A/N- many applogies that this wasn't up sooner- I am on holidays now, so as long as I have acsess to the internets I shall post more often until uni starts back.

Here is Chapter 12

Max blinked at the realisation that she was no longer falling. After the microsecond it took to re-evaluate the situation, she was on her feet again.

"Thanks, Alec," Max smiled in appreciation, her hand brushing her stomach slightly. She was more than aware what the outcome of a nasty fall could be. Alec nodded, noticing the honest gratitude in her eyes. He slinked an arm around her shoulders and smirked.

"You're welcome." His hand rubbed her back slightly.

"You must be more careful, Max. Have you been fed?" He felt Max nod against him in response. They started to walk together toward the command centre; the sun only just starting to rise above the decrepit city skyline of Terminal City. Alec's emotional turmoil was temporarily forgotten in his overwhelming need to secure Max and his child's wellbeing.

He removed his arm from her shoulder before opening the door for her to the old warehouse that was now Command and Control. Max nodded her silent thankyou as she walked past him and inside. Dix was already there, transfixed with whatever was dancing on the computer screen in front of him, and there were a couple of younger X5s sitting at a table talking. While each series had different combinations of DNA and different sleep requirements, most of the control centre's usual crew would arrive within the next hour or two- Manticore had never encouraged a full night's sleep for any of its protégé.

"I'm gonna go get a couple of hours work done, but after that I have something to discuss with you before the quorum meeting." Max informed him, as they morphed into soldier mode. They had a job to do, after all, and it would not wait for them to come to terms with their feelings. Alec nodded.

"Sure. I'll be up at your office at seven before the eight am meeting. Is there any paperwork or anything I need to bring?" He asked, leaving jokes aside while they organised the fundamentals of the city. He noticed as the look of deep concentration graced Max's features for a split second before she resumed eye contact and shook her brunette head.

"No. If there is anything I need to sign, feel free to bring that up with you. Besides that, it's fine. I can always force you to run back down to your office if we discover that there was something you should have brought after all." Max smiled slightly, teasing. Alec smirked in return, but the cold detachment in his eyes that had once accompanied it was long gone.

"Sure thing, Maxie. If there is anything you need, don't hesitate to call for me or one of the X8s with nothing better to do. And be careful on the stairs." Max nodded her assent, before turning away.

Dix looked up from his computer screen in time to see Alec watch Max walk up the stairs towards the room she used as an office before turning away and entering his own. The transhumant smiled; there was one bet he was sure he was going to win.

--

Logan was researching like he had never researched before. No Eyes Only case or favour to a friend had ever meant so much to him as this did now. Maybe Max had moved on, and maybe she had moved on to Alec, but all he cared about right now was saving her. Logan knew he wasn't perfect. He knew he had a bad habit of using people shamelessly in the name of the greater good, and when he really cared about someone Logan had a destructive tendency to hold on too tight and forget how to let go. This was the first time he had ever done both to someone simultaneously.

The small shabby apartment was far from a penthouse, and his equipment far from state-of-the-art, but Logan had enough inspiration to keep him going through a hurricane. Besides, Dix had set up a secure, direct IM link between them so that they could work on this together from their separate locations.

"Damn it," Logan swore as yet another lead led to nowhere. He sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eye absentmindedly. Nothing else mattered if Max was not happy and alive- even if she was someone else's.

--

Dix, Mole and Luke were arguing as Alec walked towards the main room of the control centre. He paused in the passage way; curious as always.

"It's not Brock, I know that." Mole was saying, "He's not Max's type. Besides, he has been mated with that blonde Psy-Ops bitch for months now. My bet is still on Cain." Dix sighed audibly in response, and Luke shook his head.

"Well, Cain is much more likely than Alec. There is no way in a hell worse than Manticore that Max would ever sleep with him. She barely tolerates him most of the time, and knows better than to mate with someone as slutty as Alec." Luke told Dix, in a tired way as if he had explained all this before.

"Max, as tough-bitch as she is, is a romantic at heart. Princess, well, all he cares about is sex. There is no way the two of them could happen." Mole agreed, and Dix sighed audibly again.

"Well Cain has slept with his fair share of women, too." Dix shot back, unwilling to admit defeat while hoping to change the subject. It would be harder for them to prove that he was wrong about Alec if they were not talking about the lovable X5. Luke refused to back down.

"True, but when was the last time you saw Max mad at him? Compare that to Alec- they were about ready to kill each other yesterday." Luke pointed out, adamantly.

"I doubt it is Cain, but just admit that it isn't Alec. Admit that there is no way he could be the father. Don't you think he would have run away by now if he was?"

Alec resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall; the place was in a bad enough state of disrepair as it was. Plastering a care-free smirk to his face instead, he walked into the open room to greet the arguing transhumans.

"I'm glad to see you are all hard at work." Alec interrupted, striding towards them. Dix and Luke turned back to their computer screens embarrassed, but Mole continued to sit and calmly chew on his Cuban cigar.

"It would also be wise to remember that any details Max has not shared with you about her life are none of your business." The threat tainted the happy-go-lucky tone of his voice. Mole simply nodded and returned to the fascinating papers in front of him as Alec continued towards the stairs.