A/N Next chapter is here and it's a long one!! Hope you guys didn't have to wait too long, I think I'm getting quicker??? All the lovely reviews made me write faster!!

Feedback Chapter 10

Angel Of Darkness231 – I'm glad you liked it and Zack and Lexi are a bit obvious, but I don't know if they'll have a happy ending.....Here is a long chappie for you!! The father? Still up in the air, clues next chappie are on the way......hehehe

OntheDL – Thanks for the long review it made my day! I love Lydecker too! I had to bring him back now that poor ol' Aims is gone! Lexi and Zack? Read on, I hope you like...Lot's more of Alec and Max in the next chappie!!

JG – Thanks for reviewing! I totally agree with you, Zack is one of my fav's and he deserves some good press! I hope you like this next chappie!

Katherine – Thank-you so much! I'm glad you liked it, I had a very good image in my mind as I wrote it......lol!! Please keep reading, more Zack to come.

Lakergirl08 – Glad you liked it! I think I've been quick this time to get this chappie up so I hope you like it ! You'll get some clues in the next few chapters about who Max's babies daddy is, keep an eyes out....!! Hehehe

General Mac – Thanks for reviewing! Next chapter as requested, please let me know what you think?

Babas08 – Your review blew me away, thank you so much! I couldn't get the smile off my face all day!! I love reading stories that can make your stomach do that and I'm so glad that mine does that for you!! Here's a long chappie for you, please tell me what you think!!

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Your awake" Syl almost screeched jumping up onto the bed where Krit was laying, pulling the IV from his arm. He grinned up at her.

"It takes more than that to put me down Syl, you should know that" He opened his arms and she came willingly. She could feel him nuzzle into her neck, drinking in her scent.

"I was so scared when they took me away. I could see you there, not moving, so much blood. I couldn't do anything" Syl stroked his hair knowing she'd felt the same way as he was dragged away.

"Shh, shh, it's ok baby. I'm fine, your fine. We're together, that's all that matters". She sat back and looked at him.

"White's dead. Alec killed him. It's over." Krit didn't move. A muscle in his jaw ticked. Agent Aimes White had held them captive, tortured them and nearly broke their spirit.

"Your positive Syl? He's dead?" Syl nodded, moving into his arms as he pulled her tight.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you again Syl, I promise. As soon as the Sun is down we are so out of here". Syl pulled back, shocked. She felt a sliver of fear at Krit's look of unwavering determination.

"We can't leave Krit. Our family's here. They need us!" His grip tightened on her upper arms.

"No, this place is to dangerous, I'm not going to risk something happening to you again. We're leaving". Syl could feel his anger, his fear and knew there was no way he would relent on his decision now. She'd have to go about it another way.

"So you decided to wake up baby brother? We thought you were going to stay asleep forever" Jondy sassed as she walked into the room.

"It's been a while Jondy, it's good to see you" She walked over and embraced him, smiling at Syl.

"Zane's on his way over, he's just picking up some breakfast, thought you two might be hungry." There was an awkward silence as Jondy sat down.

"Did I interrupt something kids?"

"No Jon, of course not" Syl reassured her, knowing how angry and hurt they'd all be if they knew.

"I was just telling Syl that we'll be leaving tonight" Krit said getting out of the bed and starting to dress. Jondy looked at Syl who shook her head in exasperation.

"Don't be stupid Krit" Zane said dismissively from the door. "We are finally all together, all safe. No one's leaving". Krit turned slowly to where Zane was putting a whole lot of food down.

"Your not my CO Zane. This is not Manticore, and we are not staying. You don't know what happened. I'm not going to let anything like that ever happen to Syl again" Zane took a step back from the venom dripping from Krit's voice. He could see Syl flinch at his words. This wasn't his easy going little brother. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"That's the reason you and Syl belong here" Zane roared, "So this doesn't happen again! After all Zack has done for you, for all of us, you'd do this to him!" Syl could feel the testosterone in the room escalating and tried to step in only to be held back by Jondy, motioning to let them finish.

"Do you really think Zack will allow you to just leave? It's more dangerous that you know out there".

"No" Krit shook his head in bitter denial, "They'll find us. You can't stop them, they'll take everything from you, till their's noting left" Syl's heart broke as she watched the fight drain out of him. He sat down heavily and didn't resist when Zane put his arm around him.

"We are all here together little brother and we will all protect each other. You have more than just physical wounds, you need time to let them heal" Syl felt Jondy release her and she went straight into his arms. She couldn't hold the tears back and she knew that he didn't want her to. She vaguely recalled hearing Zane and Jondy leave. She could feel Krits tears falling, mixing with her own.

"I still see it Syl. When ever I close my eyes I see you. Strapped to that metal table. I couldn't stop them and I'm so sorry". Syl stiffened in his arms, unwilling to acknowledge what he was saying. She'd banished that experience from her mind.

"Well I think it's time we both ate something" Syl moved to the other side of the room to investigate the food Zane had brought. She couldn't see the anguish twisting Krit's features at her dismissal of the subject, but she could sense his pain and fought all her instincts and ignored it.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Jondy felt Zane put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to HQ and snuggled into his side.

"Something happened there Zane, something they both can't deal with right now. I think we need to tell Zack" Zane nodded thoughtfully, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I spoke to Lydecker this morning" Zane gave her arm as squeeze in acknowledgement as he felt her stiffen.

"Zack has the runes. Just like Max. I think Zack is going to have a lot on his plate in the near future".

"You think we shouldn't tell him?" Jondy exclaimed. They'd stopped just short of HQ's entrance.

"Not just yet Jon. I think we should see if we can figure this one out on our own.

Zack is going to need our support. He's always been there for us, now it's our turn to be there for him. Not burden him more." She swallowed her retort. Logically it made sense, but it felt so wrong not to tell Zack.

"I know we can help them, and help Zack. That's why we stayed remember?" Jondy nodded, "Anything for the cause right?" she echoed his long ago words to her.

Zane grinned evilly as he bent down to kiss her, "There are some things we will be doing tonight that will most definitely not be for the cause".

Jondy squealed as Zane bit her neck in demonstration and batted him away and made an attempt to right her hair and clothes.

"Well we'd better get in there and find out what we're doing for the day" Jondy mounted the steps to HQ ignoring Zane's grin as he just stood there and watched her.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Max opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the morning rays shining through the shutters. She couldn't believe she'd slept through the whole night. Suddenly she realised why as she felt a fluttery kiss on her shoulder. Sighing in exquisite pleasure she turned to find the object of her affections grinning down at her. Smiling back at him she stoked his bare arm.

"Did you know you smile in your sleep?" Alec said to her brushing the hair away from her face.

"I never have before" She said huskily, taking pleasure as his eyes narrowed taking in her meaning. He bent down and kissed her then, hungrily, demanding and the whole word seemed to fade.

When he finally lifted his head and she could drag in air she saw him looking at her with such passion, such possessiveness that she felt her gut tighten in response.

"Goodmorning" He said, satisfied at noticing her blush. "I think that is how every morning should start". Noticing Alec's pile of clothes thrown on the floor Max's eyes narrowed in on the blood.

"Why didn't you wake me Alec? How did it go? Is everyone alright?" He'd noticed her look at the clothes and instead pulled her close to him.

"Please Max, not yet. Let's just lay here, be with each other, just for a few minutes" Max went reluctantly into the enclosure of his arms with an ear to his chest hearing his heartbeat. Horrible thoughts bombarded her as they lay there. As much as she needed to know what happened, part of her didn't, part of her wanted to stay in here like this with Alec and not have to face the real world. She sensed Alec needed that too.

Unfortunately in the cosmic scheme of things someone else had other ideas as she heard someone start to bang on the door.

"Alec! You in there man, we've got a situation" Max heard Biggs voice through the door. Alec groaned before kissing her on the head and flinging the covers up walking to the door in nothing but his boxer shorts.

"This better be good man" Alec grumbled flinging open the door. Biggs grinned sheepishly noticing Max and nodded.

"We need you and Max down at HQ now. Lydeckers nearly finished translating the runes, he just needs to look at the ones you didn't get to photograph of Max's yesterday. Also I need to talk to you about you know what" Max saw Alec send a quelling look to Biggs and told him they'd be there ASAP.

"What was that about Alec?" She questioned trying to keep the hostility out of her voice as she started pulling on her clothes. Alec was doing the same.

"We lost some soldiers Max, at the sector points. There's some stuff we have to work out, but right now you need to concentrate on the runes and getting them decrypted. That's our best chance of finding your daughter"

"I know when someone is trying to keep me out of the loop Alec, and I won't stand for it, especially not from you, not now" Max was talking to Alec's back, following him out of his apartment and through the streets of terminal city, trying hard to control her temper.

He swung back around nearly bowling her over.

"Max, I am handling the military aspect, you agreed to that, you need to let me do my job. I need for you to do yours. Please, I tell you more when I figure out what's going on, ok?" For some reason Max could feel the tears well up in her eyes and she pushed them back. She hated the feeling that Alec wasn't sharing everything with her. Didn't he trust her? It made her heart ache.

"Ok Alec, you do what you have to do. But don't keep anything from me ok? Secretes will be a problem between us". Alec nodded and she turned away making her way to find Lydecker, never noticing the anguished look on Alec's face.

Walking up to HQ Max found Zane standing at the foot of the stairs with an idiotic grin plastered to his face.

"Whatcha doing?" Max asked in a singsong voice. Zane jumped, as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Maxie, I was, I mean Jon was um just here." Max pushed him towards the stairs giving him a thump on the back.

"No more info necessary Casanova, I think I get the picture. Let's get in there"

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Zack sat in HQ with Lydecker. Jondy had just come in followed by Max and Zane a few minutes later. He was surprised at how not awkward it was with Max. She was behaving the same with him as she always had and it was making it much easier.

"So the one's I have to get photographed are in kinda a delicate place you could say" Max said to the group in a no nonsense voice. "So if you gent's could leave Jondy can picture them for me" Zack swallowed as he walked out, trying desperately not to think of what would be happening in that room in the not to distance future. His whole shutting down of feelings was not really going all that well.

"Where's your jacket Zack? I thought you never take that thing off?" Zack looked at Zane and suddenly felt to uncomfortable to tell him what had happened with Lexi.

He'd stayed with her all night and watched her for any signs that she was going to seize again, but she'd just slept peacefully all through the night. At first light he'd figured it would be safe to move her and carried her back to her apartment, leaving her tucked up in her bed. She had seemed to snuggle right into his jacked and he couldn't manage to get it back with out waking her. So he'd just left it there with her.

Only certain X5's had the seizures and he'd been lucky enough not to be one of those. He'd seen what the seizures had done to his brothers and sisters, but never really thought about the other transgenics. Lexi seizure was completely different to any he'd seen before and his curiosity was peaked. It was only curiosity he told himself, he just wanted to know about the seizures.

"Yeah. Um Zane I'm just going to get that jacket, tell the others I'll be back soon ok?" With out waiting for any answer Zack walked out of TC, nearly falling over Alec. Great, this guy was all he needed right now.

"Good morning Zack, nice whether we're having" The urge to smash his fist into that smug face was so strong, but he had other ways to wipe the grin off Alec's face.

"Morning Alec, you looking for Max? I just finished looking at her new runes, they're pretty much the same as mine, though in some weird spots. But you'd know, you've seen them right? Jondy's helping her now if you want to see her". Zack walked away from the fire and ice in Alec's eyes grinning to himself, smelling the testosterone coming off him in waves.

He was still chuckling to himself when he got to Lexi's apartment. He mounted the stairs as her apartment was on the second floor and knocked quietly. The door was flung wide and his grin disappeared at the sight in front of him. Lexi had obviously been up and showered, now wearing skin tight jeans and a black fitted tank top. Her red hair was damp and had been scraped back severely into ponytail. He had an uncharacteristic urge to free her hair, let it fall free, framing her face. But it was the hostility in her eyes that had him feeling like he wanted to cut and run.

"Hey Lexi, I just wanted to come by and see how you were feeling" He stated weakly.

"How I'm feeling?" She echoed grabbing his coat from a chair by the door and chucking it at him, "Well lets see. I had a grand mal seizure last night, so my head is aching like a bitch. My brothers came to find me in my room this morning, covered in some males coat and flip off the deep end. There's no hot water in this whole crappy place and I'm starving!"

Zack scratched the top of his head watching her as she stood in front of him, hands on her hips, cheeks flushed, eyes spitting fire at him. He shrugged his coat on and put his hand out to her.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about the headache, your brothers or the hot water, but I could definitely do something about the hungry". She looked taken aback, at a loss for words, which he seemed to think wouldn't happen to often. He took that opportunity to grab her arm and usher her out of the apartment and down the stairs.

She looked up at him as they walked, a slight smirk marring her features.

"You know my brothers are going to kick your ass right?" Zack smiled down at her flexing his shoulders in a manly way.

"Don't worry, I can hold my own" She giggled at him and Zack couldn't help but laugh too, her giggle was so light and sweet, such a contradiction to the hard ass macho bitch facade.

The mess hall was empty as Breakfast had been over for a few hours. They made it into the kitchen and Zack motioned for Lexi to take a seat on the bench and he went to work grabbing food from shelves and the fridge.

"Tell me about your seizures" Zack wasn't looking at her but he could feel her tense.

"Why?" She snapped. The bitch was back.

"My brothers and sister have seizures to, but their different. I want to know more about yours so I can see how different they are and maybe figure out". Lexi eyed him warily but finally nodded relaxing her tense muscles. She was sitting on the edge of the bench her legs dangeling over.

"I had my first one when I was 6. I was the first one in our unit to have one. As it is there are only 4 of us that are genetic anomalies. Just before lights out I started to feel hot, perspire. The shakes were small tremors at first. I remember calling out to Ven and suddenly they were all there as the tremors became stronger and stronger. We didn't know what was happening but for some reason none of us wanted to tell the guards. Kye held me all night, with Ven right beside him. It only lasted for 10 minutes, but afterwards I slept like the dead and they could barely wake me up in the morning before first training drills. I always feel quite sick the next day"

Lexi was surprised when she looked up and Zack was right beside of her. His look of concern turned her stomach. He felt pity for her. It made her feel weak and she hated that feeling. She tried to jump off the bench, fully intending to split but Zack stepped in front of her, in between her legs, barring her escape.

"You were right not to tell the guards. We made the mistake of letting them find one of us while we were seizing. They killed him, sliced him open." She made a small strangled sound in the back of her through and unconsciously reached for him. Zack seeing this mentally shook himself, plastering on a smile handed Lexi a huge sandwich.

"Eat this and then we'd better go find out what Lydecker found out about the runes. Lexi rolled her eyes at the mention of Lydeckers name glad they were now back on safe ground. She groaned in pleasure at the first bite of sandwich as it sated her rumbling stomach.

After a few bites of sandwich, Zack shifted uncomfortably at the appreciative sounds she was making. Her eyes were closed and he couldn't look away. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she started talking, mouth full and all.

"What about Lydecker? Has anyone told him about the seizures? Could he have an idea how to stop them?" Zack chuckled as he wiped some of the crumbs off him self and Lexi grinned sheepishly pulling him forward so he was between her legs again.

She wiped at his clothes with a small smile on her face and Zack suddenly couldn't think of doing anything else but kissing that soft sweet mouth. Her eyes caught his and read the intention in them to late as he swooped down capturing her mouth with his, groaning in pleasure as he realised she tasted even sweeter than he'd imagined.

Lexi was shocked as she saw Zack lean in, his intention clear. As soon as his lips had met hers, her world had exploded. She'd never before been kissed like this, she heard him groan deep in his throat and suddenly she was kissing him back feverishly, with a passion she hadn't know existed. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, which is why she was so surprised when Zack pulled back. He was breathing hard, eyes dark and stormy focused on her in such a concentrated way.

Angry at Zack more because he had stopped, than actually kissing her Lexi balled her fist and slugged him right on the jaw and watched him as he fell to the floor, surprise and shock written on his face. Lexi picked up the other half of her sandwich and walked out of the kitchen, making her way to HQ, her feelings in turmoil. There was no use even thinking about Zack like that, I mean he was in love with Max for Manticore sake!

Sensing Zack behind her Lexi turned to see him advancing on her, a thunderous look on his face. She quickly mounted the steps to HQ slipping inside the building. Relieved to see her siblings in the corner of the building she snuggled herself in between Biggs and Deck who were sitting on a small couch, ignoring their inquiring gazes.

She'd never really been one to need support, she was usually the one giving it. Kye walked over and she could see Dek shrug in reply to his unanswered question so he stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder conveying support. As soon as Zack entered she couldn't help but tense as his gaze found her and hardened. Her brothers, being genetically engineered didn't take long to figure things out, especially as they now realised whose jacket she'd been wearing that morning. Biggs tucked her further under his arm all the while staring at Zack, waiting for him to make a move.

Fortunately Lydeckers voices boomed out across HQ. Zacks siblings had moved in around him and all of HQ quietened down. It looked like they were finally going to find out what the runes meant and what they had to do.

A/N Please review, let me know what you think!! Promise the next chappie will be faster if you do.....;)

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000