I know I'm supposed to be working on 'Max and Alec and another locked room' but I was getting stuck with that one, so I thought I'd start posting this cos I've had it on the back burner for quite a while…

A freak odyssey

By Sinful Starlet

Disclaimer: is it even worth writing these things anymore? Probably not, but you all know nothing DA related belongs to me right? Would it be cancelled if that wasn't true?!

Rating: PG-13 / R. I have issues with ratings - basically I go more on a general atmosphere than anything else, and I think this isn't too kid-friendly!

Summary: Set somewhere during a now hypothetical third season. After the situation at Jam Pony, as the siege at TC continues, Max has just started to get her life back in order, when an old enemy resurfaces to wreak havoc on her life again. And guess what? It's another M/A - completely unapologetically, self-indulgently M/A! I don't care what the writers on the show thought, they are still my favourite couple!

Author's note: Okay this is going to be long! This is in no way my attempt to create a new story arc for season three (non-existent but anyway!!). All this is, is a story that basically starts a couple months after Freak Nation, but is staying with a lot of the stuff from season 2. In fact scratch that - there's LOADS of stuff from season 2, just with a slightly different perspective on most of it, with some added stuff thrown in. There's going to be one main story going on with lots of flashbacks basically - god I'm confusing myself here!

ADVANCED WARNING! I am about to go off on a serious rant about 'Freak Nation' so if you're not interested just go straight ahead and read the first chapter of the story instead. I know loads of people have already done this, but I wanted to add my two cents to the whole 'Freak Nation' debate. First of all, I have to say, that I didn't think the episode completely sucked at all. Generally the plot was okay, and the action sequences were pretty cool, but there was just one tiny problem…CONTINUITY! I know all the writers seem to have been sticking to the whole M/L thing, but the way they were in this episode was completely out of sync with everything that happened post-'Hello Goodbye'.

For a start, Max spent most of the time completely ignoring Alec, which was not in character after the last few weeks, but then the whole thing with her and Logan and the runes on her back - WHAT WAS THAT?!!! She had just told Logan that she was seeing Alec, but she runs over to her supposed-ex's house and gets semi-naked with him instead when she finds the runes on her back?! All respect to the writers of the show - but that just made no sense whatsoever. And don't even get me started on the 'biohazard girlfriend' line! In short - that scene really ticked me off (as did the holding hands thing at the end) - did the writers even watch 'Hello Goodbye'?!! So if that scene bugged you like it did me - rest assured, it is completely fixed in this story, in a gratuitously M/A way!

Oh, and if you actually bothered to read all of that - thank you! Just needed to vent!

Please feel free to go ahead and read chapter one now! *SS*

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A freak odyssey

By Sinful Starlet

Almost ready to start now, just a quick word on structure…

Was gonna try and integrate all the flashbacks, but I figured it made more sense this way, so basically, there are seven flashback scenes, and then the main plot of the story will begin Essentially, these flashbacks are reworking of key moments from season two (or my version of key moments) that help to set up the characters and back-story for this story…

Hope ya followed all that - if you've got any questions, leave them in a review and I'll do my best to answer them.

Finally - presenting flashback #1 - "Gill Girl"…

Max never had been that great at taking a hint. She hadn't exactly looked pleased to see him as well as he turned up at her apartment, asking him to come with her. She did though, not wanting to admit that he had sparked her curiosity, she got ready and went with him, promising Cindy to return soon.

He'd explained as little as possible on the way over, just telling her that there was another transgenic that needed their help, and she saw why he hadn't been too forthcoming as they arrived at the club. "You dragged me out to take me to a strip club?" she asked incredulously, already turning round to leave when she heard one of the bouncers announcing their star attraction - a real, live mermaid. She turned back then, walking back over to Alec.

"They've been passing those flyers out all over town," he explained, hiding his smile at her exasperated expression, "I wouldn't be surprised if old White's already onto her". Max nodded, "Well we gotta get her out of there then," she started to walk towards the club door, but Alec caught her arm and pulled her back, knowing if she wasn't pissed at him already, she very soon would be. "Hold on, hold on," he said, "there's just one little problem".

He carried on quickly as Max glared at him, "There's no ladies allowed inside - not unless they're working". "What?!", Max snapped, not believing what he was getting her into. "It's okay", he said, trying to sound reassuring, "there's a line around back. Girls show up and the management picks out the good ones!" Max just stood there for a second, really hoping he was kidding, "You are joking right?" He rolled his eyes, this was going to be harder than he thought.

"Oh come on Max!", he said, "Don't sell yourself short. I mean, you've got a decent shot!" If looks could kill he would have been in serious trouble right then. "Forget it!" she said, shaking her head. "All right fine!" Alec said, but not giving up yet, "Be a prude - we'll just leave her in there for White to find". Max stopped, turning back round to face him, hearing the bouncer again and knowing that she couldn't just leave that girl in there, whatever her personal feelings were.

Seriously not wanting to give Alec the satisfaction of being right, she grabbed his arm and dragged him back round a corner, out of sight of the club entrance. "Uh Max?" Alec asked, a little worried, "What are you doing?" "Shut up!" she said, still pissed at him, taking off her jacket and shoving it in his arms. He just stood there, eyes widening a little in surprise as she removed her sweater as well, leaving only a fairly skimpy tank top underneath that was doing far more to reveal than conceal.

She shoved the sweater at him as well as she shook her hair out over her shoulders. "Just see if you can find somewhere to stash this stuff," she said, meaning her clothes, "and give me five minutes. If I'm not out by then, then come in after me". "Yes ma'am!" Alec joked, a little unwisely, meaning he was almost caught by Max while he was checking out her figure. Max cursed under her breath as she stalked round to the club's back entrance. She couldn't believe she was doing this.

'Of all the low-down, stupid, degrading things', she thought, but she quickly replaced her frown with what she took to be a seductive smile as she approached the door. Another guy was in the process of sending away a few other 'hopefuls' but then his eyes practically fell out of his head as he saw Max approaching. She sashayed over to him, hips moving rhythmically. He gave her an approving look and waved her inside instantly, despite the wails of protest from the other girls.

Once inside she had found the girl quickly. Let's face it - a mermaid was not going to be a difficult thing to find in a strip club. She communicated to her that they were there to help and then went off to look for Alec so they could get some kind of a plan together. She groaned in disgust as she saw him sitting on a couch, getting a dance from a girl in what remained of a nurse's outfit. Alec eventually saw her looking, and quickly paid the girl off, sending her away before Max could get there.

"This is how you rescue a mermaid?!" she hissed as she reached him, but he didn't reply, just grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his lap. "No this is trying to look inconspicuous for the nice agent that White's got stationed here!" Max glanced around her, trying not to look too obvious, but she saw who he meant. "No drinks, no girls," Alec went on, "he's been casing the place the entire time". Unfortunately, the guy in question, turned round then, catching their eye line for a second so they quickly looked away.

"Okay whenever you're ready!" Alec said, "But right now would probably be a good time to look like we belong here, huh?" He was lucky he got the sentence out actually, because he was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to speak straight after. Max turned round to face him and started to run one hand down his face, caressing his cheek while her other hand worked up and down his chest. By the look of it, she had absolutely no idea what affect she was having on him, and it was just as well, he thought, she'd have kicked his ass if she thought he was enjoying this.

He eventually managed to formulate a few words, but unluckily, the only ones that came to mind were, "Wow, Max. You, uh, you done this before?" 'Nice going!' he thought as she told him to shut up again. "Why isn't he making his move?" Max asked, casting glances back at the guy whenever she could. "Too many people around," Alec said quickly, "he's probably just waiting till closing". "And that'd be when?" Max questioned. Alec shifted slightly to look at his watch which was on the arm that Max only just realised had been resting against her back.

"About two and a half hours," he said. Max swore under her breath, she was not gonna do this for another two and a half hours, they'd have to think of something else before then. "Look," Alec said, guessing what she was so worried about, "we're not getting her out of here alive with him around anyway so you might want to come up with another plan". Max sighed, but she caught sight of a few bouncer-like types moving through the club, so she turned her attention back to Alec quickly, resting both hands on his chest now as she rubbed up against him. He was really going to pay later for making her do this, she thought.

She started talking again, discussing options, but she didn't seem to be holding his attention. She reached one hand up then and grabbed his face, making him look at her. "Can we concentrate on coming up with a plan?" she said, after figuring out that he had actually been checking out the mermaid the whole time. "I'm thinking," he insisted. "No, you're talking," Max replied, continuing to stroke his face. "I can do both," Alec replied, actually trying to concentrate on anything but the reaction she was causing.

"I doubt that!" Max joked as she saw she had lost his attention again, slapping his face lightly to enforce her point. "It's a shame," Alec said, and that made her stop, trying to figure out what he meant. "Well she must get pretty lonely," Alec went on, not entirely serious, but trying to wind her up a little, "nothing but fish to talk to out there in the ocean". Max found herself smiling despite whatever animosity she was harbouring for him, and her touch became a little more gentle. The poor boy had some serious issues. "Give it up Alec," she said, a little more kindly, "I don't think the two of you would work out!"

"Yeah," Alec said, sighing a little for effect, but he turned a little more serious with his next few words. "I always do this though - y'know, go for the ones I can't have?" Unfortunately, the fairly glaringly obvious subtext was lost on Max and she just laughed a little, "Figures!" He shook his head a little in disbelief. What more did he have to do to get her to figure it out?! Walk around with a big flashing neon sign professing his feelings?! He couldn't help it then, feeling a little resentful, so he just said, "Well you should talk! I mean you, Logan, virus - hello?"

That apparently wasn't his smartest move though as she grabbed his shirt, pulling him up dangerously close to his face, "Don't even---". Unfortunately she was completely oblivious to the company coming up behind him. And the angle presented to them was slightly different. Some girl sitting on Alec's lap, pressed up very closely against him, only centimetres between their faces. But Alec had noticed them, and figured he might as well take advantage of the opportunity. "Hey guys!" he said cheerfully.

Max pulled back, perhaps a little too quickly, so much so that Alec had to pull her closer to him to stop her falling off him altogether. She was unbelievably embarrassed as she saw Sketchy and Normal standing there, catching her in an extremely compromising position with Alec of all people. "Oh my God!" she whispered under her breath, which Alec just managed to overhear. Normal obviously found the whole thing too strange and walked off, shaking his head, but Sketchy was a little more persistent.

"Hey Max! I didn't know you worked here". "Just one night a week," Alec said quickly before Max could say anything, "why'd you think I wanted to come tonight?" Sketchy smiled, raising his eyebrows a little. "Well I guess we'll leave you guys to it!" he said, "See ya later!" he walked off then, but not without one more parting smile at Max. Max groaned as soon as he was out of earshot, "God could this night get any worse?" she muttered, oblivious of the effect those seven little words had on the poor guy she was sitting on.

Coulda left it there, but I'm feeling generous, so here's flashback #2 - "Borrowed time"…

He had secretly been pleased that Max had called him for help that night. He decided to milk it for all it was worth anyway, making plenty of jokes about the less-than-legal nature of what she was asking him to do, but he figured she deserved it. She did seem to be a little on edge though, so he tried a different tack. "So come on then Max - what are you gonna use your half of the money for? New motorcycle? New apartment?" He obviously had nothing so far so he deliberately tried to provoke her, "New boyfriend?" he was still wrong, but by the look of it he was getting closer.

He didn't want to think that he was right, but he had to ask, "New DNA markers for current boyfriend?" This time there came no disapproving look from Max, all she could do was look at him a little sheepishly. "Argh!" he said, a little pissed off and slightly upset too, "I can't believe this! I've been stuck in this closet for over an hour to facilitate you having sex! That's what I've been reduced to. I'm a pimp!" Max rolled her eyes, but he could tell that that had made her feel a little bad anyway. She retreated into her safety net though, "It's not even like that".

Alec swore under his breath, she should record that so she wouldn't have to keep saying it all the time. "Yeah, yeah," he said, annoyed at himself for getting so bothered by the idea in the first place, "just tell me...tell me that he's worth all this trouble Max. I mean, tell me he...he rocks your world! Something at least!" But she couldn't, so she didn't answer. He started to wonder then, "You and Logan have done it right?" he asked, somewhat in disbelief, "I mean before the whole virus thing, you knew each other for like, what, a year? Max?" But she still couldn't say anything.

She looked up at him to see his expression of disbelief. "Not that this is any of your business, but...with me and Logan it was just never the right time". Alec nodded, "Yeah sure," he said, sarcasm not coming through till now, "I can see how the right time might elude you...for a year!" Max just shot him another death look then and he decided to shut up. It was perverse he thought, but he was actually pleased that Max and Logan had never actually done anything. Not that it mattered much now though, he thought glumly, as long as this job worked out, she wouldn't be able to say that for much longer.

* * *

So there he was, a few hours later, sitting in Crash and doing his best to get himself well and truly legless. Which was all well and good - in theory. Unfortunately it took a hell of a lot of alcohol to get an X5 drunk so it was becoming more boring than anything as he was still very sober. Oh well, that was it, he thought, Max had skipped off to get her cure as soon as they had finished at her fence and right now, her and Logan were probably... He shook off that thought, that really wasn't helping.

He didn't realise at first why it was so much of a problem for him, but eventually the dull thud of realisation hit him. If Max got the cure, then there was absolutely nothing preventing her from being with Logan and that meant Alec was well and truly out of the picture. Not that he had really had a chance with Max before, given how they were always fighting, but he had even less than that now, and it bothered him a lot more than he would have liked. She could be completely infuriating and stubborn and no one could drive him crazy like she could - but despite that, actually no - probably because of that, he thought with a slight laugh, he truly liked her.

Whatever he had thought at first, it was becoming more and more painfully obvious to him, that he couldn't be just friends with Max for much longer. Seeing her with Logan, Zack, even that slightly weird Manticore guy 'Brain' - it was making him crazy. He'd invent the slightest excuse to be around her, no matter how mad it made her. But whatever he did, it clearly wasn't working, especially now that her and Logan had the cure. Actually that was probably what bothered him most of all...Logan.

He wasn't exactly a bad guy or anything, Alec had to admit, but the effect and hold he had over Max was depressing. He couldn't blame Logan for loving Max - it only hurt that she loved him back. He swallowed another shot and then cast his eyes round the club again. He stopped as he saw one girl sitting at a table by herself, she caught his glance and smiled, waving him over. 'What the hell?' he thought, he couldn't do anything to physically harm Logan (at least not without Max killing him afterwards) so he moved on to the next best thing. He knew Logan didn't love Asha the way he loved Max, but still - if he found out that Asha had gone home that night with Alec, it would seriously piss him off.

"Asha," he greeted as he slid onto a spare stool at her table, signing to the bartender to send them some more drinks over. "It's okay," Asha said, "I was just gonna say hi and then I was gonna call it a night". "If you say so - but trust me, I think you might want that last drink!" That had captured her interest, and twenty minutes later she was still there, joining Alec in a slightly drunken toast. "Logan and Max," Asha said, raising her glass. "Max and Logan," Alec replied, clinking his against hers. Asha sat back, a little reflectively as she drank. "Wonder what they're doing right now," she mused, more to herself than him.

She looked up and caught his expression which just screamed 'oh please!' "You know what I mean!" Asha retaliated, rolling her eyes, "Logan's so romantic - I bet he made her dinner. Wine, candles...I bet it's perfect". Alec couldn't help but let out a little sorrowful laugh, "Yeah, that sounds like them. I mean, why consummate two years of unbridled passion when you can have pasta?" "You're a pig," Asha cut back, a little too tipsy to notice the bitter tone in his voice, "you don't know anything about love". He had to let that one go because he knew she was starting to get drunk, but it still hurt, bringing up memories of Rachel again, memories that he had been trying really hard to bury for the time being.

Asha just carried on talking, again more to herself than to him, going on about wishing them happiness and things like that. "You're a liar," he said, carrying on as he saw her questioning expression, "you don't wish them all the happiness in the world - you want Logan for yourself". "I mean, come on," he went on, "you had it all dialled in when Max was back at Manticore, presumed dead. You and Logan, doing your hero thing, spending hours together in his fancy little apartment, all tuned up about the ways of the world. It was a good time for you, right?"

"Yeah", Asha said sarcastically, "he was thinking about Max every second of every day". Alec hid an ironic smile inside him, 'wonder what that's like', he thought. Asha was still talking the whole time and just finished by saying, "Even with the whole virus thing, they never gave up on each other. No matter how I feel about it, I have to respect that - because that, my friend, is true love". 'True love?', Alec thought, granted he didn't exactly have years of experience, but he still didn't see it somehow.

"Yeah right," he said eventually, "They've never even once said 'I love you'. Max? Max would choke on the words, and Logan? Well he'd probably say it...in an email! No, Logan is a repressed WASP and Max is a...", he trailed off, several words coming to mind - 'pain in the ass', 'bitch', 'goddess', 'angel'......'god what the hell is wrong with me?' he thought. "Broken toy," he eventually finished, "the two of them will never work out together". "You're just a cynic," Asha said, shaking her head, but he could see that he still held her attention, her eyes never left his the whole time, so he went in for the kill.

"No. I'm someone who believes in going after what he wants, and damn the consequences...we're living on borrowed time. If you don't put your heart out there on the line, then you're never really living at all". "If I loved someone," he went on, trying to shut out the voice in the back of his head that was telling him he already did, "I'd tell 'em. And if I wanted someone, then I would let her know, straight up". "Asha," he said, setting his glass down and taking her hand in his, "I want you - come home with me". She had thought about it, but only for a second, then she was grabbing her coat and following him outside.

He only began to feel a little apprehensive about it once they got back to his place and he was letting her inside, telling her to make herself comfortable. He didn't know why it was such a big deal, actually he did, but he was trying not to think about it. He'd been with plenty of girls since he'd gotten out of Manticore, and okay, Asha was a little nicer than most of them, but at the end of the day she was still just a girl right? He went to fix them some more drinks, though god knows, they probably didn't need any more alcohol that night, and then he walked back into the living room.

She was already curled up on the sofa, and by the time he reached it, he could tell that she had fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful and...innocent, he thought. Too innocent for him to do this to her, he decided. He got a blanket from his bedroom, pulling her boots off and lifting her legs up on to the sofa properly. Whatever his feelings about Max and Logan getting together, Asha didn't deserve him taking it out on her, so he just let her sleep. It'd almost been worth it anyway when Max did come over that night. Okay so nothing had happened, but she had looked pissed finding Asha asleep on his sofa as he emerged straight from the shower.

He saw her react to him then, whether she had wanted to or not. Maybe she wasn't devoid of feeling for him after all. He held onto that thought, and it worked for all of about two hours. When Joshua had arrived and freed them from the car and the Gossamer was safely contained, he had looked over to her, only to find her making eyes at Logan again. He cleared everyone else out then, letting them have their moment, wishing (however futilely) that just once, Max would look at him like that.

Right, well that was the first instalment. I know this may seem a little slow at first, but it's important back-story as far as I'm concerned. The flashbacks do get progressively longer and more interesting (at least I hope they do!) and there's a healthy chunk of original story afterwards about the events post-Freak Nation. Hope ya liked it anyway! *SS*