Hey, I'm back, I hope you guys like this chapter, itis sort of weird, sort of sweet, maybe a little out of character (Alec specially), but I like it, and you may even think of it as character development... I don't know, you are the judges. So, there's something that's been bugging me and I hope you guys can help me... because I only got 1 review for the last chapter (thank you Calistra! my faithful reader and reviewer!) so, I'm starting to think not too many people are reading this. I know this is not about the reviews, but is more about the feedback and... ok, to know if someone out there is ACTUALLY reading this story. And it sort of bothers me because I feel that maybe I am wasting my time. So, as a favor to me... could you at least leave on review now so I know there're people reading this story? pretty please? Ok, enough begging! read this chapter, and, as I always say, review if you wish to do so... although in this case I BEG YOU TO PLEEEAAASE REVIEW this chapter!


Chapter 9

OC entered Jam Pony without Max as usual.

'Normal,' said OC approaching her boss, 'my girl ain´t gonna come today.'

'Oh! Really? What now?'

'She threw up the whole damn night. The girl couldn't stop!'

'Look, I'm getting tire of this excuses your little friend always makes up.'

'Normal, I'm serious. I couldn't get her out of the friggin' toilet.'

'Fine, fine, what ever. I'm just warning you two. Just tell her to bring a note from the doctor.'

'Whatever.'

Cindy went over her locker. Alec entered Jam Pony and approached the lockers, where OC was getting her things ready.

'Hey, lad-' he stopped when he saw there was only one lady. 'OC.'

'Hey, blondie.'

'Where's Max?' he asked.

'She's sick.'

'Oh! What, she felt like not coming to work today?'

'No, she's sick,' OC repeated again, emphasizing the last word.

'Come on, Cindy, is not like I'm Normal's spy, or something. You can tell me the true.'

'Alec, I'm telling ya the truth here, boy,' said OC in a very serious tone. 'My girl's been throwing up non stop, all night long.'

'What? No, that's impossible. We... you know... don't get sick,' whispered Alec trying to avoid the words 'we' and 'transgenics' in the same sentence.

'I know, that's why I was so worried. Maybe it's just a simple and normal bug that's on the air, ya know? She's been under a lot of stress lately. She doesn't sleep at all, she hasn't been eating that much either and maybe all that caught up with her.'

'I don't know, Cindy, I mean, it's not easy for a... you know, to get sick.'

'I know. Anyway, I gotta go and do some work, or Normal is gonna be on my ass until I quit. I'll go to check on Maxie at launch time.'

'Ok, see ya,' said Alec as OC left Jam Pony with a couple of packages and giving Normal a nasty look before leaving.

It was weird. An X-5 cannot get sick; he had never been sick in his life. Maybe it was an engineer virus just like the one Manticore put on Max to kill Logan; maybe the virus had actually mutated when she got the cure and it was affecting her now; or maybe, OC was just right. X-5s are the best results of cloning research and genetically empowered human hybrids, but they were not indestructible.

Alec took a package, to Sector 5 (duh!), and delivered it quickly. Then, he decided to pay a visit to Max. It was only 9.10 am, and Cindy was going to be there at 1pm give or take, so Max could use some company.


Alec entered Max's building with his bike and when he arrived at her door, he knocked. There was no answer, so he opened it. Max was nowhere to be seen. He left his bike near the door, and stepped closer to her room. 'Max?' he said in a whisper, afraid she might be sleeping. Suddenly, a messy long brown hair stuck out of the bathroom door.

'Alec?' said Max, who was sitting on the bathroom floor, with her around the toilet seat.

'Hey, you're really sick,' said Alec, tenderly.

'Yeah—' but she could not finish the sentence. Alec rush up to her, to hold her while she threw up.

When she finished, Alec said: 'You look like shit.'

'Gee, thanks. You're here to cheer me up? I FEEL like shit.' With that said, she started throwing up again.

'It's ok. I'm here, don't worry,' whispered Alec on her ear, while he hold her hair.

When Max finally finished, 'You got fever?' he asked.

'I don't know, but I feel really hot,' she said.

'Well, Max you are hot,' Alec answered with his cocky smile, trying light up her mood. Always with his stupid Smart-aleck remarks. Max hit him on the shoulder, and even though she was weak, Alec really felt that.

'Ouch! I thought you were sick!'

'Yeah, well, I thought you were here to say stupid things while I'm feeling like shit and get your ass kicked, right? Or am I misunderstanding something?' Yeap, she was sick, but still a bitch.

'You know, you're bitchier when you don't feel so good.'

'Thank you.'

'Ok, let's see if you got fever,' he said and placed his lips over her forehead. 'No, you don't have fever. Why don't you have a cold shower, while I prepare you something to eat?'

'Really? Ya know how to cook?' a flabbergast Max asked.

'Max, if you want me to leave--'

'No. I'm sorry. I'm just surprised--'

'Oh! I didn't hear that, can you repeat it again?'

'No, I'm not. You might better go, because I ain't gonna tell you "I'm sorry" again.'

'You're welcome,' said Alec and left the bathroom with a satisfactory smile on his face. Max was on the cold floor rolling her eyes, realizing that she had said 'I'm sorry' again. Damn! Being sick made her stupid and slow. Not a good combination when Alec was around. But still, Max was surprised by Alec's attitude. He had come all the way to her apartment to take care of her. No one had ever spoiled her this much, except for Cindy, but she did not count, she was a friend. And maybe Logan; but she would never be able to compare the two men. They were as different as day and night.

Max got up from the floor, turned the water on, took off her sweaty clothes and entered the shower. The water was really cold. When it first touched her bare hot skin, she hissed and her muscles contracted for a moment but then she got used to it and cleaned her body from the sweat and the smell of her throwing up.

From the shower, Max could hear Alec looking like crazy something to eat in her apartment. But she knew he was not going to find anything. She smiled at that thought.

So he gave up. There was nothing, the place was empty. What the hell do they eat! Then he heard Max turning off the water.

Minutes later she was out of the bathroom, looking at him with a broad smile.

'What?' he asked her.

'You didn't find much, didnja?'

'Ooh, so you knew there wasn't anything to eat, ah?'

'Obviously, who do you think lives here?'

'Yeah, ok.'

She started walking to her room, when, suddenly, she felt as if her legs had gotten disconnected from the rest of her body and she could not move them. Everything was going into circles. It felt as if the world had stopped and she was still moving along with the Earth's natural movement. Finally, her body gave in, her legs could not hold her anymore, and Max fell. The fall took forever when it only took Alec a second to see her fall and run to catch her.

'You're ok?' asked Alec really worried.

'Yeah... I just felt a little dizzy,' said Max, looking at those sweet and worried hazel-green eyes. She loved the way Alec was holding her. His arms were all around her, protecting her. Then he held her in a way he could carry her to her room, with one arm under her back and the other holding her legs. When Max realized this, and the fact that she was only wearing a wet towel around her naked body, she started moving to get off of his grip. She did not want him to think she was some kind of Damsel in Distress, because she was not such a thing.

'I can do it myself,' she snapped, leaving Alec's secure arms, only to stood up and fell again to be caught by Alec... again.

'Look, Max,' he said holding her again like before. 'I know you ain't some pretty flower who needs to be taken care of, ok? And I also know you could kick my ass any time, sick or not. So don't worry. Me holding you like this won't do anything to your tough-chick reputation.'

'You swear you won't tell anyone?'

'I swear.'

Alec placed Max over her bed.

'Look, I think I better call Logan, he might know what's going on with you. Maybe his scientist guy knows something,' he said.

'Log- Logan! No!' said Max. The last thing she needed right now was Alec and Logan alone talking about her. It would only cause problems and it also meant that Alec would find out the lie she fed Logan. 'I mean, you don't have to. I can do it. Just hand me the phone,' she said, pointing at the phone on a near by table.

He fetched it for her.

Max dialed Logan's number, but no one answered, so she left him a message. 'Logan, it's me. I need you to call me ASAP. I'll explain you then.' After hanging up, she said to Alec: 'He wasn't home.'

'Ok.' At that moment, alec let himself get caught by the moment. He admired her big brown eyes, her wet, dark curls all over her cinnamon shoulders. And without thinking, he moved a wet curl from her face. By the time he realized what he had done, all he could do was retreat his hand as fast as possible and act as if nothing had happened. "What d'you say if I stop by somewhere to buy some food?"

Alec was not the only one who got lost in reverie. When he asked her that question, her dream world came into a crashing stop and felt a bit ashamed, though she tried her best not to show it.

'Ok,' she said in a whisper. Then, remembering something, she added: 'Aren't you supposed to go to Jam Pony?'

'Umh, it's ok. I'll call Normal and make something up.'

'Ok,' she said again, still a bit disoriented for what had just happened.

'Ok,' he repeated as well. 'And, I'm gonna head over to Logan's to see if he's back.'

She snapped again from her day-dreaming, and said: 'No, why would you do that? Just—I'll call him again in 10 minutes.'

'I really don't mind,' he said, finding Max's sudden behavior quite strange.

'I just… I wanna handle this with Logan myself… he might…' she said trying to come up with a believable lie, 'think I'm trying to avoid him… the whole break up thing… yeah.'

'Ok,' he finally agreed.


Even if Max asked him not to do it, he stopped by at Logan's.

Disaster. That's what he found in the old man's apartment. A disaster. And Logan was not there. Alec got his cell phone out of his jacket and dialed Logan's cell phone number. But he did not pick it up, the answer machine did.

'Hello, you've reached Logan Cale's cell phone, please leave a message after the bip.'

Too long. Alec thought. His answer machine only said: "Hey, Alec here, leave a message." Such a snob.

BIP.

'Hey Logan, it's me, Alec. Where the hell are you man? Call me, we're really worry ´bout ya," he hung up after that.

Then, Alec thought about checking the house, to see if he could find any clues. There were definitely signs of struggle. He reached Logan's room, and find what it seamed like a ray of light, a little hope that Logan may be ok. His empty closet. That meant that Logan had left. Also, there was some equipment missing and finally, Bessie was not in the building's garage.


Alec arrived at Max's place at 10.30, and he found her sleeping peacefully on her bed with a clean black tank top and a pair of sleeping black shorts.

She had not slept that much when she woke up. A pleasant smell that aroused her senses. She went over the kitchen and found Alec cutting some vegetables.

'What're you cooking?'

'Hey, Maxie. I hope you like it. I made a chicken soup, with some vegetables and stuff. You like chicken, right?'

'Of course I do, I'm part cat, aren't I?'

Alec laughed. 'Yes, you are, we all are.' He waited a moment, and then decided to let Max know he had been over Logan's. 'So… I went to Logan's place.'

She immediately tensed. 'You did? Why? I told you not to go!' she snapped.

'I know, but I just wanted to make sure he wasn't avoiding you, or something.'

'So?' she asked, not sure what had happened over at her ex's, because Alec looked quieter than usual, and seemed to be struggling with his own words.

Alec was not sure if he should tell Max what he found in the old man's apartment, and, well, what he had not found, which was Logan.

'Uhm... Logan wasn't home,' he simply said, not really lying, but not really telling the truth either.

'Oh,' she said, as her body relaxed again. 'Ok. Well, we'll call him later.'

We? Wow!


They ate the soup, which Max thought was delicious, and as Alec was cleaning the dishes, Max went straight to bed, where she would be warmer, but ten minutes later she was throwing up Alec's chicken soup in the toilet.