Disclaimer: I don't own it

A/N: so after a looong break, here's the next chapter!! There's 2 more and hopefully I'll get them done REALLY soon...I've just been resting and doing crap all in the last few weeks since my final exams finished but I'm back now, so enjoy...

Chapter 7: 3 days ago

It had been four days since they had last spoken, since that last kiss outside Jam Pony... well, almost four days, Max grudgingly admitted to herself as she rode through the streets of Seattle. Four days, baring the incident when she had needed Alec's help for an Eyes Only case... the incident she still hadn't told anyone about, since she still hadn't quite figured out what had happened.

"Hey Alec, what are you doing tonight?" She asked as they stood by their lockers, she kept her door in between them though, avoiding eye contact.

"Uh, nothing, why?" He asked, and she could hear the confusion, and interest, in his voice.

"Logan needs a job done, and it's a two person job."

"Ya know I always got your back, Maxie." He said playfully, and she couldn't suppress the small shiver that moved up her spine at his words. But she quickly shrugged that off, and slammed her locker shut.

"Whatever. 9:00, Logan's apartment." She moved away, but looked back quickly, "And don't call me Maxie." She didn't see the smirk on his face as he leaned against the row of lockers and watched her pick up her packages and leave.

Just after 9:30, he'd finally shown up at Logan's, and she had spent another good 15 minutes yelling at him about being late, taking things for granted, letting people down, not being trustworthy, amongst other things, and all the while Alec had been looking at her, smirking, while Logan watched the two, immensely confused.

Finally, when she paused near 10:00, Alec was quick to point out how much time she'd just wasted, and they hurried out of there, leaving Logan standing alone, and very confused.

The mission had been going smoothly, at least for the first 5 minutes. Until they got stuck in a closet.

'I thought you knew the schedule of the guards' hissed Alec, at Max's back, until she whipped around, glaring.

'Well, I had everything timed perfectly, it's not my fault that someone didn't turn up when they were supposed to!'

'Yeah, well I'm not the one who ranted for half an hour!' he threw back at her, and her eyes narrowed. 'And for your information, I had a perfectly good reason for being late tonight.' He didn't see her roll her eyes since she'd turned away from him again, but he did hear her mutter 'yeah, I'm sure you had a nice, blonde-bimbo of a reason.' She hadn't realised he had heard her until she felt herself being swung around roughly, and she was met by the cold, hard gaze of his hazel eyes.

'Actually... I was getting this.' He held out his hand, which contained two small glass vials, and a small piece of paper.

'Alec...' her heart started to race, and she started to feel very enclosed, claustrophobic. This was it... this was the cure, what she and Logan had been searching for, for months now. And Alec was handing it to her. She took a deep breath and licked her now suddenly dry lips before trying again, 'Alec...'

'The guards are changing, let's go.' He said, thrusting the vials into her hands, all the while looking over her shoulder and out the small vent in the door. She stood still, still in shock as he moved around her and out the door. She finally snapped out of it when he hissed her name in her ear, and she quickly put all thoughts about Alec and the cure out of her mind so they could finish the task at hand. Well, she'd tried to at least. She'd almost gotten them caught when she was staring at Alec, trying to figure him out, and a guard had come up behind her. Luckily, Alec had been paying attention, so the guard was on the ground unconscious in less than 5 seconds.

And once they'd collected the documents Logan needed, they'd gone back out the way they'd come in, and he'd handed her the papers before he got on his bike and sped off. She hadn't talked to him since.

So technically, taking into account that whole mess, it had only been a day and a half since she'd spoken to him, which wasn't nearly as bad as four days, not that she was counting, or cared or anything. Yeah right, that pesky voice in her head whispered to her, and she glared, stunning the person crossing the road in front of her. Crap, she mentally sighed and shook her head slightly, trying to get all thoughts of Alec out of her head. Not that it did much good, not that it ever did.

*********************************************************

'Alright boo, talk to me.' Max turned to face Cindy at their table in Crash.

'About what?'

'Don't give me that. About whatever it is that's got your head all over the place.' Cindy watched as Max's eyes slid over to where Alec and Scout were playing pool. 'Oh, I get it. What'd your boy do now?' Cindy asked, smirking while she waited for Max's reaction. She wasn't blind, she'd noticed that things between the two X5s had been changing over the last week or so.

'He's not my boy, and he didn't do anything.' Max said softly. Maybe that's the problem, her mind said and she shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. 'He's just been being a pain in my ass as usual, he turned up late for an Eyes Only thing the other night, then blames it on me.' Ok, so that's not the truth now is it, but Cindy doesn't need to know. She rubbed her temples, she needed to stop having conversations in her mind, it was going to drive her crazy, if Alec didn't get the job done first.

'Ok boo, whatever you say.' Cindy said, picking up her drink and smiling at a young girl over at the bar.

************************************************************

'So Alec, you ever gonna tell me what's got your panties in a twist?' Scout ducked as a ball flipped off the table and flew straight towards his head. 'Sorry,' he said with a cheeky smile, 'there's no need to play dirty. Now, you are aware that the balls were supposed to stay on the table?' Another ball came flying at his head and brought his hand up to catch it less than an inch away from his nose. He looked down at the ball contemplatively, then back up at Alec, who was watching him through narrowed eyes. 'So we've established two things through this game. One, you clearly still have excellent aim, strength and reflexive skills as proved by this ball and the one now lodged in the wall behind my head, and two you are so very clearly in denial about the whole Max situation which is, of course, understandable given the relationship you've had up until now, and the whole Manticore 'feelings are for the weak' and all that crap. Oh, and I forgot number three,' he added picking up his cue.

'And what's that, oh enlightened one?' Alec asked sarcastically, earning a grin from Scout as he leant over the table to take aim.

'That I can still kick your ass in pool.' He answered as he sunk his last two balls, quickly followed by the black 8 ball.

'Whatever, you deliberately bugged me until I hit those two balls at you.'

'But can you prove it?' Scout asked cheekily as Sketchy came up behind them.

'Dude, what happened to that ball?' he asked indicating the one lodged in the wall.

'Oh, Alec hit the ball a little harder than he intended to, I think Max was talking to him earlier, he was a little pissed off.'

'Huh...I don't remember seeing them talking earlier. Actually, I don't think I've seen them talking in a few days...' he shrugged and picked up a glass and started drinking.

'Listen, I gotta... go' Alec caught himself as he was about to use one of Max's phrases. He shook his head and sighed. That girl was gonna be the death of him. He picked up his jacket and took off.

Over at the table, Max watched an agitated Alec walk out of Crash, leaving a confused Sketchy and bemused Scout in his wake. She glanced back at Cindy, who was watching her with a knowing look on her face. She sighed.

'Don't start. Look, I gotta bounce, Logan wants to talk.' Funny how she'd been avoiding Logan like the plague since Alec had handed her the cure and she'd given it to Logan.

'Don't sound too excited Boo, I might have to restrain you.' OC drawled, eyebrow raised. 'I thought things were gonna be better now you got the cure, so what's with the reluctance to visit your lover boy?'

'He's not my lover boy and... I don't know, it just feels...'

'Not how you thought it should?' her friend supplied, and she shrugged.

'It'll probably just take a little time to adjust, ya know? Get used to not having to keep distance between us and all that. Anyway, like I said I gotta bounce. See ya at home.' With that she disappeared into the crowds.

'So what are the chances that those two snuck off for a secret rendezvous?' Scout asked as he came up to the table and took Max's now vacated seat.

'Not a chance. I love my Boo, but God help her she is on of the most stubborn people in the world. I never got her to admit that she had feelings for Logan and she liked the guy, but with Alec she's so set on not liking him, it's gonna take something big for her to admit it's more.'

'Hmm... any chance she's the jealous type?' Scout asked, thinking over Alec's plans for the next few days to see what could work.

'Not really, but she's never been that in to anyone, not enough to care, except once with Logan and his ex.'

'Excellent. Just make sure Max is coming here in two days, leave the rest to me.'