The sound of knocking brought Logan out of a restless nap. "I'm coming," he yelled, as he stumbled towards the door. "Somebody better be dead or dying." He yanked opened the door and was taken back by the sight of a very sick Dakota. "I didn't mean it."
"We know, Logan," Alec said, as he moved past him, as Max carried Dakota past him. "We do need your help. Dakota's sick. We don't know what's wrong with her."
"Put her down on the couch," Logan said, as he watch them. "I'll make a few phone calls. Try to make her as comfortable as possible. Get a few blankets to cover her and a washcloth." Alec went to get those things as Max laid Dakota down on the couch and sat down next to her as Dakota began to shake.
"Easy," Max whispered to her, as she began to wipe her forehead clean, after Alec brought her a bowl with warm water and a wash cloth. "It's going to be okay." She looked up at Alec with a worried look in her eyes, and he sat down beside her on the floor and placed a hand on the back of hers as he shot a glance down at Dakota.
"It's going to be okay, Maxie," he whispered to her, as they looked up when the front door opened and Asha walked in. "Ah, it seems that Logan needed a friend to help him." He shot Max a frown when he felt her tense under his fingers. "Easy, Max. It'll be okay. You gotta remember who, Dakota is. She's our kid. She's stronger than anybody. She can kick their butts anytime."
"But she's sick."
"I know." He slid an arm around her and was surprised that she allowed him to do it. "But I'm sure that once she's back to normal, nothing is going to slow her down. We're going to have a tough time keeping up with her." That got a small smile from her. "Don't you worry Max. In the end, it's going to be okay."
"Hey, Max," Asha called out to her, as she came up to their sides. "Alec." She then froze when her eyes connected to Dakota's and she froze. "Who's the girl?" She stumbled back and slammed into Logan, causing him to stumble back as well. "Why does she look like Max?"
"Because she's our daughter," Max replied, as she went back to wiping Dakota's forehead. She then dropped her tone, so only Alec could hear her. "And you call yourself smart. I don't think so." Alec smiled, as he moved closer to Max. "And why was she so taken back by the fact that Dakota looked so much like me? Who was she supposed to look like?"
"Easy, Max," Alec whispered to her. "It's just that Asha doesn't know what to think about Dakota. It's all too much for them to take in right now. We have to give them some time. You have to understand that." She nodded, as she watched Asha and Logan as he began to explain the situation to her. He then turned his attention back to Dakota. "We need to keep our attention on Dakota right now. She needs us more than anything."
"You're right." Max then was thrown off the couch when Dakota started to seizure. "What do we do?"
"Hold her down!" Logan ordered, as he rushed forward with a long needle, as the two X5s grabbed a tight hold onto their daughter holding her down onto the couch. "Asha, I need for you to call, Dr. Heights for me. He's the only one who can help her." Alec grabbed onto Max's arm when Dakota threw her off of her. "I said for you to hold her."
"It's a little complicated, Logan," Alec snapped, as he moved, so that he had a better hold on his daughter. "She's a lot stronger than most five year olds."
"Just hold her steady." Logan jabbed her with the needle and Dakota cried out in pain. Logan moved back away, as she broke out in tears. "I'll see what's taking the Doctor so long."
"Easy, Dakota," Max whispered to her, as she ran a hand through her hair. "It's going to be okay. We're here." Dakota continued to shake and the tears kept coming. Alec moved closer to Max's side as if he sensed that she needed him to be closer. "What do we do?"
"I don't know, Max," he answered, as he shot a glance over at Logan and Asha. "Let's just wait to see what Logan's Doctor has to say what's wrong with Dakota. Then, we'll go from there."
"Okay." Logan came up to them with a small smile on his face. "Logan?"
"Dr. Heights is on his way up. Hopefully, he'll be able to tell us what's wrong with Dakota." A knock came from the door and he went to answer it. "Thanks for coming, Doctor, we have a sick little girl on our hands." The two X5s looked up into the face of a elderly man froze. "Max, Alec, this is Dr. Heights. He's a generic specialist. He used to work at Manticore."
"We know," Max said, as she looked at Dr. Height slowly as she got to her feet. "Some things you don't forget."
"I know the feeling," Dr. Height said, as he moved past the X5s and went to the couch and bent down next to the couch. "Ah, Miss 946. It's good to see you again. You're grown nicely. You're got your father's eyes." Max put a hand on Alec's arm as he moved towards the Doctor. "And your mother's good looks. Now let's see what's making you sick. You shouldn't be sick. It's not in your genes to get sick." He opened his bag and took out some testing supplies. "I'm going to run some tests on her to see what's wrong with her."
"They're okay with that, Doctor," Logan said, as he shot the X5s a glare, as he motioned for them walk into the kitchen. "We'll be in the kitchen if you need us. Asha will help you."
"Thank you," Heights said, as he started his examination.
The X5s followed Logan into the kitchen. "What the heck where you thinking?" Alec asked him, as soon as they were in the kitchen. "He knows more about Dakota than we do. I find that rather disturbing that the doctor you called knows our kid."
"Will you stop calling her that!" Logan snapped as he slammed a fist into the counter. "It's not right."
"But that's what she is, Logan," Max said, as she looked over at him, from her spot at the doorway. She was keeping a careful watch on the doctor, Dakota, and Asha. "What else do you want us to call her? She was created by combining our DNA. So she is our offspring, our daughter. What would you want us to do? Throw her away? Banish her? Remove her from our existence because they made her without our approval?"
"You can't be thinking of keeping her," Logan said, as he looked over at Max. "She'll bring so much unwanted trouble onto you. White and his men will be on you, more than they are now."
Alec let out a low growl, that only Max could hear, as he moved towards her, to put space between himself and Logan. "Easy," she whispered to Alec, as she turned to look at Logan. "Logan, you have to think of it from our point of view. We didn't have a family growing up. This is probably the closest thing we're every going to have to a family. I'm not going to send her away so that she can get snag by White because we're not there to protect her. No, we told her, that we would protect her, and that's what we're going to do."
A loud scream caused them to spin around to see a small figure blur down the hallway and the X5s shot a glance into the living room to see both the doctor and Asha were lying on the floor in a heap. Logan pushed them aside, as he moved past them, as he went to make sure that they were okay. "What happened?" he asked them, as he helped Asha to sit up, as the doctor sat up. "Doctor?"
"She freaked out?" Asha stuttered, as she shook her head, as she looked around, as if she was looking for Dakota. "She came too, took one good look at the doctor, freaked out, and went all hostile on us. She kicked the shit out of us. She's pretty powerful for a kid."
"Get your kid," Logan ordered the X5s, as he looked up at them. "Don't allow her to leave the apartment. Once she does, you won't be able to stop her."
"Ya think?" Alec asked rhetorically, as he and Max took off in a wide search of Logan's apartment. "Okay, if I was a scared child were would I hide." He was just behind Max coming down the hallway heading towards the bedroom, when a blurring figure caught his eye. "Max!" She turned at the last moment and got slammed to the floor. He blurred forward and grabbed Dakota around the waist and yanked her off of Max. "Easy, Dakota. We're not going to hurt you." She swung at him, and kicked at Max, as she quickly got to her feet. Max shot a glance down at the young girl as she fought the X5 to get free, there was extreme fear in her eyes.
"I don't want to go back," Dakota cried out, as she continued to fight against Alec to get free, knowing that he had the upper hand. "He's going to take me back to Manticore." Tears soon were running down her face and she started to shake in fear. "So that he can do more tests on me."
"No, he's not going to take you back to Manticore," Max said, as she hunched down in front of her and took up her hands. "We're not going to allow that." Alec released Dakota and she launched herself at Max, throwing her arms around her neck. Alec shot her a sympathetic look as he sat down beside her and ran a hand down her back. "We're here. We're not going to leave you, Dakota. We've got you're back, just like you've got yours. We didn't know your history with Dr. Heights and we're sorry."
"It's just I woke up and the first thing I saw was that strange woman and him and I freaked out," she stuttered, as she looked up at them, with tear filled eyes. "So I acted them. Then I blurred to get away. I had to get away."
"Hey, squirt, it's okay," Alec said softly, as he ran a hand through her hair, as he shot her a smile. "You did good. You got away from the bad guy. We didn't know you were awake."
"She didn't do good, she attack the doctor," Logan snapped, as he came up to them, causing Dakota to tense, and Alec slid an arm around her waist pulling her into his chest. "Or Asha. That's uncalled for."
"Drop it Logan," Alec growled, as he got to his feet, picking Dakota up as he did, and Max got to her feet as well. "Dakota did as she was trained to do. Max and I would have done the same thing at her age." They then walked out into the living room to where Asha and the doctor were. Dakota tensed when she saw Heights. "Easy, Dakota. So, Doctor. How's our girl?"
"She's fine," Heights answered, as he rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the girl in Alec's arms. "She's in perfect health. She just got her sick for some reason, but she's fine now."
"Well, that's great news," Alec said, as he started for the door. "I guess, we'll take our leave. Sorry about the mess, Logan, but we'll see you later. Bye Asha. Doctor." He opened the door and stepped outside, leaving the door open for Max, giving her some time to talk to Logan.
Logan turned to face Max. "Max?" he asked, as he turned to face her.
"Yeah, I'm going to go," she said, as she started for the door. "We'll be in touch. We've got to talk with the others." She slid out the door and shut it before he could say another door. She let out a sigh and locked eyes with Alec. "What?" He said nothing as she joined him in the elevator. "Come on, we better find a store to get her some clothes and then we should still drop in on TC."
"Sounds like a great idea," Alec said, as he shot Dakota a smile. "Shopping is such fun."
TBC
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