A/N: A shout of thanks to all our loyal readers and reviewers for taking the time and effort to let us know what you think! You all make it worth it!

Chapter 12

Somebody's Bitch

"What are you doing?" Max demanded, craning her neck as she twisted around in the passenger seat of her car. "You missed the turnoff!"

"No, I ignored it," Alec corrected her calmly as he continued following the road.

"What? Why?" she asked hotly, her voice rising by several decibels in the process.

"Because we're going to the police station," he replied phlegmatically, bracing himself for the inevitable explosion and Max didn't disappoint him.

"Turn around right now!" Max screeched, outraged. "I'm already late and I told my boss I'd be there!"

"Your boss can wait, Max," Alec replied sternly. "The faster Rafer gets his ass thrown in a cell, the better."

"Rafer's already locked up," Max pointed out angrily. "He's secure. My job isn't!"

"Max, I just think you should get this whole thing with the cops over and done with," he argued, trying to be practical. "Once it's done, you won't have to worry about it."

"I'm not worried about that," Max protested, as if the idea were ludicrous. "I'm worried about being fired! Now turn around!"

"No."

"Go back!"

"No."

"Just turn the goddamn car around!"

"Nope," Alec said nonchalantly, the picture of the relaxed driver in spite of her escalating tantrum. He could see her in the periphery of his vision, sleek dark hair and equally dark eyes practically crackling with the angry energy she exuded. Her fist hit his shoulder with surprising force, her bosom heaving beneath the crisp, fitted black pinstripe suit she'd chosen to wear.

Inwardly, Alec had to admit that she was magnificent when she was angry… even if one look at her face, currently hidden behind a pair of overlarge sunglasses, made a guy think she'd spent the night literally banging her head against a brick wall. Make-up only covered so much of the evidence.

"I'm paying you to do what I tell you!" Max tried again, figuring it couldn't hurt to play the boss card.

"I'm doing this on my own time, sweetheart, which means I don't have to do a damn thing you say."

"So I'll pay you overtime!" Max sputtered in sheer desperation. "Just take me to work!"

"You'll thank me later, Max," Alec assured her and she let out a guttural shout of frustration, half-tempted to just seize the wheel and force him to comply. She slouched down in the seat, seething.

There was no justice in the world when an X5 found herself at the mercy of a well-meaning but entirely arrogant, high-handed and annoying human. Why couldn't escorts be like blow-up dolls? Inflate only when needed. Deflate when they don't co-operate. Hand them back in a nice, discreet little box when it was all over and forget they ever existed. Her life would have been so much simpler.

Except that she was pretty sure inflatable dates didn't kick would-be rapists to the curb. Big check in the minus column on that one.

When they finally pulled up, a good ten blocks away from where she'd prefer to be, Max got out and slammed the door with more force than was strictly necessary.

"When I said you could drive, I meant you were supposed to stay in the car," Max huffed as she walked towards the police station, her stylish high-heeled boots clicking on the pavement.

"What can I say? I'm a full-service kind of guy," Alec replied blithely.

"Will you stop following me?" she snapped in exasperation.

"I'm walking beside you," Alec replied, sounding eminently reasonable in spite of her understandably bad mood. "That's not following. That's accompanying."

"So quit accompanying me!" she shot back. "I don't need a baby-sitter."

"If last night is anything to go by, what you need is a bodyguard," he told her as he held the door open for her.

"I can take care of myself," she hissed as she sailed past him into the air-conditioned building.

"Uhuh," he drawled, his sarcasm not lost on her. She threw one final withering look over her shoulder as she approached the desk where an officer was perched, tapping away at his computer.

"Can I help you?" the officer asked without looking up. Max rolled her eyes in disgust and made to turn around and march back out the door but Alec caught her by the arm, holding her back with surprising strength.

"Yeah, we have an appointment to ID a perp," Alec answered for her. "Maxine Guevara."

The officer typed in the name and waved them towards the waiting area. "They'll be with you shortly."

"My ass," Max grumbled, practically throwing her bag down on the seat. "I'm going to lose my job."

"No, you won't," Alec assured her with supreme confidence as he stretched out in the chair beside her. "It's not as if you decided to take an unannounced vacation to Peru because you like the cabana boys."

"Do you even remember my boss?" she snapped peevishly.

"Sure," he replied. "Uptight Republican tyrant, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Max grudgingly agreed.

Alec smirked. "No sweat."

"You are not coming to the office with me," Max immediately informed him, picking up on his intentions. "I am not having him think I brought my boyfriend along for a quickie on my lunch break."

"Who said anything about a quickie?" Alec grinned, a teasing light in his green-gold eyes that Max completely ignored, staring at the ceiling as if God had better show up and explain why He was inflicting this on her right now or she'd kick His incorporeal ass all the way to oblivion.

"Do I have to get a restraining order?" she demanded in exasperation. Alec just snorted.

"You're paying me to keep up the boyfriend act for your boss and now you want to hit me with a restraining order?" He shook his head, smirking in that infuriating manner of his. "Can't have it both ways, Maxie."

That's it, she decided. I'm going to kill him. I'll hide the body and tell Normal that he was run over by a double-decker bus and squashed so flat that I posted his remains back to his family, where they could bury him next to the family fish. And naturally, I'm grieving and it would be cruel to force me to bring dates to work functions for a while. Yep, she thought with a degree of satisfaction. That could totally happen.

Max glanced down at her watch, her knee jiggling impatiently as the minutes ticked by – minutes that could be far better spent getting to work and preserving her sole source of income.

"Nervous?" Alec asked. Predictably, her leg instantly stopped moving.

"No," she replied icily. "Impatient. Now shut up."

Alec sighed and folded his arms, wondering idly if Original Cindy had a hazard pay clause anywhere in her contracts. Max may have been human but she had one hell of a temper on her and he wouldn't put it past her to try to damage certain vital parts of his anatomy in her current frame of mind.

He tried to stifle a smile as it occurred to him that perhaps he needed to take out an insurance policy to that effect. After all, dancers could insure their legs. Surgeons could insure their hands. So why couldn't an escort insure his –

"Miss Guevara?"

Alec's musings were interrupted as an officer called Max's name and she shot out of her chair, anxious to get this over with as quickly as possible. He followed suit at a more leisurely pace, deliberately staying out of her field of vision as he moved silently in her wake. Considering that she'd spent most of the morning giving him hell, he expected her to object to his presence the moment she became aware of it.

Sure enough, she didn't realize until it was too late and they were both being seated at the detective's desk. He watched her dark eyes blaze impotently for a split-second before she turned back to the policeman, who was perusing her file.

"Remove your glasses, please," the officer, whose nametag identified him as Ross, said flatly. Max did as he asked, though she looked anything but happy about it. "All right, Miss Guevara, I just need to ask you a few questions."

"Fine," she agreed curtly. "Can we just get this over with fast?"

The cop pressed the appropriate button on a portable tape recorder and began.

"Please state your name for the record."

"Maxine Guevara."

"Please relate the events of last night as you remember them."

Max hesitated, her tongue flicking out to moisten her full lips before she dragged in a deep breath and started to speak, as clearly and succinctly as she could, her eyes still glancing at her watch periodically.

"I was at a bar called Crash. It's in Sector Nine on Euclid. I was there with some friends and Alec. I was dancing with him when Rafer showed up. He cut in and Alec left for a while…"

"And why was that?" the officer prompted them.

"There was a poker game going in the VIP room," Alec replied as honestly as he could. "I bought in, played a hand or two before I came back. She was gone by then. Couldn't have been more than half an hour."

"How much had you been drinking, Miss Guevara?"

"A beer or two," Max replied. "Rafer bought us a round. It was then that I started feeling really off, like I'd gotten wasted really quickly. Usually alcohol doesn't affect me, especially if it's beer. I have a high tolerance. Rafer offered to take me home."

"And you agreed?"

"I don't remember," Max admitted, swallowing hard as Alec bristled beside her.

"Have you ever had sexual relations with Mister Marino before?" he asked in a monotone.

Max felt like sinking into the ground. "Yes," she reluctantly answered.

"How is that relevant?" Alec spoke up, irked by the implication that her sexual history had anything to do with Rafer's actions. "Just because she might have consented before doesn't mean she did this time."

The officer ignored the question. "What do you remember?"

"He carried me up the stairs and once he got inside… he was taking my clothes off," Max said, her voice hardening angrily. "It's kind of jumbled up but I remember trying to push him off."

"That's when I got there," Alec interjected, his tone laced with tension. "He had her laid out on the floor, stripped down to her underwear. She was semi-conscious."

Max shifted uncomfortably at his words, vague hints of Rafer being bodily thrown off her playing across her mind. A lot of what she remembered wasn't coherent. It was mostly impressions, emotions. Fear and vulnerability, desperation and the overwhelming sick feeling the drugs had induced. She didn't like to dwell on any of them.

"Miss Guevara?"

Max blinked, jerking back into the present moment. "What?"

"Would you be prepared to identify your attacker in a line-up?" the officer repeated, sounding irritated at having to say it again. Alec's expression darkened as he watched the cop, who kept his gaze focused on the brunette, who nodded.

"Verbally, please, Miss Guevara," the officer told her.

"Oh. Yes, that's fine," she said automatically and the officer turned off the tape recorder, pausing only to make a few final notes in her file. He set it aside and got to his feet.

"Follow me," he told them without offering any further information. Max followed him, smoothing the front of her jacket quickly to hide the fact that she was all too aware of the presence of Alec's hand against the small of her back as he walked with her.

They were guided into a small, borderline-claustrophobic room. A one-way window stood between the small group and the suspects on the other side.

Max cast a sidelong glance at Alec, who was glowering at the line-up, his eyes fixed on Rafer. The dark-haired weasel looked spooked, bruises standing out starkly against his skin. He also looked rather small, surrounded by men several inches taller and in some cases burlier than he. Kind of like an elf on crack. She found herself hoping that Rafer had become somebody's bitch during his admittedly brief stay in the county lock-up. The turnaround had a certain spiteful appeal.

The cops asked each man to step forward one by one, asking her each and every time if she recognized the man in question. Three times she shook her head, waiting with a healthy dose of vindictive pleasure for the perpetrator to be presented to her.

When Rafer stepped forward, Max's lips twisted, memory flashing through her mind yet again.

"Yeah, that's the scumbag," Max said bitterly, folding her arms defensively across her chest as she stared through the one-way window at the man who'd assaulted her. "It was him."

"Let the record show that the victim has identified Suspect Four as her attacker," one of the officers declared but Max tuned him out, turning to look up at Alec.

"Now will you take me to work?" she pleaded softly enough that the cops couldn't hear her. Alec simply nodded.

"Can we go?" he spoke up and the officers quickly wrapped up the proceedings. However, their exit didn't go as smoothly as they anticipated.

"Miss Guevara? Mister McDowell?"

Max looked up to find a prim-looking woman in her thirties with horn-rimmed glasses that reminded her forcefully of Normal standing a foot or so away, a clipboard and pen in her hands.

"Yes?" Max prompted her, figuring she might have some last-minute paperwork for her to fill out.

"My name is Emma Pierce," the lady introduced herself. "I'm a counsellor with the police department."

Max felt her eye twitch as Alec coughed beside her.

"Would you follow me please?" Ms Pierce asked politely. "I'd like to have a word with both of you."

"I can't. I'm really late for work," Max protested but the woman just shook her head.

"There is always time for mental health," Ms Pierce told them sagely. "It's policy, I'm afraid, and your employer should certainly understand given what you've been through. Now please come with me. This should only take a few minutes."

Wanna bet? Max fumed as the woman began leading them down the corridor. "A shrink?!" she hissed furiously, goggling at Alec as he paced beside her. "You brought in a shrink?!"

"I didn't! The cops did!" Alec shot back under his breath.

"I don't need therapy!" Max huffed.

"No, but I might once this job is over," Alec muttered. "Ow!" He rubbed at the back of his head where she'd smacked him, matching her glare for glare as they reluctantly followed the counsellor into her office and closed the door.

"Sexual assault can be stressful for both partners, whether the act was completed or not," Ms Pierce informed them as she seated herself. "My job is to speak to the victims of violent crime, to see if there's anything I can do to help."

Max felt her temper start to simmer at the use of the word 'victim'.

"You can help by letting me get to work," Max pointed out with a distinctly warning tone. Ms Pierce showed no reaction to Max's frustration.

"I'll write you a medical certificate, Miss Guevara. That should be more than sufficient."

"So not the point," Max huffed, fists clenching.

"Easy," Alec cautioned her softly.

"I'm sensing quite a bit of strain between the two of you," Ms Pierce observed. "Anger, perhaps?"

"Why would I be angry at him?" Max asked stiffly though she could think of a dozen reasons not fit to verbalize.

"It's interesting that you chose to answer that," Ms Pierce replied. "Are you feeling any anger towards Alec? Something you haven't expressed?"

"Believe me, Doc, she doesn't have a problem in that department," Alec deadpanned and Max shot him a look that should have killed him on the spot.

"Ah," Ms Pierce said neutrally, making some notes. "I see."

Max's eyes darted around the room as she frantically plotted her escape. She hated doctors and she absolutely detested psychologists.

"I'm going to refer you to a specialist," she told them. "Just to be sure you two are dealing with this appropriately."

"Yeah, what kind of specialist?" Alec sighed, just wanting the woman to spit it out so they could leave.

"Couples' therapy," Ms Pierce declared with a decisive nod.

"Couples' therapy?" Max echoed faintly, sending a panicked look Alec's way. He was staring at the counsellor in horror, his jaw gaping.

"We don't need couples' therapy," Alec argued, actually stammering in his haste to reject the idea. "We're fine. We're peachy, right Max?"

"Right," she agreed instantly, nodding quickly. "Peachy. Absolutely."

"In cases like these, unresolved issues can tear apart relationships," Ms Pierce told them, peering at them over the rims of her glasses. "I expect you to attend and this will be noted in the file regarding your case, so I suggest you comply." She filled out the certificate she'd promised Max and handed it over along with the details of the office she wanted them to contact. "Best of luck."

"Best of luck?" Max spat, echoing the counsellor's words the moment they were outside the station. "What the hell kind of quack is she?" She was almost running towards the car, fixing Alec with an outraged look when he didn't move fast enough to satisfy her.

Alec didn't bother responding to her rant. There really wasn't anything he could say to placate her, so trying would have been foolish. Instead he just unlocked the car and got in, sliding the key into the ignition and letting the engine purr to life.

Couples' therapy. Holy freakin' shit.

What the hell have I gotten myself into? he wondered as he pulled away from the curb. Surely the job wasn't supposed to be this complicated. What happened to the good old fashioned idea of taking a girl out, getting paid and hopefully getting laid?

Couples' therapy. He just could not believe it.

The drive to Max's office seemed to take forever, fraught as it was with tense silence and Max frequently checking her watch, her knee bouncing yet again. She was so intent on getting out of the car when they arrived that she didn't even berate him for following her yet again.

The elevator doors opened and Max darted out, head bowed, sunglasses firmly in place.

"Max!"

The brunette started, looking up to find Kendra hurrying over.

"Oh my God, get into your office now before Normal sees you," the blonde told her, glancing around furtively. "Believe me, if he catches you out here, he'll just start yelling in front of –"

"Oh and here she is," Normal announced to the entire office in a tone that clearly spelled trouble.

Max felt her heart sink in her toes as Kendra winced sympathetically and she gingerly turned to face her new boss.

"Little Miss Walk-In-Whenever-I-Feel-Like-It. It's one o'clock! You are four hours late! Do you think jobs grow on trees around here, Missy Miss? There are a dozen minimum wage bums in this office who would kill for your floor-to-ceiling view, let alone hundreds of other qualified reprobates who would ask how high when I say jump –"

"Mister Ronald –" Max tried to intercede.

"Still talking," Normal cut her off. "And take those glasses off! Now I don't know how they do things in New York but around here we show up for work on time and," taking in her appearance with a scowl of disapproval, "not looking like we spent the night in a bar brawl. God, look at your eyes. What the hell have you been drinking? Gasoline?"

"Rohypnol," Alec interjected grimly and Kendra's eyes darted toward him, widening at the implication but Normal didn't appear to have heard him. His attention was still fixed firmly on Max, who was losing more ground by the second.

"No, I –"

"I've got half a mind to throw you out on your backside! Highly recommended, my aunt Fanny!"

"If you would just let me –"

"Get into that office and do the job that I'm paying you for or you are fired, Missy Miss! And don't think for one second that I'm paying you for the hours you missed."

"But Mister Ronald –"

"Bip!"

"Hey!" Alec objected sternly when Max faltered.

"Stay out of this!" Max snapped quietly, glaring bloody murder at Alec.

"And what is your boyfriend doing here during business hours? This is not a speak easy. This is not an employee free-for-all. We do not tolerate hanky-panky in this office!"

"He's leaving," Max temporized, desperately trying to shove Alec towards the door as Normal rounded on the rest of the workers.

"Where the flaming duck is Goose Egg?" he bellowed.

Blank stares met his strident enquiry.

"Goose Egg?" Kendra echoed, clearly bewildered. "Who's Goose Egg?"

"Rafer," he huffed, as if not being able to connect the words 'Goose Egg' with Rafer was downright crazy. "Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know, Boss," Kendra replied apologetically. "He hasn't called in."

"Yeah, probably because he only had one phone call and he would have used it for his lawyer," Alec chimed in helpfully, his voice carrying in the sudden silence, Max's hand clamping over his mouth too late. He shrugged her off, ignoring the fuming look she pinned him with.

Normal glanced back at Alec, his brow furrowing.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" he asked, advancing on the pair.

Max wanted to hit Alec, human or not. She could see her career being flushed further down the toilet with every passing moment.

"I had hoped that Sutherlands was the kind of company that hired respectable, law-abiding people but apparently I was mistaken," Alec continued with just the right balance of praise and derision. "If I'd known Max would be working with criminals –"

"Criminals?" Normal squawked, outraged by the very notion. "What the fire truck are you talking about?"

"I think it'd be wise to move this discussion to your office, don't you?" Alec suggested smoothly, glancing significantly at their very public surroundings.

"Fine," Normal replied shortly, his gaze shifting from Alec to Max and back again as he turned on his heel and led the way. Max was swinging wildly between rage and hopelessness as she trailed along in his wake, Alec practically glued to her side all the while.

I'm so fired, she though despairingly as she finally entered the Vice Presidential room with its amazing view and seemingly endless collection of tacky Bush photographs.

"Now tell me what all this criminal talk is all about," Normal demanded the moment the door closed behind them. "Sutherlands does not tolerate slander and I will not have this company's name dragged through the mud because you overslept, young lady!" He pointed a finger directly at Max.

"Is Sutherlands the type of company that tolerates sexual assault?" Alec challenged him just as Normal's headset buzzed to life with an incoming call.

"Not now!" Normal barked, disconnecting and pausing as he seemed to consider the possible implications of Alec's statement. "Explain."

"Rafer's in jail," Max told him before Alec could speak for her, determined to square things with her boss on her own terms. She pulled out the certificate the counsellor had written for her and handed it over so he could inspect it. "He drugged my drink last night."

Normal stared down at the slip of paper, one eyebrow quirking as he examined its contents. He looked up at Max, his gaze speculative. "Attempted rape?"

"We just came from the police station," Alec chimed in helpfully. "I insisted she deal with it before trying to come to work. Rafer won't be joining you for a few… oh, let's see… years."

"Was he harassing you before this?" Normal asked and Max felt relief wash over her as she realized that he was finally taking her seriously.

"Yeah, he decided he didn't want to take no for an answer," she informed him, an edge of anger tingeing her voice. She couldn't help it.

"I expected more from this company," Alec said with a shake of his head. He ignored the sharp look Max sent his way. "Surely you have a duty of care towards your employees to protect them from this sort of thing?" he continued, his eyes fixed on Normal.

"Well, of course," Normal said, a little bit defensive as Alec skilfully steered the conversation in the direction he was aiming for. "But as a new employee –"

"New to your branch, not to the firm," Alec corrected the man. "I'd hate to think that the New York office might have to be notified, especially if we decided to pursue the matter legally –"

"Legally?" That word clearly had Normal's attention. "Well, I'm sure that's not necessary… No, everything appears to be in order here." He waggled the certificate Max had handed over. "Considering what's happened, I'm sure we can come to some kind of arrangement."

Max just stared at Alec, watching him manipulate her boss with a kind of ambivalent fascination. He appeared completely calm, totally in control of a situation that Max had been certain would result in her summary expulsion from the company. Normal was actually backing down – something she hadn't even been sure he was capable of based on her short acquaintance with him.

"Let me see…" Normal muttered, thinking out loud as he consulted his timetable. "Today's Wednesday and we have the meeting with the Orion Group on Friday but we could probably… hmm. I suppose we could push that back…" After a minute or so of musing, Normal looked up. "Take the rest of the week," he finally told her. "But I expect to see you here on Monday at nine o'clock and not a minute after, Missy Miss. Understood?"

"Absolutely," Max said, nodding hastily lest he change his mind.

"Good. Now go home," Normal barked with a hint of his usual manner as another call dropped into his headset. "Reagan Ronald…"

Max blinked as she turned to leave. "This isn't happening," she muttered under her breath.

Alec just grinned as he guided her out of the door, whispering in her ear in a smug tone, like the cat that had just caught the canary.

"I told you you'd thank me."