Alec was still sore when he woke up, but his headache was down to a dull throb. He had actually slept through the night and he was surprised that it was early afternoon by the time he woke up. He usually only slept for a few hours a night and his sleep was usually interrupted by bad memories turned even worse nightmares.
He was pretty comfortable, but his stomach had started to growl. He hadn't had any real food in a while and even cereal was starting to sound good. Cereal wasn't his favorite thing to eat, but Sam and Dean usually had a box lying around since it was cheap and easy to make. He'd never had cereal until he was out of Manticore and the only real problem with it was that it didn't keep him full for very long. And he had to eat about half the box to get somewhat full in the first place.
His stomach won out though and he finally decided to get up. He stretched to try and work out his stiff muscles and the movement made him smile; Dean and Sam always teased him that he looked like a cat when he stretched.
He was still wearing his scrub pants, but he found that they were surprisingly comfortable so he didn't bother changing. He didn't look for a shirt either since the cabin was silent and he didn't think anyone else was up and eating was more important at this point.
Alec hadn't really paid much attention to how the cabin looked since he was half asleep when they'd walked in, but as far as he was concerned it was pretty nice. He was used to shady motels and abandoned houses, honestly anything was better than Terminal City, but this place was like the Hilton. He was just in the bedroom and there was a giant TV on the wall. If they weren't on a hunt, he probably wouldn't even leave this room.
Some of the places they stayed had TV's, but they were usually too busy to watch it. If there was one thing Alec missed about Seattle, it would be all the TV he got to watch. He missed his friends too, but TV really was a wonderful thing.
He managed to tear his eyes away from the TV and walk out of the room. He was mildly surprised to see that Sam and Tera were both asleep on the sofa; they were actually spooning and he wanted to remember that for later so he could tease Sam about it. He rolled his eyes and then made his way to the kitchen.
The cabinets were actually stocked with food, but he didn't want to make a lot of noise so he just grabbed the first box of cereal that he saw. It was something called Coco Puffs, which of course he'd never had but looked promising with all the chocolate. It was definitely something Dean might eat and that Sam would never buy, so of course he wanted to try it.
He was completely silent as he looked for a bowl and spoon and the only noise he made was when he poured his cereal. He glanced up to make sure Sam and Tera were still asleep and then he grabbed his milky cereal and headed for what looked like a back door. There was a huge wooden deck with lounge chairs scattered around and Alec immediately sat down and made himself comfortable. It felt really nice outside and the view was amazing with the woods and the mountains and even the cereal wasn't half bad.
After he finished his first bowl of cereal he was still hungry so he went back inside and just grabbed the entire box and gallon of milk and then went back outside.
"Now this is what I'm talkin' about," Alec muttered with a smile as he poured his second bowl of cereal.
He was on his fifth bowl when the back door opened and Tera walked out. She was still wearing her psych ward outfit from yesterday but it was a little wrinkled from sleep. Alec was a little surprised to see her considering he maybe said two sentences to her total yesterday. Not only that, but she seemed to be glued to Sam's side since he was the one going out of his way to talk to her.
"Sorry I helped myself," Alec finally mumbled and he gestured to the cereal so she knew what he was talking about.
Tera shrugged back, "Its fine…it was Jacob's favorite anyway…I never really liked the stuff…"
Alec had no idea what to say. He wasn't very good at comforting people, especially people he barely knew. He cleared his throat and then said, "Sorry…about your friend and all…"
Tera looked away and then changed the subject, "So, why are you sitting out here?"
"The fresh air," Alec answered easily, "And the sunshine."
If Sam or Dean had asked him that he probably would have told them how he didn't think he'd like being free from Manticore. That he'd been comfortable with what he knew and he hadn't wanted things to change. But now he would fight to stay free. The fresh air was the big one; it felt like he could finally breathe, like he'd been holding his breath until Max had freed them all.
"Look, I'm trying really hard not to freak out about everything…but the one thing I keep getting stuck on is the fact that you're a…" Tera looked away from him and whispered, "A transgenic…"
Alec's eyebrows rose; this was not the conversation he thought they were going to have. "Cat's outta the bag now," Alec replied with a smirk.
Tera wasn't amused, but then again she really didn't know that he had some cat DNA so the joke was wasted.
"I've seen the news; you've practically destroyed Seattle," Tera stated with a hint of accusation in her voice.
Alec clenched his jaw and forced himself to stay calm and instead joked, "Well, I didn't do it by myself; there are quite a few of us actually…"
"I didn't mean you personally," Tera tried to backtrack, "I just meant your kind."
"My kind?" Alec asked sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you, but it's hard to ignore what's on the news. You seem like a nice enough guy, but you're still one of them and I have no idea what they are. You could be dangerous for all I know and now that I've had some time to think, I can't believe I helped break you out of the hospital. I shouldn't even let you stay here…" She was rambling and she still refused to look at him, "And for God's sake, can you please put on a shirt! I can't concentrate with all of this going on," Tera gestured to his chest and then sat back, waiting for him to respond.
Anyone who'd seen the news about them thought they were dangerous. The news wasn't helping them at all with their footage of them, even though they were the ones being attacked. It wasn't Tera's fault that she thought that he was dangerous; he'd warned Sam and Dean constantly of that very fact and he couldn't blame her now. He needed to try and explain things to her so she would know how they really were and not how the news portrayed them.
Alec sat forward and put his elbows on his knees, "Look, what the news puts out is only one side of the story. Transgenics aren't monsters; we were created in a lab and then raised as soldiers. All I've known my whole life are orders and missions. Yes I'm dangerous," Alec said, "But I'm not going to hurt you."
Tera thought about what he said. He was surprised that she didn't just run off when she heard him say that he was a transgenic in the car. It must have been the adrenaline that made her overlook that fact until now.
"Can you explain it more? What being a transgenic means?" Tera finally asked.
Alec smiled a little and rubbed the back of his neck where his barcode was, "Sure, I have human DNA and some cat DNA mixed together. A lot in my series have cat DNA, but other series have different animals as part of their mix. Somehow, Manticore got ahold of Dean's DNA and mixed it together with cat to get me. The DNA gives us enhancements that regular humans don't have."
"Like what?" Tera asked curiously.
"Well, I'm stronger than a normal human, I'm faster, and I have heightened senses…those are just some of them, but since Manticore created us, they were in charge. If you didn't do what they said, then you were punished or killed depending on how badly you messed up…"
"What happened to Seattle? Why does it look like it was destroyed only after you all escaped?" Tera asked.
Alec took a deep breath and then said, "It was already a mess before we got there. Everyone was trying to keep it quiet from the rest of the States, but once they found out transgenics existed we became the perfect scapegoat. We were going to try and make a stand, but the cops found us before we could get anything started…"
"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have judged you so harshly. You all just looked so dangerous when you popped up on the news…" Tera said quietly.
"Well we are a bunch of trained assassins," Alec said with a smile. "But we really just want to be left alone. People are just afraid of things that are different from them."
It was quiet after Alec said that and it seemed like Tera was thinking things over. Alec sat back in the chair again and poured himself another bowl of cereal. He hoped that Tera was ok with what he was now that he'd explained some things, but it was hard to tell. She wasn't freaking out so that was a good sign; he would just have to wait and see how she reacted.
He wasn't as surprised when Sam opened the door and stepped outside a few minutes later. He was still in his security guard outfit and Alec had to hide his smile.
"Are you eating all of Tera's food?" Sam asked with a smile.
"She said she didn't really like this kind anyway," Alec replied and he shook the box in Sam's direction.
"Is that chocolate?" Sam asked after a moment with a frown.
Alec slurped the chocolate milk out of the bowl and then said, "Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?"
"Just wait until you're really feeling better, then you better watch your back," Sam teased.
"You don't want to start this game with me," Alec replied with a challenge.
Sam rolled his eyes and sat down on the chair next to Tera. Alec would have teased Sam right then, but he wanted to wait until Tera wasn't around. Instead, he held out his bowl of cereal to Sam and asked, "You want some?"
Sam laughed, "No, I think I'm good…Save some for Dean though, he might want some."
"Might want some of what?" Dean suddenly asked from the doorway. Harper was standing by his side and Dean had his arm across her shoulders and she had hers around his waist. They were the only ones who had changed into normal clothes and they looked ready to go.
"Some of the cereal that Alec found," Sam said back.
"What kind is it?" Dean asked with interest. He walked onto the deck and sat down on Alec's other side and Harper sat down next to him.
"It's called Coco Puffs; it's nice and chocolatey," Alec said with a smile and he held out the box of cereal for Dean to take.
He reached out and grabbed it with an equally big smile, "Man, I haven't had these in forever!" He reached into the box and grabbed a handful and then threw them in his mouth. He reached in and to grab another handful and frowned, "How many bowls did you already eat?"
"Six I think," Alec replied, trying to think back to how many he'd had. At Sam and Dean's exasperated looks he defended, "Hey, I was hungry! You guys were all asleep and it was chocolate cereal! You can't blame me for that!"
"You don't even like cereal," Sam said with a smile.
"I would if you bought the chocolate kind…" Alec muttered.
Dean chuckled and then asked Alec, "How ya feelin'?"
Alec shrugged, "Pretty good; headache's down some, but I'm ready to go whenever."
"Well, Tera and I talked about it and she said we can use the cabin as long as we need. We don't have any real leads yet on the demons so…" Sam said slowly as he glanced back and forth between Dean and Tera.
"So you think we should stay here," Dean finished.
"Makes sense," Alec said, "What's the plan to smoke out the demons?"
"Me and Harper are going to town to see if anyone's noticed anything strange and you three are going to stay here and do research," Dean replied.
"Why do I have to stay and do research!" Alec immediately complained.
"You're still resting," Dean said and Alec could tell there was no room for arguing this time.
"Don't you think Tera should go to town? She knows the area and she knows the people," Sam said.
Dean groaned and then whined, "Sam, I don't want to stay here." And then he muttered, "I hate research…"
"Tough," Sam said with a smile, "Tera and I are going to town and you three are staying here."
"Fine," Dean grumbled.
It was quiet for a moment until Alec finally broke the silence, "So, when are we eating breakfast?" Sam laughed and Dean threw a handful of cereal at him.
Thought I'd give the boys a little r&r this time. Next chapter, the real fun begins! ;)
(Also, I changed Dark Angel a little with the whole Seattle bit to where that was really the only place to be affected by the pulse and now people are blaming the transgenics, just a little heads up)
More soon...
