threat to Max's safety or her secret.

"Right," said Rafer, and suddenly Logan thought he should know who this Rafer was.

"So how do you know Max?" Logan asked.

"Uh, we met a few months ago," said Rafer, sounding uncomfortable with the idea of telling Logan.

And it clicked in Logan's head. Just before Max had died and gone to Manticore, when they'd still thought they could make something of their relationship, she'd gone into heat and slept with a guy. This guy. "Right," said Logan. "She told me about you."

"Oh, really," said Rafer.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hold it against you. It's not like we were really dating or anything."

"She told me it was complicated."

Logan's laugh was mirthless. "It was," he said. "I guess we just couldn't give each other what we really needed. We're better off as friends."

Rafer looked around for a second as though he was afraid of being overheard. "So what's the deal with this Alec guy?"

"She told you about Alec? Wow, you guys must really have something. She didn't even tell me about Alec."

"She told me he was trouble."

"He probably is," said Logan. "But Max is trouble all by herself."

"Tell me about it," said Rafer.

"You know what?" said Logan. "I like you. So I'm going to give you a little piece of advice." He let Rafer lean in to hear it better. "Max keeps everything to herself. If she opens up to you about her family, you're set. If she closes herself off, don't even bother."

"So what about Alec?" Rafer asked again.

"I don't think Alec even knows what he thinks," said Logan, thinking back to the last conversation they'd had. "He'll always be an unknown in the equation."

"You've got to know more than that."

"I'm just laying it out for you, man," said Logan. "Enter at your own peril."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Rafer.

"Logan, Rafer," said Max, coming up to them with Asha in tow. "I didn't know you two knew each other."

"We just met," said Rafer.

"Uh-huh," said Max. "Well, this is Asha."

"Hi," said Asha.

"She and Logan have some business to deal with," said Max.

"I have your paperwork right here," said Logan, turning away so Rafer couldn't see that he was actually handing over a fake ID.

"So," said Max, sitting down beside him. "Talking about me?"

Rafer was sheepish. "Guilty as charged. Logan was just giving me the ex-boyfriend spiel."

"And what exactly does that entail?" asked Max.

"Oh, you know, 'The chick is crazy, you're wasting your time'."

Max laughed. "But in this case, that might just be true."

"The crazy part or wasting my time? Because let me tell you, crazy, I can handle."

"The crazy part, definitely," said Max. "As for wasting your time... As long as you know I'm not looking to get into anything right now."

"So, you'll let me buy you a drink? No ulterior motives, I swear."

"A beer sounds great," said Max, wondering what she was getting herself into.

"What about the..." He gestured toward her stomach. Max didn't actually think her transgenic metabolism would let the alcohol get far enough to hurt the baby, but when among ordinaries...

"Good point." She smiled. It was nice of him to remember. "Better make it a lemonade."

x x x

"Max, it's me," said Logan, when Max returned his page from the pay phone at Jam Pony. "We got a problem."

Max had a world of problems. "What is it this time?"

"There's a bioagent going off in Sector 4," said Logan. "They're targeting an X5. Maybe even all transgenics."

"Alec," said Max, immediately. "We have to make sure he's not there."

"I don't know how to contact Alec," said Logan. "He didn't exactly leave me his number the last time we talked."

"I don't have it either," said Max. "I called you from his cell phone that day we were looking for Joshua."

"Okay," said Logan. "I'm on it. But you need to help this guy."

"I'm on my way," said Max.

x x x

Later, at Sandeman's house, Max was surprised to see Alec show up. "Figured you'd be here," he said. He looked at the X5 sleeping in front of the fireplace. "That the guy who almost died?"

"Yeah," said Max.

"Just wanted to say thanks," he said. "For thinking about me. I was in Sector 12, by the way."

"But if you'd been there it could have been you," said Max. "Maybe you should give me your number."

"Why Max," said Alec, with a flirtatious grin on his face. "I thought you'd never ask."

Max frowned at him. "This doesn't mean anything," she said.

"Well, a sidekick's no use unless he's at the hero's beck and call." He walked over to get a better look at the sleeping X5's face. "692. We went on a couple of missions together."

"I've been calling him Guinea," said Max. "Since they wanted to use him as a guinea pig."

Alec laughed. "We were in Peru a couple of years back. Never meant to sample the local cuisine because we were on strict diets, but that never stopped anyone. Except 692. Couldn't stomach the idea of eating a guinea pig."

Max smiled. "Well that explains his face when I called him Guinea the first time."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"You ever think they're going to stop trying to kill us?" Max wondered in a moment of vulnerability.

"I think that day's a long time away from today," said Alec.

"I just don't want the baby growing up like this... just because he or she happens to have a few extra genes spliced in."

"You're not going to let that happen," said Alec. "You took down Manticore, you can take on the rest of the government."

"With the help of my trusty sidekick," said Max with a grin.

"Count on it," said Alec.

x x x

"Did I mention I was sorry for jumping to conclusions?" Logan said later on, to ensure that he and Max were okay.

"Yeah," said Max. "Anything turn up on Sandeman's cane?"

"Nothing but traces of rodentia calcium. The rats tried to eat it."

"Another dead end."

"Yeah," said Logan. "Listen, about the other night at Crash... If I told Rafer too much I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Max. "I think we could be friends. We talked. I got to thinking maybe my feline instincts aren't all bad."

"So you're going to see him again?"

Max shrugged. Her pager beeped. "I guess I'll find out," she said when she saw that it was Rafer. Logan's cell phone continued to ring. "You gonna get that?"

"It's Asha," said Logan.

"She likes you," said Max. "And she's not all bad, my furry little friends aside."

"I think it's too soon," said Logan.

And didn't that make Max feel all kinds of crap. "Sorry," said Max.

"Nothing for you to apologise for," said Logan. "It'll happen when it happens."

"In the meantime," said Max, looking at the phone. "What if it's an emergency?"

She laughed at the speed with which he picked up the phone and answered it.

Maybe she and Rafer would turn out to be nothing. But at least they could say they tried.

x X X x

A/N: So, I don't know why, but I kind of like Rafer. Ergo he was included... especially since otherwise I probably would have skipped over this episode entirely, since it's one of those sad Alec-less ones.