Chapter Seven
Thanks to CandyCentric for everything! She's the reason this chapter was finally written!!

And baby don't it feel like I'm all alone
Who's gonna be there after the last angel has flown
And I've lost my way back home
'Nobody Knows', Pink

It was late when Max entered Terminal City and the streets were almost empty. She was rather relieved not have to deal with the curious or possibly hostile stares of her fellow Transgenics, people she'd had next to nothing to do with in over a year.

Max felt a wave of loneliness wash over her. The Transgenics were her family and she'd all but cut them off, and for what? For a man and a relationship that were completely wrong for her. Admittedly, it began with a desire to distance herself from Alec, and as Terminal City was his home it made sense for her to stay away. However, the longer she thought about it the clearer it became; Logan had kept her occupied with various missions and they'd spent many nights alone and holed away from the world. Her relationship with Cindy and Sketchy had even been affected by the amount of time she spent with Logan. He'd never understood her friends or really gotten along with them.

He never wanted to, she thought sadly. If I didn't know better I'd say he was trying to- Max shook her head and dismissed the distressing thought. Logan was a bit possessive, but he wouldn't deliberately sabotage her friendships. He may have been jealous of her feelings for Alec, but it wasn't as if she'd had much to do with him since that fateful night.

Max saw that Headquarters was alive with activity when she pushed her way through the doors. I've missed this place. She sighed as she followed her nose to the thick, pungent cigar smoke rising from a far corner of the room.

"Hey, Mole," she said sombrely from behind his perch. Max wasn't sure of the reception she'd receive but relaxed when Mole removed the cigar from his mouth and smirked at her.

"Well, hello there, Princess. The human finally let you off your leash? Been a while."

She scowled at the implication but nodded. "Haven't been around much."

Mole snorted. "That's an understatement. Good to have you back." He looked at her shrewdly. "You are back, aren't you?"

Max glanced around the circle and noted the acceptance and even a few hopeful expressions. She was slightly taken aback but allowed a genuine smile to grace her face.

"I'm thinking about it."

"You do that," he replied nodding. "You want in?" he inquired, gesturing to the game of poker in progress.

"Maybe some other time. I'm looking for Axel, actually."

"Alec's buil-," he stopped himself short. "226 Bell Street, 3A."

"Thanks, Mole. See you around."

When Max was almost out of earshot she heard Mole make a somewhat incredulous confession to his companions.

"I've missed the bitch," he claimed affectionately. "Take her over Alec's shrew any day."

Max grinned as she exited HQ. It was good to be home.

-x-x-x-

Max stood hesitantly outside the door to Axel's apartment. She'd tried to convince herself that she wasn't at fault, that she couldn't honestly blame herself for not being able to help Axel, but that didn't lessen the guilt she felt for being unable to help her friend or repay one of the many debts she owed to Alec.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, raised her fist and knocked lightly.

The door swung open and Max found herself face to face with a rather disheveled Mena.

"Max!" Mena exclaimed, smiling widely. "What a pleasant surprise! Come in, come in." The other woman ushered her into the apartment and closed the door.

"Are you here to see Axel? Why don't you go in? I'll grab some drinks and be right with you," she said tiredly, pointed in the direction of the bedroom and excused herself.

Max knocked on the doorframe and poked her head inside.

"Hey, Ax, up for some company?"

"Max! Come on in and take a seat," he waved he to the chair beside the bed. "Haven't seen you in a long time. Too long, if you ask me. How've you been?"

Max gave a half-hearted smile and sighed. "I've been. And you're looking better than the last time I saw you."

"Mena and... they told me you came to visit while I was flat. I'm sorry I couldn't entertain."

She smacked him lightly on the arm and playfully stuck out her tongue. "I liked you better when you couldn't talk." The two shared a smile. "So," she began again after a few moments of silence, "What's the prognosis?"

"He'll live," Mena answered coming up from behind with a tray of sandwiches and drinks. "It was a pretty close shave, though."

Max sighed. "I'm really sorry, Axel. I would have been there if I could. I should have been there."

Axel smile reassuringly. "I know you would have, Max, don't worry about it. I understand why you couldn't. Alec was a bit of a mess, though, from what I heard. I wish I could have saved him that."

"After Biggs it's not surprising. I can't imagine what must have been going through his mind," chimed in Mena. "I was going spare. I mean, I'm your," and here she blushed prettily, "fiancé, but Alec's been your friend longer. It must have damn near killed him."

"Congratulations! Finally popped the question, huh? I can't believe it," Max grinned at the couple, but focused on Axel, "You volunteered for the ball and chain!"

Axel protested. "Hey, you make it sound like a bad thing!" Mena giggled but the light hearted moment was interrupted by a high-pitched wail.

The sudden, ear-piercing cry came from the other room and the couple groan simultaneously in frustration. Max turned questioningly to Mena.

"You don't want to know," she muttered. "Hailey came in earlier like a bat out of hell and left Kaie here. She just left him! Like I don't have my hands full with Axel," she added darkly.

Max swallowed the familiar hurt she felt at the mention of Hailey's name and forced a smile. "She and Alec go out and make you guys baby-sit?"

Mena snorted. "Not quite. Apparently Alec wasn't around and Hailey 'had to go'. Can you believe that when we told her Axel was healing and needed rest and that we couldn't take care of him she said, and I quote, 'I don't have time for this,' dumped Kaie and left?"

Max was surprised at that. "Where on earth could she be going this late, and alone?"

"Beats me," Axel replied tiredly, "But I'd give anything for some peace and quiet."

The baby cried again and Mena rose from the bed but was stopped by Max.

"Let me."

The two Transgenics watched from the bed as Max walked into the living room and tenderly lifted the squalling and red-faced child from the makeshift crib. She cooed at the boy and laid his head on her shoulder, rubbing circles on his tiny back.

As Max turned, swaying gently as she whispered to Kaie, Mena's breath caught in her chest. The look on Max's face was soft and relaxed, her lips were curved in a sweet smile and her eyes shone with pain and glowed brightly with unshed tears.

Mena laid her head on Axel's shoulder and his good arm went around her and pulled her close.

"He should have been hers, Ax. Look at them."

"I know," was his sad reply.

The soft light glinted off the tumbler in his hands, making the amber liquid glow like fire. Alec's eyes traced the shadow on the wall opposite. He angrily wiped at a stray tear and clenched his jaw. He knew he was being maudlin, but given the information he was currently processing, he couldn't help himself. Everything inside of him cried out to deny the truth once more, to preserve the fantasy that had been his life, but the tangled web of lies was unravelling and the threads would no longer hold.

Lies, all of it. All lies! he raged, hurling the glass at the wall, watching it shatter. The wet blotch that spread across the wall was like a painful reflection of his current state. His once happy life now carried a stain and the realisation of his naiveté was slowly spreading numbness throughout his body. So stupid!

Alec couldn't stop thinking about Hailey. All the times he'd caught his friends badmouthing his mate, he'd thought they were either jealous or spiteful. That because he was no longer 'on the market' his friends resented his relationship and his newfound responsibilities and loyalties to his mate and child.

"She's a right nasty little hussy," one of the X5s commented to a few of his friends one afternoon in Mess Hall. "And she's got Alec tightly leashed."

"I know what you mean. He never goes anywhere without her and none of us like her. If not for the fact that we almost never see him anymore, I'd stop asking him along. Hailey's got a mean streak that makes White look like a kindergartner."

"Malign my mate's character one more time and I will make White look like a kindergartener, got it?"

"I defended you, you bitch!" he roared in the otherwise silent, cold room. "Why? Why, damn it?" I gave you everything..."

But he hadn't, had he? Alec had never given Hailey his heart. He may have grown to care for the girl, but she just wasn't Max.

Max. The one girl who'd left him breathless and vulnerable. The girl he'd taken beatings and verbal lashings from, just to stay near her. The girl he'd thought that he'd finally won before she shot him down horribly.

For Logan.

Logan, the manipulative little bastard. The one she wanted a family with.

Alec thought back to that night on the Space Needle, reliving the pain of her rejection. He'd been so sure that she felt the same way he did. They'd grown closer and Max had been affectionate with him, shown her softer side and let him in. What had changed so suddenly that she turned so cold? Alec loved her and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to be the one to father her children. Alec couldn't understand why Max had walked away from him after all they'd shared. The thoughts, the memories, the dreams...

"Alec, if there was one thing in the world that you could have, what would it be?"

He remembered how soft her skin was under his fingertips, the way the moon lit upon her hair, how her eyes sparkled, the sincerity and hint of yearning in her voice. His answer had more meaning than she'd known.

"A family. Manticore deprived us of so many things, Maxie. One day, I want a family. I want to have kids, a home. I want to be happy; we deserve to be happy."

He'd tried to show her how he felt, looking deeply into her dark eyes.

"You're all I wanted, Max," he whispered in anguish, reaching for the almost empty bottle of scotch beside him and taking an angry, deep swig and choking it down.

You and our...

Realization hit like a ton of bricks and he gasped, knocking the bottle to the floor. He didn't notice the cold or wet that spilled down his shirt. Alec's gut churned and he felt ill.

All this time he'd been sickened to think that Max had wanted to have kids with Logan and that she wasn't able. But all this time...All this time!

"Oh, Maxie!"

This time Alec didn't wipe the tears as they fell.

- TBC -