Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, but I'd like to, and it's the thought that counts, right? ;-)
A/N: Updates Mondays and Thursdays. Sorry for the late update, I'll try to be right on time on Thursday. Daylight savings time throws me off. ^_^
Doppelganger
Chapter Seven
Waffles covered in maple syrup and melting butter were actually really, really good. Or at least the ones that 494 didn't burn were good. No…Alec, not 494. Trying to use names instead of designations when it came to Manticore soldiers wasn't exactly easy for 270…Quip. Her name was Quip now.
After 49—Alec had gone to bed, Quip had stayed up, trying to decide whether or not to make a break for it and go to ground. She didn't like not being in control of the situation, and she really didn't like that Max was trying to ship her off to Canada or something. Seattle was her home base, and Seattle was where she belonged now that there was no more Manticore. Eventually she drifted to sleep, her exhausted body making the choice for her.
She had woken up to the smell of something delicious cooking and the sound of Alec humming and mumbling words from some song she'd never heard before. Before she had time to think about sneaking out before he noticed her, he came out of the kitchen with a huge plate of yellow-gold, bread-looking things and a jug of chocolate milk.
Alec set two mismatched plates and a pair of cups down on the table. Glancing at her before sitting down, he pulled five of the golden pieces of bread (she guessed these were the waffles he had mentioned last night) onto the plate in front of him and poured thick, golden-brown syrup over them.
Tentatively, she got off the couch and joined him, pilfering one of the waffles from the stack and moving it to a smaller plate that he had put across from his place at the table. Without asking for permission, she doused her waffle with syrup; it was already covered in butter.
Alec scarfed down most of the waffles while Quip picked at hers. They were pretty delicious, but she wasn't used to eating lots of sweet things; she mostly looked for nutritional food when she was out on the streets. But she decided that chocolate milk was pretty much the best thing ever.
"So," Alec said, breaking the silence as he leaned back in his chair, "About this hospital thing."
Quip wondered how hard it would be to sink into the floor and disappear. Hospital. The regular person word for med-bay or infirmary. Or lab. Her side was still aching, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday, or she didn't think so. Not bad enough for her to have to go to a hospital, if anything. "I don't need to go."
"Hey, maybe the guy will give you a lollipop or something," Alec said, smirking at her. Quip frowned.
"I feel good, my side doesn't hurt that bad," she said, shaking her head. She didn't care about candy. This guy was a doctor. So he was bad. 'Bad' and 'doctor' were the same thing back at Manticore; why would it be any different out here?
"Yeah, sure it doesn't," Alec said. He speared one of his remaining waffles and lifted it. Syrup dripped from the waffle onto the plate below and pooled in a golden-brown circle. "Because being shot is like spending a day at the spa. Feels good, right?"
"Haha," Quip said stubbornly, glaring down at the gooey remains of her waffle. "You wouldn't go either," she muttered.
"Maybe I would," Alec replied, "You're the one who keeps insisting you're not really a clone. Maybe we don't do everything alike."
"We don't, but this we do," she said. She stared at him as he stared at her, green-gold versus green-gold. Eventually she broke and stabbed at her waffles. Darn him. "I don't want to go."
Alec snickered. "You're right. I wouldn't want to go either. But I would've gone at your age."
"That's because you were at Manticore." She smirked at him, mimicking the way the corner of his mouth rose. "You couldn't say no."
"So you're going to say no just because you can?" Alec asked, one eyebrow rising. "Hurting yourself is an interesting way of showing your independence."
"I didn't hurt myself," she said. She wasn't sure whether or not she should tell him about the men or not. They probably knew she had overheard them talking, but it wasn't like they were going to find her or anything, and Alec couldn't do anything about it. Besides, if she told him, that might make him want to send her to Canada too. Nope, it was better not to tell him.
"That's another thing that's on my mind," Alec said, "How exactly did you end up with a gunshot wound? Get on the wrong side of a turf fight? Cross-fire between unfriendlies? Drive-by?"
"No, no and no." She nibbled at a piece of waffle and glared at the wall. It was annoying how adults always ask so many questions. Wasn't one question good enough?
"Oh, so the hole in your side appeared out of nowhere?"
"Yep."
Alec waved his fork around in a circle and said in a sing-song voice, "Someone's lying," before popping the chunk of waffle into his mouth.
"I got shot," Quip said with a defensive shrug. "Why does it matter how it happened?"
"Because. People usually don't get shot for no reason," Alec said. He lifted both of his eyebrows and got a quirky expression on his face. "Unless it was the drive-by option, and then you should have moved out of the way."
"It wasn't," Quip insisted, hating the childish whine she was making by drawing out the 'wasn't.'
"Fine," Alec said, "But Max is going to ask you too. Because it does matter."
"Whatever," Quip said. She fixed her eyes on her plate and refused to look up at him.
They ate in silent for a few minutes, Alec swigging down large amounts of chocolate milk in-between stuffing waffles into his mouth. A tiny smile drifted onto her face as she watched her older, lanky male counterpart put away an abnormal amount of food. Maybe X5s needed to eat a lot. Or maybe he just really liked waffles.
"What if I went with you?"
Quip lifted her head and blinked at him. "But you don't want to go."
Alec sighed and grabbed his glass of milk. "No, I don't, but if I go, will you go?" He chugged the rest of his glass and then set it down, keeping his eyes on hers.
She narrowed her eyes, wondering if this was some kind of trick. "Maybe. Why are you coming?"
"Curiosity," he said, grinning, "I want to see how many stitches he'll put in you."
"That's not funny," she replied. She made a face at him when he smirked at her. "I don't want stitches."
"Then you shouldn't go around letting mysterious bullet holes appear in your side," Alec told her. "Besides, if I go, I can keep Max from harassing you."
Quip played with the edge of the table, running her fingers along the smooth, cool metal trimming. She flicked her gaze up at him. "I don't need you to come."
"I know," Alec said, "But I don't really want to go to work today, and this is a good excuse, isn't it?" He smirked at her as he skittered his fork across his empty plate. "My little sister's hurt, and she really needs me to be with her. Normal will definitely buy that."
Quip bit the inside of her cheek. Maybe having him along with her wouldn't be such a bad thing. If all else failed, maybe he would distract Max and the doctor, and she could make a break for it while they weren't paying attention. "Okay…I guess you can come."
"Glad to know I have the permission of a six-year-old."
"I'm seven," she declared.
Alec only grinned back at her.
Someone knocked on the door, and it swung open since the lock was still broken, revealing Max and some guy who smelled like motor oil, electronics, and paper and didn't smell like a transgenic. At all.
Quip gripped her fork and looked at Alec, ready to run, but he smiled back at her, somehow knowing exactly what she was thinking. "That's just Logan. Really, nothing to worry about."
"Glad to know I'm so respected," Logan said, rolling his eyes. He looked over at Quip and smiled at her. She could tell by the way his eyebrows knit together and how he glanced from her to Alec that he was comparing them, looking at their noticeable similarities. "Hey there."
Quip stared at him, not saying a word. When it came to regular people, she was usually friendly since if she was nice to them, they usually gave her something to eat or a place to stay for the night, but this guy…he seemed okay, but maybe Alec and the Max woman really were going to get rid of her, send her to Canada like they had talked about last night. Quip didn't want to go to Canada.
"She's definitely got your manners, Alec," Max said.
Logan shrugged and gave a crooked smile. "It's okay. I'm not really all that good with kids."
"Never would've guessed that," Alec said. He sounded serious, but Quip didn't think he was. And from the looks on Max and Logan's faces, they didn't think he meant it either.
"Anyways," Max said, tossing a frown at Alec, "Logan's going to drive us over to Sam's hospital, if Quip's willing to go."
Quip snuck a pointed look at Alec. He had to go with her or she wasn't going at all. Not that she needed him there or anything. But if they were going to make her to go to a hospital, then he had to go too.
"Sam won't hurt you," Logan said, probably noticing the look she was giving Alec, "He's worked on other transgenics." Quip's nose scrunched up. He made it sound like transgenics were carburetors or something.
"He's been my doctor before," Max added, "He's pretty awesome."
"You know," Alec said, "maybe Manticore girls have a thing for getting shot." He looked over at Quip, gold-green eyes amused. "Do you just get a kick out of it or something?"
Quip rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, I like getting shot. It's fun."
"Alec, shut up," Max said, frowning at Alec. She looked back at Quip. "It won't take long, I promise. We can go get you some new clothes or something afterwards."
"I already tried to buy her off with candy," Alec said, "Doesn't work."
"I'm not trying to buy you off," Max said to Quip while tossing a glare at Alec. "I just thought you'd like new clothes."
Quip tugged at her black t-shirt. Her clothes were a little worn out; the hem of the t-shirt was ragged and her jeans had holes in them. Not to mention her shoes. Her shoes looked awful. "I don't have any money."
"Just give them a cute pouty look," Alec said. He winked at her as he stood up from the table. "They'll throw free clothes at you."
"Interesting concept," the Logan guy said, "Does that usually work for you?"
A small grin slipped onto Quip's face at the thought of Alec trying to pout the store assistants into giving him clothes. Alec smirked back at the regular.
"Actually, they usually try to rip my clothes off instead of putting more on."
"Ugh, Alec, you're so full of it," Max said, tossing her head.
"Just telling the truth, Max," he said with an innocent shrug.
Max gave him a disgusted look before turning back to Quip. "You'll feel better faster if you go."
Quip sighed as she slid out of her chair. "Fine. I'll go. But I won't like it. And I still don't want to go."
"That's the spirit," Alec said. He grinned at her before he walked over to his bedroom. Quip stared after him, not really wanting to talk to Max or Logan, until he came back. He was carrying her shoes and two jackets, one black leather one and a blue denim one.
"Here, midget," he said, handing the shoes and the blue denim jacket to Quip, "It'll at least keep you warm even if you drown in it."
"Thanks," Quip mumbled. She laid the jacket on her chair as she sat down on the floor to put her shoes on. Her side ached, but she tried not to let it show on her face. Above her, Alec put on the black leather jacket and then turned back to Max.
"So, how far away is this guy's place?" he asked, playing with the collar of his jacket.
"Not far," Logan said, "It's only a couple sectors away."
"Guess we'll make it back to work by afternoon, right, Max?" Alec said. He smiled at Max who only stared back at him.
"I'll make it back to work. You're going to work in the first place."
"Nah, I thought I'd tag along and see the hospital," he said, "See, I'm viewing this as a learning experience."
"You're going to case the place, aren't you?" Max accused, her dark eyes narrowed into almond slits.
Alec shook his head. "No, just curious. I've got cat in my DNA too, remember?"
"Tom cat, yeah."
"Haha."
When Quip was finished lacing her sneakers, she stood up, biting her bottom lip so she wouldn't grimace too much. Her side burned for pain for a moment, but Alec discreetly grabbed her arm and pulled her upright, masking the movement by grabbing for the denim jacket. Their eyes met for a second, and Alec squeezed her arm as she leaned against his side until the pain dulled again and she could step away.
"He can come, Max," Logan said. He shrugged and gave a peacemaker's smile. "The more the merrier, right?" Quip didn't think he sounded very enthusiastic, and the looks he and Alec exchanged didn't seem all that friendly. It seemed to make Max back down though.
"Don't try anything," she said. She frowned at Alec. "I'm keeping an eye on you."
"I'll be an angel," Alec said. He looked down at Quip. "Ready to go?"
She nodded, and they all headed toward the door, Quip hovering around Alec's elbow. She didn't want him to go right now, but she definitely didn't need him. Nope.
