It was the second night of heat, and Christian had Vada sitting cross-legged with her back to him, and he held her by her wrists.
"So, why are you so fascinated with me?" Christian asked, changing the subject from Vada's explanation of her life on the outside.
Her head whipped around. "What makes you think that?"
He raised his eyebrows.
"Well," She admitted sheepishly, "You don't pull your punches."
"That's it?" He asked, hoping it wasn't all that simple.
"Well, I'm not used to it. I've never fought with Alec, Tristan lets me win, Matt can barely defend himself, so I can't go all out on him, and everyone else here is afraid I'll kill them all if they blink." Vada rolled her eyes. "I guess I've never been matched up against.."
"Someone who has the same amount of strength and isn't afraid to use it?" Christian offered.
"Tristan isn't afraid to use his strength, he's just not willing to hurt me because.." Vada trailed off, not planning on finishing her sentence.
"Because he knows in any other battle, you can hurt him back?" Christian finished.
"No," Vada snapped, "Tristan has feelings for me. What they are at this moment aren't exactly clear to me, but that doesn't mean you can just…"
Christian gently let go of her wrists.
Vada looked at her hands in wonder, scooting so that she could face him.
"Christian?" She murmured, looking at him with hope in her eyes. Hope that he knew what he was doing, that he knew the answers to her questions.
So naturally she found it odd that she was leaning forward and softly kissing him on the lips.
"What is your problem?" Max demanded.
"My problem? You are the one who refuses to look my way for fear that… I don't even know what you're afraid of!" Alec shouted at her.
"Will you be quiet?" She hissed. "Do you think I can be inconspicuous with this huge bulge coming out the hem of my shirts? If anything had happened.."
"You'd have a lot to explain? Well, you seem to be pretty good at explaining away my absences. You seem to be pretty good at explaining why I do things the way I do, or why I do them. Those statements have not a sliver of truth behind them, so I'd say you practiced pretty well." Alec snapped in a low tone.
Max inhaled sharply and slapped him.
Alec rubbed his cheek. "What was THAT for?"
Max looked at her hand in disgust. "For every time I wish I could have done that to Logan."
Alec shook his head with a bitter chuckle. "God, I wish you'd stop that."
Max looked at him, bewildered.
"I'm not your touchable Logan with another face, another demeanor. You can't pretend that I am. It makes things more difficult." His eyes flickered towards the car they had 'borrowed'. "And I for one am sick of it."
Max swallowed thickly. "And you don't think I'm not?"
Alec chuckled bitterly and shook his head. "No. Because if you were so fucking sick of it, you'd stop. Get in the car."
Max didn't have to be told twice. The cold air was not helping the tension at all.
"Here you go. Just as I promised." Tristan pushed a handcuffed Matt towards White. 'Damn this man is stupid.'
"Get in the car, 528." White muttered.
"Who?" Tristan raised his eyebrows and his hands in a very 'Cops'-like position.
"Fine, play dumb." White sort of laughed while four X7s and two X6s came out, seizing the pair of transgenics.
"This isn't the plan." Matt hissed.
"Well, it doesn't take a TRANSGENIC to figure that out now, does it?" Tristan whispered, as the both of them were tossed into the back of a van, where they were cuffed with about twenty different restraints and when they looked up, they found---
"Vada!" The two chorused.
Vada rolled her eyes, trying to cross her legs, which were cuffed with about six pairs of metal restraints. "Do you really think they were going to leave the bait at the base?"
They shook their heads guiltily.
"Which one of you idiots came up with this plan? Alec? Tristan? Do not tell me it's my sister's stupid boyfriend L--Luke." Vada started rambling, using different code names and glaring at the two transgenics in front of her. "You know, it wasn't that bad."
"Not that bad? Not that bad? You know why? You're like royalty at Manticore. We're not." Matt snapped through gritted teeth.
"You know why I'm royalty? I developed PEOPLE SKILLS." Vada shouted at them. "I am a PEOPLE PERSON. The either of you would rather shut yourselves up in a room and talk about who gets to chase the greased pig for my hand in marriage first."
"I bet you've made a friend already." Tristan chirped sarcastically.
Vada blushed and looked back down at her feet.
"She's slept with someone!" Matt exclaimed excitedly, unaware of Vada and Tristan's little 'situation'. "Who?"
Vada smiled a bit. "You might have known him."
The car jolted a bit.
"Come on, 734." White didn't even have to force her. She smiled back at Tristan and immediately her thoughts went through his head.
"She's going to fuck him." Tristan whispered in horror.
"No way." Matt murmured.
Tristan looked back at his companion to find that he had worked his way out of his restraints.
Matt shrugged. "Super intelligence and a little strength. What were you talking about?"
Tristan looked at Matt worriedly. "What were you talking about?"
"I decoded Vada's DNA." Matt said simply.
Tristan's eyes widened and he leaned forward. "No one.." He whispered seriously, "And I mean no one is supposed to know that."
Matt's eyes grew larger. "You know?"
Tristan laughed bitterly. "Do I ever. I've been protecting Vada from it. I can't separate her from Alec, but Max is easy to flick off because Vada's never met her. She came across some of my deciphering and I told her Max was her sister. If you tell her.."
Matt looked at Tristan with pure disgust. "You'll be out of a job. If I tell her, she'll go to Seattle and you'll be left with no safe whore."
Matt closed his eyes. "The coast is clear. I'm getting to Max and Alec before you screw this up."
"I hate that song."
---"I love that song."
Alec chuckled in that angry/sad way of his as he flicked the radio off. "That removes 'music' from the 'things-in-common' list."
Max rolled her eyes and tsked. "Like we ever had anything in common."
"We could kick ass in the boxing ring." Alec offered.
"That's in our DNA." Max snapped.
"We both lost people to Manticore. People that made us feel." Alec suggested after a moment, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to an invisible beat.
"I haven't lost Logan." Max whispered.
"Well, I lost a person that made me feel to Manticore, and I lost both of the others to Logan Cale. And you call me a Casanova?" Alec raised his eyebrows.
Max was about to quip at him, but Alec slammed on the brakes, trying to avoid hitting--- Matt.
Matt opened up one of the luxury SUV's backdoors. "Drive. And don't head for Rawlings. Head for Wyoming."