A/N: hey everyone, sorry... yeah I have no excuse for not writing other than life taking over. Enjoy... I'm slowly getting back into it, hopefully the writing bug kicks in full gear and I'll have a new chapter for you soon.


Chapter 12: Lies

Alec woke lying on his back and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around in complete disorientation and tried to rise on his elbows. Immediately, sharp pain shot from the back of his head, down to his neck, and finally his shoulder. In blinding agony he closed his eyes and limply fell back to the ground with a desolate groan.

The pounding in his skull was worse than he remembered and the sick feeling in his stomach was slowly growing. Touching the back of his head, he felt wetness. Bringing his hand an inch from his face he examined the red sticky substance with a frown. Cursing silently, he wiped his hand on his jacket. The wound was courtesy of Lydecker, no doubt.

Again and carefully this time, he tried looking around to figure out where he was. The sky overhead indicated first light and he took note of the stained brick walls around him. He could barely see what appeared to be makeshift cabins. They were poorly propped up in an attempt at shelter. It looked like an alley.

His sensitive nose picked up the stink of sweat, stale urine and what could only be feces. His stomach turned and he gagged. It was most definitely an alley.

Just then he realized his jacket was soaked through, and a puddle surrounded him. He was probably lying in a pool of piss and in trepidation and disgust rose quickly.

His quick movements brought all queasiness to the surface and he was hit with vertigo. The walls around him wavered and he fell to his knees. His palms stopped his fall and he unceremoniously vomited on the dank pavement.

It was the clear result of his enhanced body fighting the foreign substance weaving through his veins. To get revenge on him, Lydecker had probably increased the dose and just for good measure had gotten a hit in, cheap payback for his actions.

The next time Alec saw him, he was definitely going to kill him. "Lydecker, you fucking asshole," he moaned miserably and was taken again by a gut wrenching heave. Since he had already partially emptied the contents of his stomach he was soon reduced to retching.

It was a few moments before he could catch his breath. He wiped his mouth with a trembling hand and swallowed the bile at the back of his throat. Trying to fight his nausea he looked away from the ground. Sweat beaded his brow and he sighed in discomfort. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up and stood on wobbly legs. Another wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled to the wall in support.

Looking down one end of the alley he attempted to familiarize himself. That way led to a street. Looking the other way he found a pile of crumbled concrete.

Removing his jean jacket, he looked for a dry corner. Groaning in pain he tried to wipe all traces of blood off the back of his head. When he was finally satisfied, he sighed with regret and tossed the garment in the garbage bin just a step away. Choosing the street, he headed towards that direction.

The blinding pounding headache hurt so much he could barely make out the noises on the busy street. The few people he saw, he managed to narrowly avoid. His body felt like lead and he slowly dragged himself home.

He made it through several sectors all the while cursing Lydecker. If he cared so much about Max and the fact that he was supposed to be her general so to speak, why the hell leave him unconscious and in the middle of nowhere? A gift wrapped transgenic for the familiars to find. Deep down, he knew the real reason. Their hate was mutual and rooted deep. Not even the issue of Max could take that away from them.

He finally made it to his apartment building but it wouldn't stop wavering. Leaning on the wall, he tried to recompose himself with a deep breath. After a few minutes, he walked upstairs and stood at his door.

Knowing the truth changed everything. Now more than ever he needed to make sure Max was well protected. Worse in order to protect her, he couldn't say anything and he hated it. Alas, it was time to become the dreaded soldier again and rely on what he knew best. – Subterfuge.


Max had just slipped her baby blue sweater over her head when she heard the apartment door open. Forcing herself not to look over her shoulder she released the material with an uneasy sigh.

Looking down to her trembling hands, she tried to still them by forming fists but it was useless. She didn't know why but this morning she couldn't shake, well, the shakes.

Like her life wasn't strange enough lately. She had woken on the floor, naked covered in cold sweat. Her welcoming party had been disorientation, a pounding headache and the racing heartbeat in her throat. It had taken several minutes for her to recognize the room as Alec's. She couldn't remember how she got to the floor. In fact she couldn't remember anything after falling asleep next to him.

She had called out for him, but there was no answer. Realizing he wasn't there, she had managed to slowly pull herself together and crawl back into his bed. Hiding beneath the blankets she had tried in vain to warm up.

Waiting for what seemed hours her body went through several tremors until finally exhaustion drowned her into sleep once more.

Now, there was a large hole in her memory she couldn't seem to fill. Her body hurt from fighting the spasms, she was confused but worse she was scared beyond words.

She was completely distraught by what this meant for her. First runes and now out of the blue her seizures resurfaced. Would she face progeria next? Even though the fear was prominent, something else bothered her. She couldn't overcome how disappointed she was. She had needed him and Alec was just moseying in at the crack of dawn, again.

She had to remind herself that he wasn't suddenly attached to her hip. He still had his own life and so did she. Only he could have at least waited until morning to go off and live it.

Trying to remain indifferent she sat on the bed and slipped her jeans on. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stifle her disappointment and eventually it grew into something else. She was now torn between seeking comfort and being angry.

The longer she waited the more she felt like she was going to explode. What was happening to her?

It seemed to take him forever to reach the room. She finished dressing and sat on the edge of the bed with arms crossed. Waiting in silence, she couldn't help the narrowing of her eyes and the thoughts racing around in her head. She couldn't help wonder where he could have been, what he had done, but this time she would give him the chance to explain himself first.

That didn't stop her from coming up with her own answers though. Some so completely absurd she discarded immediately but then again this was Alec. He had a knack for getting himself into trouble, which she usually had to bail him out of.

Closing her brown eyes she tried to chase every compromising idea out of her head and with a long deep cleansing breath cleared it completely.

The door to the bedroom was pushed the rest of the way and Alec slowly walked through. Immediately she noticed his haggard appearance and frowned with worry.

His eyes wandered around the room until he found her on the bed. When he did, he swallowed and gave a weak smile.

"Morning," he said in a low voice and walked directly to his dresser.

Max didn't answer and just watched him trek across the room. Apart from his greeting, he completely ignored the fact she was even there and she was irritated. Did he not know how worried she was? What kind of night she just had? How much she tried to hide the panic she was feeling. No, he just grabbed some clothes and left the room without another word.

Alec wasn't blind he clearly saw the irritated look on her face but tried to pretend it wasn't there. All he wanted right now was to take a shower and wash away the stink of piss and blood on him. Then he would find his bed try to forget who he was, and what he knew.

"Where were you?" she asked softly following after him. The question came faster than he thought it would and he mentally flinched. He didn't want to lie and he had no answer for her. Turning the shower on, he acted as if he didn't hear her.

"You were gone a long time," she persisted. This time her voice had just a tinge of anger. She was trying so hard to keep it neutral and he knew it.

"Max," he said her name patiently and shook his head. "I'm not doing this again," his voice was slightly muffled as he removed his sweater.

Her nostrils flared and she practically huffed at the way he brushed her off. "Do you know how worried I was?" she informed anxiously.

"I'm fine," he indicated by waving down the length of his body to show her. "Just let me take a shower ok?" his voice was low almost pleading and he unzipped his jeans.

She examined his demeanor and silently fumed at his indifference, she could clearly see he wasn't fine. "You look like shit," she indicated bluntly and he shook his head at her comment.

"Yeah, well I try," he replied sarcastically. "And that's exactly why I need this shower," he added acerbically almost to the point of bitterness. He was trying to remain calm, overreacting with the knowledge he now had, would get him nowhere.

At the tone of his voice she tilted her head in question. "Look at me," she ordered stubbornly and he bit his lip with vexation. She wasn't letting it go and he mustered every skill he had in his arsenal to keep up his act.

It was a moment before he looked up. When he did, he looked her straight in the eye. There was no facial expression, his gaze never wavered. She even searched for a hint of humor beneath his eyes or even a small curve to his lips to belie his strange attitude but he appeared completely soulless.

"Satisfied?" he deadpanned.

"No," she answered flatly and then left the room.

Watching her leave, he almost gave into his guilt. He just wanted to call her back and tell her everything but he couldn't. He waited for the sound of the apartment door to indicate she had left completely, but it never came. As much as he needed to distance himself and her from the truth, he didn't want her to leave him either. Then he would have to add panic to his list of emotions.

He tried to still the pounding in his chest and stepped into the shower.

Standing beneath the showerhead, he wet his hair and closed his eyes. Almost losing his balance he was forced to press both palms to the wall to steady himself. Taking a deep breath he leaned forward to let the warm water wash down his back. Unfortunately, his worry and fear for her wouldn't be washed away so easily and he sighed unhappily. He didn't know what to do. He was trying to buy time so he could come up with something.

Max stalked to the bedroom and paced the carpet. She glanced to the bed, debating whether to sit on it or not, but she couldn't stay still longer than a minute and continued to pace.

About twenty minutes later, Alec walked through the door to a furious Max. "Where were you? Do you even care that I was worried about you?" she asked this time her tone was completely accusatory.

His shower did exactly what he wanted. It gave him time to pull himself together. He no longer felt dizzy, the back of his head was still tender but at least he could pretend he was fine.

Resting both hands on her hips, she waited for his answer.

Finally he looked up and the sparkle of gold in his eyes flashed with intensity but his face was completely controlled. "Of course I care," he told her softly. "After what happened, I just needed to clear my head up a little. I was looking for answers."

She blinked. It was a simple answer, one that made all the sense in the world to her, but absolutely no sense when it came to him. He was simply too quick to give her an incredibly honest answer and that brought up a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.

The Alec she knew would try to manipulate the conversation to his benefit, not hers. She knew he would lie to save his hide, it was ingrained. Only she had to stop and wonder what part was the lie. When she thought about who he was, she couldn't help but see the playful, suave, sarcastic, and easy going guy. Sometimes, it was so easy to forget he was a trained assassin.

Alec could see her work things out in her head, he knew he had thrown her for a loop and waited. Manipulating the words to give her some of the truth he managed to save himself the guilt of lying to her. That gave him some peace of mind but she wasn't biting that easily. He walked near the bed and started to dress.

Looking at his profile and his new pensive look, she had to wonder. How much of him did she really know after all? He had his contemplative, gloomy, and quiet moments, like everyone else. Ones she had barely glimpsed with the entire Rachel fiasco and their rare moment of emotion during their entire body swap. Come to think of it, she had never truly seen the full extent of who he was deep down, only what he let her see.

Bottom line, this wasn't what she expected at all. She actually couldn't believe she was back here, having the very same conversation with him. This time, instead of continuing with the same questions, she dropped them completely. "Fine. If that's the way you want it, we're not doing this again."

Alec looked directly into her eyes and again, there wasn't a shred of emotion. He was completely cool. "Yes, that's the way I want it," he said the words smoothly, hating every one. Hurt crossed her features and an invisible knife plunged through his chest.

"Well did you find anything out?" she asked, pretending his words didn't hurt her.

He had expected the question, and had a lot of answers to give her, but he was trapped. She seemed to have cooled down but it was only because it was replaced by another emotion. "No…" he answered softly and she couldn't help the narrowing of her eyes. "Then why do you look like you've seen better days?" He was about to say something but she put her hand up to stop him. "You know what? Never mind. I'm going to look for answers myself. Do whatever you want Alec."

"Max," he pleaded, "don't be like this."

"Be like what Alec? Be scared because I feel like my entire world is falling apart? I feel like this is just a big joke and everyone knows the punch line but me. I feel like no matter what I do, I can't keep it together. Shouldn't I be angry? I woke up on the floor this morning with the worst seizure I've EVER had in my crappy life and I can't remember anything!" she cried the last emotionally.

Her words flared alarm in his soul but he tried to keep his face impassive. It could not already be happening… Not so soon. She looked so scared. He approached her in an attempt to hold her but she backed up, holding her hands up again. He dropped all pretense of coolness, now it was time to panic.

"Its okay Alec," she muttered angrily. "We'll do it the way you want. You go look for your answers, and I'll look for mine."

"Max, don't shut me out" he said softly and she scoffed. "Shut you out? What about me Alec?"

He gave her a puzzled frown. "When was the last time you had a seizure?" he asked instead taking the attention away from his actions and she sighed.

"Not since I was at Manticore with you." She shook her head trying to clear it, "but you know what, it's just my life…just forget it, I'll find some triptophan and I'll be good as new," she said crisply.

Somehow Alec had the distinct impression triptophan wasn't going to work this time and his hands turned into fists. How he hated Lydecker, and Sandeman for making him aware just so he could tell her nothing.

Instead of saying anything, he tried to take her in his arms, and she walked away. "No…I needed you this morning," she said angrily, brown eyes burning. He was about to say something in his defense but she shook her head with disappointment and this time she did leave.

Alec watched her leave and whispered loud enough for her to hear, "I love you Max."

Her hand paused on the handle and she closed her eyes at his words. She loved him, more than anything. But right now she was just scared, angry, and she was so disappointed in herself for allowing herself to lean so heavily on him. There was a split second of silence and she grit her teeth to keep from turning around. It was hard, but she opened the door and closed it behind her.

Alec watched her leave and passed both hands into his damp blond hair. "Argh!" he grunted. He was so angry he punched a hole into the wall on his way back into his room. The pain was only a thought in the back of his mind, and he breathed erratically. He couldn't just let her leave by herself, especially now. He would have to wait until later to have his very own pity fest. Grabbing his jacket, he then picked up his phone and was a few minutes behind her. She may have no wanted him with her, but he would shadow her as long as he needed to.


Max didn't really know where else to go, so she went to Terminal City. She walked in and went straight for the computer consoles. "Hey Dix, can I borrow this?" she asked and without waiting for an answer, she sat down and he moved away. "Sure Max," he said and looked for something else to keep him busy with.

Not far off, Alec walked into Terminal City and looked around the room until he found her at the computer. Satisfied, he walked away into one of the adjacent rooms not far off and tried to look busy himself.

Max clicked on a few keys and opened communications with Logan. It was a few minutes as she waited and she looked around the room behind her, for some strange reason she could have sworn Alec was there with her. Shaking her head, she ignored it as a beep sounded, indication that Logan was now in contact with her. "Hey you," he smiled when he saw who it was and she returned a weak smile of her own.

"Hey Logan, you have a few minutes?"

"Sure Max, what's up?"

"Well…I was wondering if you have any news or leads on these runes," she asked slowly and he cocked his head. It was almost as if he could tell something was wrong. "You okay?" he asked instead and she shook her head. "Depends what you mean by okay," she retorted glumly and he frowned. "What happened?"

Max then began to tell him what had happened with CJ, White and her narrow escape the previous night, starting with her morning seizures.

Alec from the next room had been talking with Mole when he abruptly stopped talking in the middle of his sentence. The big lizard man pulled out his stogy and licked his thin lips. "Cat got your tongue?" he laughed silently and Alec completely ignored him moving out from the room to stand in the doorway. He didn't want to have to, but he was eavesdropping on Max's conversation. Not like it was secret, she was talking right in the middle of headquarters where any transgenic could stretch an ear and listen.

"You know what we need?" Alec then said to Mole out of the blue. "We need to get the two of you squared off once and for all. What do you say?" he grinned mischievously and Mole frowned. "Get me that cranked up air conditioner and heater I saw you guys tinkering with." Mole wasn't getting the idea yet and Alec smirked.

"Well if the two of you are going to constantly be reminiscing about old times, how about you prove it?" he challenged and Mole's eyes glinted with anticipation as he looked over to the white haired artic model. "What do you have in mind, princess?"

Let me show you. It wasn't long that Alec walked out of the room, setting up the air conditioner and heater and called everyone out to pay attention to what they were doing and then he looked around with, "now how about we bet on it?" Almost immediately more people joined in and started waving money, wanting into this bet. In the corner of his eyes, Alec kept watching Max's every move, still trying to listen in to what was being said.

"Alright, let's do this huh, let's see what you've got Igloo." Mole pushed the artic model back. "Yo Salamander boy, time to get schooled, c'mon!"

Alec turned his head to the side a bit, while taking someone's money. "So Sandeman is White's Father." Logan said softly.

"And I guess in some twisted kind of way, it means he's my brother." Max said with half disgust.

"Huh. Well one things for sure: If Sandeman tried to leave the cult…Then Joshua was right – He's one of the good guys."

"So Is C.J., in his own crazy way," Max added.

"Whatever Sandeman was trying to tell me with these things, it sure freaked White out. I mean he made it sound like I was the second coming, here to foil his big evil plan. Like I even know what it is."

Alec's heart was pounding at the words. That was enough, if Max got too close there was no telling what would happen. Is this what Sandeman had meant for her to find out on her own? Or was she digging too much and resisting anything that may naturally happen to her. Alec decided to go with caution and left the rest of the gang for a minute. He needed to stop this conversation before it got too far. Nearing her, he leaned on the rail, "hey Max."

Turning around, she didn't even look slightly surprised to see him there. Well okay, he thought and continued. "Check it out, We got a bet here to see who can last the longest. You want in?"

She immediately started shaking her head as if wanting to go back to the conversation, "No," and his insides turned to ice. Please Max, he thought. He didn't want to appear too disappointed and didn't want to say anymore than he needed to, so instead he waved his hand indifferently, but the look on his face said it all.

When she turned around to look at her screen again, Logan was looking anywhere but at her and Alec talking. "I'll let you get back to the party," he told her and she began to protest. "Logan…"

When he looked up at her there was an awkward moment of silence, and she realized, she had made her choice on this yet she kept going back to Logan for some familiar sense of comfort. She was making things hard for him and she knew it.

"Take care," she said instead and stopped the call.

Behind her, Alec watched quietly and with a strange sense of satisfaction. Then Max turned around to look at him with a somewhat accusatory glance and he averted his gaze. He hated having to do what he did, but it wasn't like they had given him an instruction manual. Now all he needed to do was to talk to her, he didn't like this constant rift between them.