Dream

By Andy Depp Ackles

DISCLAIMER: I don't own this beautiful series

RATING: K

Chapter 10-Butterflies

Max tossed over onto her stomach, burying her head in her pillow. Why couldn't she sleep? She was definitely tired, bordering on exhausted even. Her shark DNA wasn't the issue either. She was entitled to at least three hours of sleep but as soon as she'd said goodbye and stepped into her tent her brain bounced around her head with thoughts. Not just any thoughts but ones that made her stomach clench and unclench with nerves, stress and anticipation. Max had lain down on her uncomfortable bed and- maybe that was the reason she couldn't sleep? Was her bed that uncomfortable. Max turned onto her back again. It hadn't been this uncomfortable last night. Max took a deep breath. Maybe her bed was uncomfortable but that wouldn't explain the little nervous clenches her stomach was making. She needed to stray her thoughts away from what had happened an hour ago. Max took another deep breath, clearing her head and relaxing herself. As she was on the periphery of sleep and consciousness, just like the ten times before, an image of hugging Alec flashed through her mind and her stomach flipped in such a way that made her break out in a cold sweat and awaken again. The same thing carried on for the next forty minutes and by four-thirty Max was so exhausted that she fell into a shallow sleep, her dreams little delusions that tossed and turned as much as she was. All of them focused on Alec.

At five-thirty on the dot Max woke up with an uneasy feeling and then she remembered why she hadn't been able to sleep. She sat up and pushed her still-sweaty hair from her face. She'd have to go and use one of the make-shift, rather unimpressive showers that had been set up in a secluded part of the forest. Hardly any transhumans used them so the chances of them being full were cut down by half however X's really did like their hot water and Max wasn't sure if any would be left over for herself. Maybe if she hurried and got there before anyone else did? It had been a late night for everyone and it was a Saturday which meant most people got most of the morning off. The transgenics that needed to sleep longer would stay in their tents for a while. Max grabbed her bar of soap, towel and blurred out of her tent. It was getting light outside but hardly anyone was up. As Max let the cool morning air clear her thoughts and cool her flushed cheeks she ran past Alec's tent and hoped to God that he wasn't up yet. She had to avoid him as much as possible. She remembered the sleepless tossing and turning that he had caused. It was so crazy that Max was scared. Scared that she was beginning to feel something…something other than the mixture of camaraderie and enmity that she usually felt for Alec. She was a week away from a cure. Her and Logan would finally get what they'd been wanting for so long. And now here she was thinking about Alec. Maybe Kali needed to take a look at her brain 'cuz there was something definitely not right up there.

Alec walked into Command, glad that there was work to be done so that he could come down from his high. A few hours ago he'd hugged Max for the first time. And not just an arm around her shoulder or some half-assed hug that he'd attempted and failed -she'd hugged him back for the first time. She'd been so close and fierce about it that Alec was shocked. Maybe she finally trusted him like she did Zack and Logan? Once she'd gone inside Alec didn't miss the expressions on both Zack and Logan's faces. They were also perplexed. Did they really think that Alec hadn't stood a chance to win over Max's affection at all? They'd underestimated him again. Alec hadn't bothered going to sleep. He knew that it would be a futile process after that so he'd taken a walk and then gone to see if there was anything to be done around camp.

Max let the warm water wash over her face. Thankfully the shower area was completely empty. The time in the shower did Max good as her thoughts ironed themselves out. No, she didn't really like Alec like that. It had just been a scare like the one she'd had two months before. Oh yeah, it'd happened before. She'd gotten particularly close to Alec for a few minutes (mentally and physically) then she'd gotten away from him, gone back to her apartment back at TC and then proceeded to sleep restlessly. She'd woken up the next morning and convinced herself that she was just crazy. It was just because he was holding her hand in front of Logan that one time. It really hadn't meant anything. That next week she had hardly spoken to Alec about anything besides work related stuff. But Max knew that it was silly to distance herself from him now just because of some fleeting feeling or something. She enjoyed his company too much to let that one hug get in the way. And to prove it to herself she'd hug him again some time. Maybe as many times as she hugged Zack. But hugging Alec was definitely different from hugging Zack…Max had to turn the hot water off and let the cold water clear her thoughts now. Although hot water was like her best friend, it was her worst enemy when it came to thinking about Alec. It inspired very inappropriate thoughts. Max calmed down again and was positive that her mind was back to normal. She began to think about the cure and smiled to herself.

"Alec." Alec swiveled around to see Joshua standing in the doorway of Command.

"Hey, Josh."

"Hey, uh, Drake, needs to see you."

Alec creased his eyebrows but got up to follow the seven foot canine out. "Okay."

Alec and Joshua walked into medical and into Trish's office. Trish and Drake stood over some medical equipment lay out across one of Trish's desks.

"What's this about?" Alec asked, eyeing Trish warily. She had a hint of a smile on her pretty mocha face.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience Alec but I gotta have a sample of your blood." Drake said apologetically.

"My blood. Isn't the cure for Max?" Alec said slowly, as if he wondered about the doctor's intellect.

The doctor laughed at the obvious expression on Alec's face. "Yeah, it is but I need a sample of blood from a transgenic that's not infected." The doctor finished with a smile.

Alec looked slightly embarrassed. "Right. I knew that." Trish's smirk became more pronounced.

"Just roll up your sleeve and we'll be done." The doctor said.

Alec looked up at Joshua as if asking whether or not he could trust Drake with a sample of his blood. Joshua nodded. Alec took his jacket off and began to roll up the sleeve of his shirt past his elbow as he sat down.

"Uh, actually could you take care of it for me Trish? I have to find Logan right now."

"I'd love to." She said smiling slyly at Alec.

Alec looked less sure that this was a good idea.

"Thanks, come on Joshua." Drake and Joshua walked out. Alec swallowed.

"You look scared. Relax Alec, I won't hurt you."

"Yeah right." Alec muttered as Trish swabbed his skin with alcohol.

"So how're you doing? You seem on edge lately."

"Why would I be on edge?" Alec asked.

Trish looked at him with an obvious expression. "Oh please, I know how you feel about this whole thing."

"What whole thing?" Alec said trying his best to play it innocent. Trish slid the needle into his skin painlessly (to Alec's surprise).

"Max finally getting the cure to her freak virus so that she can be with Logan." Trish stated bluntly.

Alec laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Deny it as much as you want Romeo but unless you speak up now, you're not going to get the fairytale ending that you want." Trish removed the tiny vial of blood and removed the needle. "I'm done."

Alec got up and walked towards the door but stopped and looked back at Trish. "Really, I have no idea what Kali's been telling you but she's lying." Alec smirked and shook his head as he walked out heading back to command.

"Whatever you say." Trish was surprised that she'd gotten through a few minutes with Alec without saying a single jibing remark. They were finally learning some civility in their old age. She knew she'd struck a cord though, so it was true…

Max walked towards the tent considered to be the new command centre. She wondered where Zack was, usually he'd be up by now. Maybe he was there already. The shower had done Max wonders as far as calming her nerves was concerned, no more hideous 'butterflies' threatened to batter her to death from the inside out. Nope, no more butterflies, not for Alec, definitely not for Zack and strangely the butterflies had faded for Logan a while ago too. Max was determined to focus on TC now, even though Drake was busy with a cure, he could work at that while she planned getting her people back to Terminal City eventually. Max walked through the entrance. Zack was working on something, going over plans for another heist? He looked at Max and smiled.

"Hey whatcha workin' on?" Max asked walking towards the table that the papers were spread out across.

"Those floor plans that you were going over a few days ago."

"Oh, right, those. You fix that problem with them yet?"

"No, still not sure." Zack shook his head and frowned in concentration.

Max sensed that Alec was in one of the adjoining tents. She smiled smugly to herself, proud. No butterflies. Maybe just a little pick up in heart-rate but that was acceptable, considering. She calmed that down immediately. Thank God that was over, thank God she wasn't going crazy after all.

Suddenly Alec was looking over Max's shoulder at the floor plans too. His lips right next to her ear. "Yeah, I can't find the problem either." He murmured huskily but not intending to cause the damage that he'd just inflicted on Max. Her heart-rate sped up to scary rates and the damn butterflies were back. Max wondered how he'd managed to sneak up on her like that. She turned to look at him without thinking. She needed to know if he could hear her heart going crazy. As she looked at him she noticed the crease between his eyebrows and the glance he made at the spot where her heart would be. Max mentally cussed. He had noticed and now he was trying to make sense of it. It wouldn't be long before- Max saw the smile form on his face with confusion. Why wasn't he smirking with pleasure? Instead he was smiling with his eyes as well as his mouth and he looked pleasantly surprised. Max quickly thought of what to do in this strange situation. She turned away before the length of their stare became weird. "Alec don't sneak up on me like that." She saw his smile falter from the corner of her eye. She'd successfully diffused the situation for now. 'Hold it together soldier! What are you thinking?' Max thought to herself as she calmed her heart-rate. Making Alec believe that she was only startled would require her to decrease her heart rate immediately. Even if she could do that the butterflies were persistent.

Alec listened to Max's heart-rate slow to it's normal pace. Damn. Just when he thought that he was the cause of that. He caught the relieved look on Zack's face. He'd also heard it all. But had he seen that slight flush to her face? Alec was a little confused by that. Was she embarrassed that he'd caught her off guard like that or because he'd had some sort of effect on her? He'd have to test his theory out again later. Getting the jump on Max wasn't easy though. If he wanted to sneak up on her she'd have to be distracted.

After what had happened earlier that morning Zack was losing hope. Would Max ever think of him as anything more than a brother? As Zack leaned over the plans with Max standing next to him and Alec on her other side he tried to focus on his work. He wouldn't push it if it wasn't meant to be. And now with the cure looming ominously on the horizon he knew that not even Alec stood much of a shot. Zack saw Alec brush arms with Max as he leaned past her to point at one of the entrances to the building plans they were currently studying. He'd heard Max's surprise at Alec's voice. But that was all it was, surprise, nothing else thankfully. Zack hoped.

"What about over here." Alec pointed at the side entrance of the building.

"I don't think so." Max frowned in concentration. She wasn't going to think about Alec anymore. She realized that by over thinking it she was romanticizing the whole thing. She was going to concentrate. For now at least.

Logan woke up to the sound of people walking past his tent and talking to one another. It was morning but Logan wondered just how late it was. He hated to leave when the doctor was busy and Max was here but he really needed to get back to his current eyes-only mission and to move all his equipment back to his old apartment. Things had calmed down enough for him to find the funding and fix the place up. Of course he'd been discrete about it and updated his security big time. Max had helped him a few days ago but he needed to finish up.

In the next hour Logan went to personally thank Joshua for letting him stay there, Drake took some of his blood quickly and then he went to tell Max he wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Hopefully the doctor would have made some progression by then.

A/N: I've imagine what I'd write for this author's note for over eight months now. I guess I just want to say sorry to all the people following my stories. I've been extremely distracted. You can blame Kpop and hot Korean singers for that.

I'm trying hard to get back into my Malec'ness so pray for mee! Malec is still my fav couple in the fanfic kingdom! I shan't give up on them.

R and R (you may shout at me for taking so long with this or you may even give me inspiration to write) whatever it is I welcome it.