Max pulled him out by the arms, oblivious to the cascade of water that splashed over the side and her as she did so. None of it mattered. Once he was mostly out, she heaved him over her shoulders and carried him fireman style as she walked down the steps of the ladder.

Logan knew better than to say anything when her face was completely expressionless. She set him down on the ground carefully and wiped her eyes. Logan sat down across from her, unsure of what to do. There were many times when Logan wished the virus was gone and this was the moment he wanted it most, just so he could hug her and tell her it was going to be alright.

But he couldn't. That was why he counted on Alec but now…

"No."

Logan looked up and saw Max shaking her head.

"No. No. No. This is not going to happen." she moved up to her knees, balled one hand into a fist and layered it with the other and started compressions. If she noticed any of the water coming from Alec's mouth she ignored it. She just kept going.

"You are not dying on me today, 494. Don't you even think about it!" she shouted. "C'mon. Wake up."
"Max, I-..." Logan couldn't finish that sentence. Not right now. Not when she was grasping at straws. Besides he thought there might be a chance… There was still hope. There was always hope when Max was around. Even if Alec was as pale as marble with only the oxygen deprived veins in his face and neck to provide coloring.

She placed her head on Alec's chest to listen for a heartbeat, frowned, and kept going.

"C'mon, Alec…" she bit her lip for a moment. It's worth a shot… "So help me, you'd better not die on me after this."

She pressed her lips to his and Logan saw his chest move up and down twice before Max had to pull back as a half a gallon of water poured out of Alec's mouth. Max wiped her lips and switched back to compressions, ignoring everything but the steps she needed to follow.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Logan asked, feeling a bit useless in this whole thing. It was pointless to think like that since there might not even be anything to do but still.

"No, just… don't let me give up on him."

"...Okay…"

She breathed for Alec two more times and Logan could tell she was getting even more desperate. Max said a quick prayer to the Blue Lady and whatever being could change this and somehow make everything better.

"Please… please… please…" she whispered. "Please don't die… please…"

It started with a cough. Max and Logan jumped back in surprise, both with the slight impression that they must've simply imagined it.

The coughing continued. Alec rolled onto his side, throwing up and generally trying to clear out his lungs and stomach from the water he'd swallowed and attempting to get the air he'd been deprived of for far too long.

"Al-Alec?" Max could hardly believe it. Alec looked up at her, blinking slowly as he tried to register what just happened before she tackled him with a hug. "I thought you were dead! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Do you even care?! Don't ever do that ever again!"

Alec slowly managed to pat her on the back despite the shakiness of his hands. "Did you miss me or somethin', Maxie?" His voice was hoarse and his words slurred ever so slightly but Max didn't care. Another coughing fit seized him and Max was still trying to figure out how she was feeling so the other man answered, grinning.

"Yeah, she missed you." Logan nodded.

Alec gave him a thumbs up. "What did I do right? I gotta take notes if I want to stay on Maxie's good side."

Max pulled back and slugged him in the arm. "You scared me half to death, you numskull. And you'd better not do that again."

Alec nodded. "Okay, got it: don't do anything crazy on Halloween." His head dipped slightly from exhaustion as he nearly passed out again and Max caught him to ease him back to the ground to recover more.

Told you, I refuse to kill Alec. Hope I didn't give anyone a heart attack. This is kinda a therapy for me since I was on Max's side of this situation once but I didn't want to put too much detail into it, but I needed to write it out 'cause it freaked me out a lot and I didn't even know the kid. Sorry if anyone found this too relatable or graphic that could've triggered anything.