Legacy
By Shikasta
Spoilers: Anything's fair game in my view although this is an AU
Disclaimer: The characters of Dark Angel are owned by Twentieth Century Fox Television and Cameron Eglee productions. In laymen's terms: Don't own them but by god I wish I did.
This story is the third part in the Fable universe and follows on from Alec's War.
Chapter Thirteen – Consequence
Her manner remained professional but inside she was jumping for joy as she stood outside the medical building. If it wasn't so preposterous she would have hugged the building as if saying hello to an old friend. Instead she was content with just taking in its glory "You're looking good old girl", she whispered as she walked through the doors. This was her sanctuary, Ivy was home.
The corridor was long and narrow, just as she had remembered, her fingertips lightly touching things as she passed by on her way to her office. Pausing outside the door briefly she prepared herself for the worst, he hand hovered on the door handle before twisting it and exposing the room inside. Unconsciously she had closed her eyes nervous as to what she would find, but when she finally peeked in she saw that nothing had changed, apart from the room had been tidied. Slowly she made her way to the desk that took centre stage in the room and sat down at her chair, her fingers stroking the desk. Ivy started to pick things up, like the pencil and her coffee mug, examining them for any signs of change but she couldn't find any. She smiled softly and leaned back in her chair, relaxed until her gaze fell upon the framed photo to her left. Cautiously she picked up the frame and looked at it intently, her last conversation with Max playing through her mind. The photo was of her and Alec in happier times, she never understood why she had kept it on her desk but she just couldn't bring herself to get rid of it. Now it reminded her of things she wanted so desperately to forget. Ivy didn't see Mole leaning on the doorjam watching the scene with some curiosity, and it wasn't until the smell of his stogie assaulted her nostrils that she realized she wasn't alone.
"Mole what have I told you about smoking in medical?"
"Not to" Mole said defiantly.
Ivy placed the photo frame face down and then stood and walked over the filing cabinet positioned near the door, from there she picked up a heavy glass ashtray and shoved it in front of Mole.
"I know they may have turned a blind eye, but believe me I won't, now put that thing out!"
Mole huffed and with an exaggerated movement of his arm removed the stogie from his mouth and very slowly and purposefully stubbed it out in the ashtray provided.
"Nice to see you haven't lost your sense of humour."
"It's good to see you too Mole" Ivy stated fondly "So why are you here?"
"I'm the official greeting party!"
"You're the best they could do?"
"Sweetheart I'd be careful what you say" Mole gruffed as he turned to leave.
"Thanks Mole."
"Your welcome, oh and there's a department meeting in an hour!"
Ivy froze and then quickly stammered "Will Alec be there?" Mole stopped in his tracks and turned his head.
"Honey, you've been out of the game too long, he's always there!" Mole turned and continued his walk down the narrow corridor leaving Ivy to panic.
Max had opened old wounds when she had hunted Ivy down and now Ivy was left with the aftermath. One thing she knew was that seeing Alec was a really bad idea, she wasn't sure if he knew, how much he knew and what his reaction would be to seeing her. At this moment she didn't like the unknown and certainly didn't want to collide with it.
"Think fast Ivy" she muttered to herself and she left her office at a brisk pace "time to do some delegating of tasks."
Alec entered the room in an authoritative manner, his body rigid as he made his way to the seat at the head of the table. He sat down and looked around the room.
"Are we all here?" he asked.
"Everyone but Ivy" Mole noted.
"Well we can't wait, let's begin, Stix let's begin with you then" Alec said looking in his direction.
"As you are all aware I have been tasked with putting together crews based on skill to help with the clean up and rebuilding. At this point in time things are going well and everybody is all hands on deck!" We've only had slight resistance from some factions and there have been minor clashes between X series, anomalies etc but nothing that has prevented work going ahead as planned."
Alec was about to speak when the door to the meeting room abruptly opened and in stormed a transgenic who quickly closed the door behind her and took the only vacant seat in the room.
"Sorry I'm late" she muttered to the group as she shuffled some papers in front of her.
"And who are you?" Alec enquired not recognizing the face, Mole smirked.
"Casey" she responded uneasily.
"Casey, this is a department head meeting, and if memory serves you're not a department head."
"I'm filling in for Ivy, unfortunately she was detained and sends her apologies."
"She does, does she" Alec's eyebrows raising slightly at the news "Luke make a note of that in the minutes and remind me to have a word with our elusive Medical department head."
"Duly noted" Luke assured.
"Now let's get back to it, Stix elaborate on these minor scuffles."
"Some of the X Series feel that they are above general clean up and have been causing a bit of ruckus over it, they think it should be task of the anomalies."
"I am not about to turn our society into a class structure, as far as I'm concerned we're all equal here and if we want to have a nation we can be proud of we have to do it together" Alec said evenly with a hint of disappointment and anger.
Casey coughed nervously.
"Would you like to add something Casey?" Alec questioned.
"No sir, it was just a cough" she whispered embarrassed at being singled out.
There was some almost inaudible laughter and Casey blushed as she cursed her boss under her breath.
Alec glared to encourage silence and then turned his attention to Lucas "how is requisitions?"
"Food is becoming an issue, we've had to start rationing some of the essentials and non food items like toothbrushes etc have more demand and supply."
"Our black market sources?" Stix asked looking concerned as he was one of those in need of a new toothbrush.
"There not proving as reliable as before."
"Why is that?" Casey asked entering the conversation.
Lucas looked at her and his eyes rolled ever so slightly "ever since they found out we were transgenics."
"Oh" Casey muttered sheepishly.
Alec was starting to get annoyed, specifically at Ivy for sending someone so green "Casey, please provide us with the Medical situation."
Casey rifled through the notes Ivy had given her anxiously, she had no idea what she was doing or what she was going to say and it showed.
"Casey" Alec prodded.
"We are running low on bandages, gauze, surgical thread and iodine."
"Lucas, have you received the requisition forms?" Alec questioned.
"Not yet."
"Casey, please ensure that the requisition requests are sent to Lucas today."
"Yes" she acknowledged frantically scribbling notes.
Alec shook his head and the meeting continued and he made a mental note to have a word with Ivy about this.
After all of Alec's morning meetings had finished he walked out of operations into the midday sun, a rare day where no rain fell and the sky was clean. He breathed in the Seattle air and smiled, despite all the rubble he loved this place and his plan was to restore it to its original glory.
He walked through street, relaxed with his hands in his pockets, walking over things that blocked his path. He paused briefly to examine a bicycle strewn in the street, he picked it up, saw that it was in good working order and then propped it against some rubble ready for him to pick up on his way back.
Running up the few steps to the medical building he pushed on the doors and walked through. It was a lot quieter than it used to be during the war but there was still a bustle in the air. Alec scooted past the people in the corridor and made his way to the nurse's desk that was currently manned by Fin.
"Hey Fin" Alec greeted.
"Hi Alec, what can I do for you?"
"Is Ivy around?"
"I believe she's in her office down the hall" Fin pointed Alec in the right direction.
'Thanks" Alec said cheerily as he continued down the corridor towards Ivy's office.
Ivy heard his voice before she saw him and uncharacteristically began to freak.
"Shit" she uttered under her breath and she quickly made her way to the door of her office a peaked out. She saw him leisurely walking up the corridor and she knew she had a few seconds at most to make herself scarce.
Quietly she exited her office and made her way down the corridor adjacent to her office as quickly as she could.
Alec reached the door and knocked, he looked around as he waited and when there was no answer he knocked again, after the third knock he took the liberty and opened the door letting him in.
"Ivy" he called knowing full well she wasn't there, he shut the door behind him and looked around the office and noticed that nothing had changed. He sat down in the visitors chair and got comfortable knowing that the wait may be awhile and to amuse himself he looked at the contents of her desk. Some would say he was snooping but he preferred to see it as a healthy interest in what was going on.
Alec read through some of the papers and spied a requisition slip for Lucas, he smiled, and then he saw to the photo frame that was face down. He quickly looked behind him and when he thought it was safe picked up the frame. Alec wasn't prepared for the picture he saw and was a little surprised that it had been left out so publicly. Sure he and Ivy had a past, but as memory served him she broke it off so he couldn't understand why there was still a photo of them adorning her desk.
Thirty minutes had passed before Alec gave up on waiting for Ivy, he scrawled a note for her on a piece of paper and ensured that he had returned the frame to its exact position before exiting the room.
Three weeks had gone by and Ivy had successfully avoided Alec and Alec's attempts to track her down had proved unsuccessful.
"Have you seen Ivy?" Alec asked Mole for the umpteenth time.
"Not today, but I did yesterday."
"And you told her I wanted to see her?"
"Sure, she said she would get to operations, I take it she didn't come?"
"No and its starting to bug me" Alec commented.
"May I suggest an ambush?"
"Sounds like fun!"
Ivy sat in her office going through the various reports by her staff, lost in the medical world that she loved, so lost in fact that she didn't hear Alec enter the room until the door shut. She looked up suddenly and her face dropped.
"Have you been avoiding me?" Alec questioned playfully.
"I've been busy. How's Max?"
Odd Alec thought and responded "She's fine and how are you?"
"Busy, there's so much to do."
"So much that you can't attend department meetings?"
"I'm represented at them" Ivy defended.
"By someone who is green, Casey's not up to it Ivy."
"She's fine she just needs a little more time."
"No, you need to be attending these meetings Ivy."
"But" Ivy protested.
"No buts, you will be at the next one or there will be serious consequences."
Alec sat down in the visitors chair and Ivy knew this wasn't going to be a short visit.
"What's going on with you?" Alec asked concerned.
"That's a rather direct question!"
"It's all I've got left, I'm starting to get the impression you don't want to be around me."
"Don't be silly" Ivy soothed.
"I'm not being silly, now tell me what's going on."
"How are you and Max really?"
"Has this got something to do with Max?"
"Perhaps" Ivy offered.
"Max has some crazy notion that she and I shouldn't be together, of course I told her that was ridiculous and she won't follow through. It's her usual pattern she did the same with Logan. She'll get over it soon enough."
"Are you sure?" Ivy pushed.
"Of course I am" Alec reassured.
"So what's this all about?" Curiosity getting the better of him again.
"Max and I had a conversation before I left and I have to say it wasn't what I was expecting."
"What did she say" Alec encouraged wanting to know once and for all what was wrong with Ivy she had never been this standoffish with him before.
"She offered you to me."
"She what!" Alec shouted disbelievingly.
"She told me that it was over between you two and asked me to be your companion."
"She just wants you to look out for me."
"I think it was a little more than that, she said she would rather you be sleeping with me than with someone else" Ivy averted her eyes, embarrassed and really not wanting this conversation to continue.
"And what do you think?"
"I think she is a fool is she believes you will just fall into someone else's arms."
"And how do you feel about all of this?"
"I don't want to discuss this anymore" Ivy announced as she got up from her desk and made to leave, but Alec cut her off.
"Ivy, there can't be any awkwardness between us and trust me I will be having some words with Max, but don't let this freak you out. I'm sure it's just hormones or something."
"Alec" Ivy said taking a step back his proximity unnerving her "I don't think it was hormones, she has some wacky notion that it's over, I think she wants it that way."
"Ivy, trust me the woman is a yo-yo."
"I really must go, I have rounds" Ivy edged around Alec obviously uncomfortable, he noticed but said nothing, realizing suddenly that Ivy still had feelings for him.
"I'll talk to you later?"
"Sure" Ivy said hastily as she left her office.
Alec stayed a little while longer mulling over what had just happened. He had a hard time believing that Max had offered him up on a plate, but an even harder time believing that Ivy was just making it up. Suddenly he was conflicted, angry and Max and wanting to hurt her and remembering the good times shared with Ivy. The conversation with Max rang in his ears again and he still didn't believe that it was over, but then Max could be stubborn and she had some rather valid points with regards to her argument.
They had spent very little time together since she had returned with Hope, and in some ways Max had been right when she said that there really wasn't a relationship to break up. With everything that was happening he wasn't sure when or if he would get back to 'Logan's Legacy' and he understood Max's reluctance to leave. She wanted them to try and live their lives, something they hadn't really done, time was brutal and he realized that Max didn't want to spend it waiting and in some ways neither did he.
He made a promise to himself, he would give her the space she needed and respect her wishes but he would go back, when this nation could stand upright without having to lean on him he would go back to her and time would be on their side.
He left Ivy's office pondering the offer that Max had made, he new it was serious as she wouldn't have made it otherwise. Ivy would make a good companion and would keep him honest, Max knew that when she chose her but somehow it felt weird. He couldn't help but be hurt by Max's betrayal and wince at his betrayal for considering it.
He was lonely, that was why he wanted Max in Seattle, but in some ways that was selfish and as she said they don't need each other.
Alec slapped his forehead "argh, this is ridiculous" he said as he walked down the corridor and out of the medical centre.
TBC