Disclaimer: Ok, if I did actually own Dark Angel, do ya think I would be writing fanfiction? Mooooo!
Rating: PG13 for strong language
Summary: Max breaks down, and Alec picks up the pieces. Can he put them together?
Summery 4 Chapter: He thought he lost her, and now emotions are running high. Will some unfortunate circumstances bring two people closer together?
Pairing: Max/Alec cause X5's gotta stick together!
Reviews: Please review you guys. I like constructive criticism and I'm a compliment whore!

***Sorry for the long update you guys. Whilst deciding where to take this story and got side tracked and pulled into the world of Gilmore Girls fanfiction. Mybad! Oh and I'm scratching my original plan to add more heart-pounding action, because it's takes away from the romance!***


He watched her. He studied the way the way her chest rose and fell, and the way her eyes moved even when shut. It was as if she was trying to see through her sleep, the face of the one who stood over her, and cried tears to mourn her hours ago. Still, she wasn't dead, she was just sleeping, and maybe dreaming. That was what held him, and kept him from losing his mind, due to the weight of his worry, and exhaustion.

The nurse had told him she would be fine. Apparently she had been given some kind of drug, in an effort to force her body into making Trytophane on it's own. The negative side effect of this drug was that it had the possibility to go haywire and produce Trytophane in vast amounts. Not surprisingly too much of the chemical is just, if not more detrimental to the patient's health than the lack of it.

Alec almost wanted to laugh. Damn Manticore and their blindness. They of all should've known, that you can never suppress anything for too long, not before it explodes and takes something down with it. That's what happened. Their drug, their miracle cure had failed and it soon burned itself out of Max's system. Of course Zenophane was immediately administered to counter it's effects and before he knew it she was fine. "She was fine," was what he kept telling himself in his mind, as if the very idea of her being fine in a world like this was incredulous, and he had to force himself to believe it. Knowing Max she'd be back on her feet barking orders at him in no time. His wounds though, the way he felt seeing her broken and helpless, would take longer to heal and last for many more sleepless nights.

He stood there, too shaky to sit next to her bed, watching her and thinking about everything that had happened this rainy night, and all that happened on the nights before that. In his mind he retold the events of when they first meet, realizing he had been an asshole from the start. He replayed the night he'd almost killed her, in an effort to take her barcode none less, and even now he couldn't put his finger one why he couldn't do it. That was the same night she saved his life for the first time, and he recalled all the times she'd saved him after that. Before long he was dazed and lost in thought.

That's the way she first saw him when her eye lids fluttered open and her eyes adjusted to the light of her surroundings. She wasn't at all surprised to see him there, since he obviously brought her here. All she remembered was collapsing on his floor in a terrible pain, and how the sound of him calling her name fading slowly away. His voice was riddled with fear, and his eyes most likely mimicked it. Those eyes were focused on her now. His gaze seemed to burn through her as if he were in deep thought and hadn't been disturbed for hours. So in deep thought was he that he didn't notice her consciousness till she spoke.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's impolite to stare," she croaked with a dry throat shaking Alec from his thoughts. He was so startled to hear her speak that it took him a while to muster the strength to speak, and even then it was only her name.

"Max," his barely whispered, his voice choking up with impending tears, that he tried to smile away. Words couldn't express how overjoyed he felt at the moment despite him being physically and emotionally drained. He pulled a chair from against the wall and sat next to her bed immediately taking her hand in his own and holding it to his face. He inhaled the scent of her and reveled in the feel of her.

He was smiling but tears lined his eyes as he held her hand, a gesture that spoke of nothing but his happiness to see her alive. Worry etched on her face as she examined him. There was deep purple bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, and he was still slightly damp from the rain. His lips were dry and cracked and his overall appearance was brooding and disheveled.

"Hey, you look worse than me," she joked, but she couldn't tell from his expression whether or not he heard her.

"I thought I lost you Max," he said a few moments later as Max felt moisture invading her own eyes. Almost uncomfortable with his show of emotion towards her she racked her brain with ways to lighten the mood as wetness clouded her vision. For the second time that night the silence was a piercing echo.

Minutes passed at still neither had said a word, and Max finally felt herself relax. She realized that she was content there, and he held her hand, and after all that had happened that night both deserved to savior the moment.

**I know, this is kind of a blander chapter than the rest. Not much romance, not much action, but I wanted to go with something calmer to tie the dramatic chapters together**