DISCLAIMER: It's been years, but my request to own Dark Angel still hasn't been approved. That's why I'm going to Law School, so I can present my case.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, guys. It's been really hectic. REALLY. It took me ages to get this chapter out because I kept jumping back and forth about the plotline. In the end, the part that said that there should be a little bit of MA goodness won out. This just means the story gets to be a chapter longer than I expected. More work for me. But hey, MA is here.

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CHAPTER 10

Chase and Max took Alec down to the bedroom below deck to lie down. He sighed blissfully and closed his eyes as some of the tension eased off of his injuries. Chase grinned at him and smacked him good-naturedly on the shoulder. Alec grimaced, but by then, the swelling had all but gone in his formerly dislocated shoulder.

He was about to say something worthy of his namesake when the sight before him caused his breath to leave in a strangled gasp. Sort of like being punched in the gut. Hard.

Chase and Max were facing each other, outlined against the light that spilled into the room from the bathroom doorway. He saw Chase tuck a stray strand of Max's hair behind her ear, and brush another one over her shoulder.

The scene was almost sweet. Except that it hurt so goddamned much.

They leaned their heads together and Alec almost shut his eyes, afraid that he was going to catch them kissing. But instead, they were whispering quietly. Alec strained to hear, but there was a roaring in his ears, blood rushing angrily through his veins as his aching heart pounded beat after painful beat.

A few moments later, Chase turned to leave, a goofy sort of grin on his face. He touched Max's elbow gently just before he disappeared up the stairwell, and he gave her a broad wink.

Alec frowned at the obvious display of affection. When did Max and Chase suddenly become all touchy-feely? He watched with growing annoyance as Max ducked her head and actually bit her lip like she was shy.

What was going on? Had he missed something monumental? Like his chance with Max? Had Chase somehow taken his place as the resident smart-aleck at Max's side? Or worse, taken Logan's place somewhere in Max's affections?

Alec shut his eyes painfully and sighed heavily, trying to ease the knots in his stomach, and the heavy weight around his heart. His eyes were still closed, but he could hear Max bustling around in the small bathroom.

He felt, more than heard, Max kneel beside him. Alec heard the splash of water being squeezed out, and he opened one eye to look at Max. She had a bowl of water and a wash cloth in her hand.

"Hey," she whispered. "Lemme clean you up."

She reached for him, but he stopped her by wrapping his hand around her wrist. He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. She couldn't know the way he ached inside, like knives stabbing him a thousand times over, at the idea that somehow, he had lost his place in her life.

"Max, you don't have to," he sighed. "I know this doesn't fall under the job description for a rescue op."

"Yeah, but it is under 'friend'," she replied softly. Her expression was not guarded, but clouded. Confusion marred her brow, and her lips were puckered between a half-frown and a tentative smile.

He released her wrist slowly. "So, I'm your friend, huh?" he sighed, feeling the ache in his heart expanding into a dull throb that threatened to overwhelm him. Her friend.

"Among other things," she replied evenly.

He had a new label. Strangely enough, for the past year of their acquaintance, he had been her Breeding Partner, her enemy, her co-worker, partner-in-crime, thorn at her side, and resident smart-aleck…among other things. Now, he was her friend.

That had to be enough, right?

Alec grimaced to himself. Who was he kidding? It wasn't nearly enough. He wanted to be her everything.

"You okay?" she asked brusquely, noticing his sudden flinch.

He smiled wanly at her. "Just hurt," he replied honestly. In more ways than I can ever tell you, he finished quietly. Her expression gentled, and he realized that this was probably the first time in…ever…Max had looked at him like he was important to her.

Carefully, she dabbed the washcloth over the gash that was on his forehead. It was slightly swollen, and the clean, cool water eased some of the throbbing. She hesitated for a moment, her eyes downcast. "Look, Alec, I know I haven't exactly been a good friend, and I'm really—"

He cut her off, by laying a gentle hand on her cheek. "Max, didn't you ever wonder why you were number one on my speed dial?"

Her eyes flickered up to meet with his.

"Cuz you are a good friend," he said simply, honestly. "Because no matter how much I screwed up, you were always there to bail me out, and you always tried to set me right…among other things," he chuckled.

She chuckled along with him, but sounded unconvinced. Her eyes were roving over his face, soft and tender. Alec's breath caught in his throat, and it was like he was drowning. Having her look at him with concerned, big, brown eyes…it was dangerous to his health.

He laughed uncomfortably to break the tense silence that had fallen over them.

Max blinked suddenly, and he could practically see her mentally shake herself. "What are you laughing at, smart ass?" she asked briskly, a trace of a smile in her voice.

Alec indicated to the way she was carefully wiping the blood off of his injuries. "A guy can definitely get used to this," he drawled indolently, falling back to comfortable banter with ease.

Max narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't get too comfortable. I'm just feeling sorry for your beat up ass."

"It's still a fine ass, Maxie," he drawled.

"Not from where I'm standing," she retorted.

He grinned. "I could give you a better view," he offered.

"No, thanks," she replied dryly. "I wouldn't wanna be scarred for life."

"Aww, Max," he groaned, he waved his hand vaguely over his injuries. "That's low. It's like kicking a man when he's already down."

"I told you I fight dirty," she replied, but her eyes were smiling at him. He smiled tentatively back at her, and again the air seemed to simmer between them. Alec wasn't sure how to deal with his painful awareness of Max. She was leaning over him so close, all he had to do was tug at her arm, and she would fall into bed right next to him. And God, how he wanted to.

He closed his eyes, afraid that she would see the emotions in them. His heart was thundering, but he forced himself to take deep breaths. Finally, he heard Max moving around again, presumably to get clean water, since the first bowl had turned a dirty red from his blood.

By the time she came back, he had controlled his raging emotions. He finally allowed himself to simply enjoy the way her gentle hands administered to his pain. He was drifting off to sleep when he felt her warm fingers sliding underneath his shirt. Her hands brushed over his stomach in a near-caress. His muscles jumped at the light contact, and he practically stopped breathing. Within seconds, his tired body was reacting to her touch in the most uncomfortable way.

"Max," he rasped in a strangled whisper. "Stop that."

"I have to check your ribs," she replied matter-of-factly. "I saw your medical records I stole from Dr. Johnson. Seems you have hairline fractures on a couple."

"It's just a scratch," he protested, obviously lying. He flinched as her fingers ran gently along his swollen left side.

She gave him a look, a mixture of hurt and exasperation. "It needs to be checked. But if you want, I can get Chase to do it…" she trailed off. Then a smirk replaced the oddly vulnerable look on her face. "I didn't know you were so modest, Alec."

"I'm not," he growled. "It's just that…"

"What?" she grumbled. There was a sharp edge to her voice. He noticed anger simmering in her brown eyes.

"Not you," he mumbled. "I don't want you…"

Her expression was wiped clean, and she quickly removed her hands. "Oh." She cut him off with her gasp, sounding like he had kicked her in the gut. "I see."

She pushed away from him, but he grabbed her around the wrist, pulling her to face him. "No, you don't see," he amended.

"No, I get it…really," she said hastily, trying to pull her arm away from his grip. He couldn't let her go thinking that he couldn't stand her touch because he didn't want to. It was because he wanted her to touch him a little too much.

"Just let me finish what I was gonna say," he said through gritted teeth. She was pulling her arm hard, and it was taking a lot of his strength and energy just to hold her still. She stopped struggling, but her eyes were wary, and her face emotionless.

"Fine."

"I don't want you to touch me because…" he trailed off, not able to find the words to express how she made him feel with her barest caress. She stared expectantly down at him, and he took a deep breath and slowly tugged at her arm. He pulled her hand until her palm rested over his thundering heartbeat. "Because of this. Because you make me feel like this."

Their eyes locked, and it was like electricity arced between both of them. The pull was magnetic, drawing them closer to each other. The air sizzled, and it was hard to breathe. Their lips touched; the initial contact tentative, upper lip to upper lip, lower lip to lower lip.

And suddenly, it was like all the air had left the room and they needed each other just to breathe. Alec instinctively reached his hand up to cup the back of her head, holding her fastened against him as he slanted his lips over hers and fitted them against each other perfectly.

He moved his lips against hers greedily, exploring. She had such soft lips, and he coaxed them open by biting at her bottom lip. Her mouth opened with a small moan followed by a sharp intake of breath.

The sound shook Alec, and he pulled her closer to him hungrily. The mattress sank, as he felt her lean beside him. His pillow was indented by both her elbows, one on each side of his head. He didn't once care that his body ached as he brought his other hand up to cup her cheek. He lost himself in the pleasure of kissing Max.

He was lost in the way he swept his tongue into her mouth, tasting her. The way he groaned when she bit lightly on his tongue, scraping slightly with her small teeth. How she responded to him by returning his kisses with a heat that matched and rivaled his. And he was lost in the knowledge that he was completely, irrevocably, undeniably in love with her.

She started to pull away slightly, and he opened his eyes and held her fast. Their faces were only inches apart, her warm breath mingling with his.

She was staring down at him wonderingly, as if she didn't quite know what to think of what had just happened. He knew that he must look equally shell-shocked. And when he was rendered speechless, he talked. "That's certainly gonna win the best Nurse Kiss I'd Ever Had Award," he joked, cocky grin plastered firmly on his face.

A troubled expression passed over her face, and he couldn't help thinking that he had just said something very, very wrong. She started to pull away from him to get up, and he grabbed her arm. "Wait," he whispered.

"I…" she stalled, "I better go check on Biggs…and Chase."

Alec felt like he'd been rudely splashed with a bucket of ice water. Chase. Right.

"Max," he intoned quietly, his eyes searching her face. He was more confused than ever.

She quickly turned her head. "It was a kiss, that's all," she said lightly, but her eyes were oddly flat and hollow. Then she tugged a little bit on her arm. Alec released her hand in frustration.

"Right. Yeah," he replied dully. "Just a kiss." He settled back tiredly against the pillows. He suddenly felt as heavy as lead weight. He refused to think about whatever that ache was in the vicinity of his chest. It hurt a lot more than any of his other injuries combined.

It hurt a lot like a broken heart.

"It's…not gonna happen again," she choked out. Their eyes met briefly, but she looked away quickly. "I'll get Chase to finish up down here. I should check on Biggs's shoulder. And maybe you can give Chase all the information about the others. We can't just go in there blind. We don't wanna make any tactical errors. It's nighttime and hopefully, that's to our advantage." She was babbling and they both knew it.

He opened his mouth to say something in reply, but Max had blurred away, leaving him behind.

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Max rushed up the stairs in a blur. She couldn't believe she had actually leaned down and kissed him. Of all the stupid things to do, that had to top the list. Max slowly licked her lips, still remembering the way Alec's mouth had felt moving over them. She could still feel the warmth that had seeped into her, the way her heart had accelerated until it almost hurt from how good everything felt—how right everything felt.

He had completely robbed her of her every thought, leaving only a series of sensations. Thoughts and feelings had assaulted her…like wanting to sink into him and just let him kiss her forever.

Max grimaced to herself as she emerged from the lower deck. Who knew she was such a sap? She had never been into any of that icky love stuff—but one kiss from Alec and here she was thinking all sorts of fluffy thoughts.

She sighed heavily and paused at the top of the steps. She let the wind ruffle her long dark hair, taking in the salty sea air in one big breath. She bit her lip as she remembered that he hadn't been all that affected. He'd joked about it. Like it had been nothing. An every day run-of-the-mill occurrence—which, knowing Alec, was probably true.

How many times in the past year had she caught him stealing a kiss from a girl? It didn't matter who, either. Girls at Jam Pony, someone from Crash, a couple of X's, and…other nurses? Best damned Nurse Kiss Award. She shut her eyes against the stab of pain that seared through her.

How could she be so stupid as to think that their kiss meant anything to Alec? He was the proverbial tomcat, and he had the charm to get away with it, too. Once she had heard from Sketchy that Alec had ordered a pizza and had taken the delivery girl with it, too.

She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a small sob that threatened to burst out of her. Her lips still throbbed, imprinted by Alec's kiss. Her palm still felt the heavy beats of his heart…how could she have fallen for that?

Because she had already fallen for him. She snorted angrily at herself. Of all the people to fall in love with, it had to be him. If there was a surefire way of setting herself up for heart-ache, this was it.

She shook her head, bringing herself out of her reverie. She straightened her spine, and ironed out her resolve. She was not going to dwell on the turmoil of emotions that were trying to boil out of her control. It was one thing to pretend to be Alec's girlfriend. It was an entirely different thing to expect monogamy out of him.

He had joked about it. She was never gonna get over that.

Everything was a joke. Something fun to pass the time. She bit her lip as tears threatened to spill. It was just a kiss, Max, she berated herself sternly. Something fun to pass the time. Kinda like a joke.

She took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, allowing herself the few seconds to regain her composure. She was going to get through this. She may love Alec, but she was pretty sure it would go away with time. And a whole hell of a lot of avoiding him, she promised herself.

She stalked past a shivering Faith, and she bared her teeth at the older woman in a not-so-pleasant smile. She was not having a good night. She barely just resisted saying "Boo!" because the older woman was already cowering away from her, a hand drawn against her throat remembering how Max had threatened her.

"How far along are we?" she asked Chase, coming up on his right as he steered the craft over the somewhat choppy waters.

"We'll be there in approximately fifteen minutes," he replied, looking at her over his shoulder. There was a speculative gleam in his eye as he assessed her appearance. No doubt her hair was slightly messy from Alec's roaming fingers. Or maybe her lipstick had been completely smudged over her face.

Max tried to maintain as much of her composure as possible. But Chase's unrelenting gaze unnerved her. "What?" she growled, placing both her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked.

"Checking up on our progress," she replied easily.

"Uh-hmm."

"What else should I be doing?" she asked with narrowed eyes. She tilted her head, jutting her chin out in a silent challenge to him.

Chase smiled charmingly down at her. "The girl thing, of course," he quipped. "Nursing the injured back to health."

He saw it coming but did nothing to stop it. Whack! Right upside his head. He flinched, but realized that Max must either need more vitamins, or she was just a softie, because that barely hurt at all.

He looked at her closely, and realized, for perhaps the hundredth time since they went off on this half-baked rescue mission, just exactly what it was about her that had Alec falling head over heels. Her brown eyes were fiery, but beneath them, there was vulnerability. She put up a pretense of fighting, but she never really hurt.

Well, only when it counted.

Max rolled her eyes at him. "You're an ass, Chase," she muttered in annoyance. "Makes me wonder if Manticore hadn't accidentally screwed up all the male genetics." She finished that statement with a glare directed towards Biggs who was snickering.

He immediately clamped his mouth shut, knowing that when they got back to Terminal City, he was still probably going to have to face the full strength of her wrath.

"We're coming up to our destination," said Chase, his eyes on the dashboard, reading the data.

Max nodded curtly. "Biggs, get Alec to give us the layout of the compound, and make sure he's secured. Then we'll move out."

"And Faith?"

"Toss her overboard," she said carelessly. She noted that Chase and Biggs's eyebrows all shot up in surprise. "In shallow water." She sighed.

They both simultaneously grinned at her before she rolled her eyes at them. Men!

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The compound was silent. Too silent. Max's skin prickled in alarm, but she pushed forward through the dense foliage that surrounded the base. She moved swiftly and stealthily, blending in with shadows of the trees. A few feet away from her, two other shadows moved just as fluidly. They were like predators, carefully and purposefully closing in on their prey.

They finally found the large warehouse-like holding area. She gestured for both Biggs and Chase to stop several hundred feet away, and the three of them crouched together. There was one SUV parked by the front doors on the gravel path. They could see flickering fluorescent lights through the narrow rectangular windows situated within a few feet from the roof. A generator hummed quietly in the background.

"I don't see any guards," Chase commented, his voice taut. His eyes were almost full-black, the dark brown of his irises only a thin ring around pupils that were quite feline at maximum dilation. Max knew that she and Biggs had their own pupils dilated, too.

The moon filtered through the clouds, offering more light, and their eyes automatically adjusted to the brightness. Moonlight could be like daylight. A hundred feet away could be like a foot away. They each spent about two minutes scanning the area, their ears pricked for any sounds.

Quiet.

Max frowned slightly. "That's what worries me,"

"Was there any way Faith could have sent an alarm?"

They glanced at each other in concern. It had not been likely, but it was still possible. Max pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way, then."

Biggs and Chase grinned widely, their brown eyes glinting and reflecting off the moonlight like an animal's. "The transgenic way."

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Thud.

Alec's eyes immediately snapped open. What was that? he thought warily to himself. It sounded like the ship's hull had hit something.

Or something had come up against the ship's hull.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, his body protesting wildly at the motion. He ignored the pain that shot through him around his midsection and cocked his head, ears peeled for any more sounds.

Thud.

There it was again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound had taken on a rhythmic beat, hitting the boat at somewhat similar intervals. His brows furrowed in consternation. They couldn't be back yet, could they? It had barely been twenty minutes since Max, Biggs and Chase had taken the life raft to shore. The yacht had been left sitting quietly in open waters so as not to raise any suspicions.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

So, what the hell was that?

Suddenly, Alec picked up another sound. He shut his eyes, focusing his keen hearing on the noise. Any other person would not have noticed the sounds amongst the natural creaks of the craft as it rocked against the waves, but he was listening very closely.

He heard a small squeak, as if rubber soled-shoes were slightly slipping on the wooden surface of the deck. Alec bit his lower lip in annoyance. Whoever this was, he was trying to be quiet. He reached for the gun Biggs had left him on the nightstand. He grimaced as he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

He carefully pressed a hand to his stitched knife wound on his side, all the while supporting his cracked ribs as he attempted to stand up. He had only broken his fibula, the smaller bone of his lower left leg, which allowed him to be able to hobble along with the splint Biggs had tied securely around his leg.

Bracing most of his weight on his right leg, he hauled himself against the wall adjacent to the stairs.

Within moments, he heard footsteps coming down towards him. He didn't recognize the tread of each step as Max's or any of his friends'. With an intent look, he relaxed his muscles to prepare for a fight. As soon as the man turned the corner, Alec slammed the butt of his handgun against the man's temple with enough force to knock him out.

The man crumpled to the ground instantly.

Working quickly and ignoring the pain, Alec pulled him into the bathroom and tied him up with the sheets. His mind was racing, his heart thundering.

He recognized the burly guy.

He was one of 735's men.

He had to move fast because time was running out. His ears told him that there was at least one more person who had boarded the yacht. But he wasn't worried about the other guy. Only one mantra flashed over and over in his mind.

It was a trap; he had to warn Max and the others. 735 was here.

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A/N2: Thanks for hanging around. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!