Hidden Love

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Angel T_T

A/N: I've got a few more pages to write until I'm finished so I don't need help finishing it anymore. So I have about two chapters left after this and I'm really happy with the ending. But for now enjoy:

Chapter 4 -The Meadow

Max walked into her apartment where Original Cindy was asleep in her bed already. Max made no noise as she snuck in in the middle of the night. She replayed the scene in her head over and over again. So many questions were unanswered about the mystery man who had vanished. How could he have blurred so quickly like that? Why had he been so freaked all of a sudden? Max had stood there on the sidewalk for a few minutes before she realized that he wasn't coming back. She had gotten extremely frustrated at her situation -being stuck in the street in the middle of the night. Abandoned and not even for a reason or explanation. She blurred out of there towards her apartment which was in the same sector.

Now Max sat on her couch, too highly strung to sleep. She decided to put the night to good use and she took a bath and read -which was something rare. When the sun began to rise Max got changed for work and made herself an early morning cup of coffee. OC was still asleep. Max wondered if she would have the chance to see her mystery boy at the final event.

Alec had blurred away from Max as fast as he could. He needed space from her to put things in perspective. As he sprinted he wondered how Max would hurt him when she figured it out. Not only physical pain but no doubt she would tear his figurative heart out. He would be completely rejected. Then Alec stopped in his tracks. He cussed under his breath as he realized what an idiot he had been. He had left Max alone in the street. He didn't doubt that she could take care of herself but he still felt anxious leaving her in a dangerous part of Seattle in the middle of the night. He blurred back to where he had left her but as soon as he got there she was gone. 'Did you expect her to wait around for you?' Alec thought bitterly to himself. He stood in the spot where they had once been and couldn't believe the emptiness that he felt without her there. He could have had another few hours with her if he hadn't screwed everything up.

Alec walked into Jam Pony knowing that he would see Max. He slipped in trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was a busy, sunny day and everyone was in a good mood. Besides himself and Max. With the exception of Normal who was always in a bad mood. As Alec approached his locker he scoped the room for Max. He didn't see her anywhere. Then he stopped and shook his head at his cowardly ways. Why was he sneaking around, trying to avoid Max? He had already talked himself into confronting her and telling her the truth an hour earlier. Now that it was nearly time for the dreaded conversation that was sure to injure him physically and emotionally, Alec didn't have the guts to do it. He knew that it would be his heart on the line. As he got his messenger's bag from his locker he began to make excuses. 'She doesn't know it's you. Relax. You don't have to tell her yet.' He thought to himself. He rushed to get a package before Max showed up. Just as he was leaving Max walked in. They bumped into each other making the other stumble a little. Unlike Rafer, Max knew that Alec was as firm on his feet as her. She looked at him with a small sad smile. She wasn't in the mood to be cruel to him. She was in an extremely glum mood and didn't want to inflict it on anyone else. As Alec took in the sight of her without her mask or wig, his suspicions were confirmed. He almost fell to his knees, paralyzed by the overwhelming love he felt for her, but he simply froze in place as she smiled and walked past him. He was just as shocked that she hadn't reprimanded him for bumping into her. Instead she had smiled. He noticed that she was sad. Alec debated whether to follow after her or go on his originally planned run. His less noble side won and he used the excuse 'she would know something's up' to let himself go.

Max walked to her locker and got ready for a hard days work. She would use any kind of distraction at the moment. She realized that she needed someone that would take her mind off of the previous night. Someone who talked a lot. She knew exactly who. She realized that Alec had just left. 'Dammit.' She thought to herself. She would have to ride with the second noisiest. She looked around for Sketchy.

Max went on deliveries with Sketchy until lunchtime. She was getting slightly irritated with him. She looked around for Alec again. He was finished with his lunch and Max caught him on his way out.

"Alec." She called after him.

He turned reluctantly to look at her.

"Can I ride with you?" She stated more than asked, knowing that he wouldn't mind the company, and if he did he would just have to deal with it.

Alec was hesitant as he answered. "Alright." He gave her a crooked smile. The whole day he had been avoiding her and the only time in his life when he actually wanted to be away from her -she wanted to deliver packages with him.

They both rode out of Jam Pony with their bikes. Alec voiced a question.

"Not that I'm complaining but what brought on the sudden demand for my company?" Alec asked hoping that she didn't want to talk to him about anything in particular.

"Don't flatter yourself." Max smiled slightly. "I needed a distraction." She said simply.

"From what?" Alec dug for information cautiously. He knew that he could question her about himself. She didn't know that it was him yet. And then he could find out how she truly felt -from a different perspective so to speak.

"I had a rough night. I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Alright." Alec said.

"So how was your night?" Max said trying to get him to talk about himself. She didn't consider it a hard task.

Alec couldn't give her any information. He was now encroaching on dangerous territory. "Oh, I just met up with my date." He said with a believable expression.

"Have fun?" Max smiled but it didn't touch her eyes.

"Yeah. But you went to the club right?" Alec deflected the question in the right direction.

"Yeah." Max said sounding forlorn again.

"What happened? Thought you met a new boyfriend?" Alec said in a teasing tone. As much as he hated her to be sad, he was enjoying his freedom to ask her questions.

Max gave him an irritated glare. "He's not my new boyfriend and he ditched me."

"Sorry." Alec said sincerely. "How do you feel about him?" He wondered how far he could go with this conversation.

Max wondered if she should even be talking to Alec about this. She hadn't told anyone except OC. Then she figured what the hell. "I really think I love him. Even though I have no idea who he is." Max confessed.

Alec's heart stuttered when she said 'love'. If only he could tell her. He wished he had more courage. He also wished he knew how she would react if she knew who her mystery man really was. He carried on with the questioning.

"If you really love him you wouldn't care who he was."

Max shook her head. "I wouldn't care." Then added: "Unless he's some sick familiar." she laughed.

"As if a familiar could ever look that good." Alec muttered.

"What?" Max asked, confused by his comment.

Alec realized his slip and looked for an escape. "Maybe you'll see him at the third event." He nodded reassuringly at Max and turned in another direction. "I gotta go." He called over his shoulder.

Max was a little confused by his sudden exit but carried on in the direction of sector 6.

Max didn't see Alec for the rest of that day but didn't think anything of it. She asked Original Cindy when the next event was that night while they talked about Max's new 'squeeze'. She found out that it was the very next evening. Max sighed. Friday night. She was going. That was a fact. She wouldn't let anything get in her way and then she would be able to take his mask off at the end of the night. Max thought about Alec's unusually deep words. She truly wondered if it would matter who he was. She had eventually made up her mind by the next day that it was impossible for her to reject him. She wouldn't care who he was no matter what. She was set on a non-judgmental mind frame. The whole day at work she began to get anxious. Not so much nervous as excited. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this many butterflies battering around in her stomach, no doubt bruising her internal organs. It was still sunny when it was around five and she left work earlier than usual to get ready. Max decided to ditch her blonde wig and wear her favorite jeans and black leather jacket. She wanted Romeo to know how she dressed normally.

In Alec's apartment a similar scene ensued. Alec wore his favorite jeans and T-shirt and his favorite jacket.

As the two transgenics prepared they wondered how they would find one another. They were going to Bellevue Park, the most beautiful place in Seattle, if not the entire state of Washington. It had tons of different themed gardens. Each as beautiful as the next. Once they each arrived they began to realize the near impossible task of finding each other.

The gardens were lit by beautiful lights intertwining with the branches of trees and highlighting every pathway. People wandered through the many different themed gardens. Alec walked into the Japanese themed garden, looking around, he thought of the most likely place for Max to be. He walked up to a security guard.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the highest garden is?"

The guard didn't understand. "Highest garden?"

"You know, like on a hill or something." Alec tried to explain.

"That's funny, a girl just asked me the same thing." The guard said.

Alec's body tensed. "Do you know where she went?" Alec's eyes were wide and his heart was racing.

"Told her to follow that path," The guard pointed to a long beautifully paved pathway that was covered by trees on either side. "and that would take her to the tree meadow. It's on a hil-" The guard trailed off as Alec was already gone.

Max walked into the meadow. It was the highest point in the whole park. She hoped that the masked stranger would know where to find her. It was almost pitch black under the largest tree in the meadow. The hill looked out over the whole park and some shimmering city lights could be seen in the distance. Max heard people talking in the distance. The park was full of the people that had been at the other two events yet the garden Max stood in was deserted. It didn't have any shimmering lights that would attract people to it. And Max knew that generally people didn't like the dark. She wondered if Romeo would mind. The meadow was only lit by a full moon that shone brightly in the night sky. Max focused her hearing to listen for anyone approaching. She began to get anxious and doubtful that he would even show. Then Max heard someone approaching.

Alec saw Max standing underneath a tree on the far side of the meadow. He slowed his pace and walked towards her. She turned towards him and the smile that spread across her face was heartbreakingly beautiful. Alec swallowed taking his time to get to her as she waited for him under the low branches of a large oak tree. He noticed that she had no wig on this time. He wondered how he didn't know it was her before. It was so obvious to him now. Secretly Alec was extremely grateful that it was her. Even if he stood next to no chance of actually being with her, he was grateful for the time that he had gotten. He wasn't going to ruin the next few hours with her. Then before he would have to take his mask off, he would leave. Then Max would never have to know who he really was and their beautiful romance would be frozen in time forever. Alec walked over to Max.

They stood across from one another only a foot apart.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, apologizing not only for abandoning her the other night but for what he was going to do in the next few hours.

Max, at first wanting to shout at him for leaving her the other night, saw the absolute sincerity on his face and decided to let it go -for the moment. "It's okay." She nodded.

Alec shuddered at Max's voice, still not used to the affectionate tone that she used towards him.

She reached up and placed a hand on his face before reaching for his mask.

"We have a few hours until that." He said, gently taking her hand from his face and gathering both of her hands in his own.

Max's stomach tightened. She noticed a sadness in his words. Like he was saying goodbye. She chased the offending thought away.

Alec closed the gap between them and lifted Max off of the ground, pulling her close to him. Max wasn't used to such affection. No one dared to lift her from the ground and support her body weight fully and when a previous boyfriend had they had never been able to keep her there for long without feeling strained. She normally would have protested but he was different. She felt his strength. He wasn't bothered with her weight at all. They both leaned towards each other and kissed. Alec tangled his fingers in her hair and supported her body with only one arm. After awhile they broke away, in need of oxygen. Alec smiled at her. "I like your hair." He said running his fingers through it.

"Thought I'd show you what I look like all the time. Minus the mask." She added.

Alec studied what her face looked like without irritation, anger or sadness.

"Don't you get tired of carrying me?" She asked honestly.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't your arms sore after 10 minutes of holding me up?"

"I'd hold you forever if I could." He said sadly, knowing that he would have to let her go. Literally and figuratively. Then he lowered her and her shoes touched the ground again. Max regretted saying anything. They both sat on the grass underneath the oak tree's branches. Alec leaned against the tree and Max leaned on him. Alec felt her shiver slightly. He didn't listen to her lame excuses of not being cold as he wrapped his arms around her. Alec enjoyed his current freedom. He could hold her without complaint. Then he realized an added benefit of the mask that he wore. He could still question her.

"Before we take our masks off, I want to know more about you."

"What do you want to know?" Max asked.

"For starters. Tell me about everyone important in your life."

"Should I use names?"

"Yeah." Alec braced himself. "And don't leave anything out." He commanded, squeezing Max affectionately in his arms.

She laughed. "Alright. Where should I start?"

A/N: Thanks to everyone that has reviewed! You guys are great. Keep telling me what you think please!