Alec looked around Jam Pony for Max. "OC, where's your boo?"
OC raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Max went to some sector, she wouldn't specify, and said she'd be a while."
Alec scowled. Both he and OC knew that anything Max put her mind to would get done in three seconds.
"Hot run, Monty Cora." Normal handed him a package and Alec rolled his eyes, climbing onto his bike.
Where could she be?
Max smiled as she handed yet another package full of stolen parts to Alec's neighbor. She had taken it upon herself to deliver this particular package, considering that her daughter was downstairs.
She wheeled her bike down the stairs and left it leaning against a bit of the wall next to Alec's door. She set it there lightly and yet, the door swung open.
"Who are you? Did Daddy get you pregnant? What do you know? How late are you? It's probably just a hangover." Vada trailed on and on and on, and Max studied her face.
Alec was right.
She hated it when he was.
"I wouldn't let Alec touch me with a ten-foot-pole that could cure the Virus." Max managed to say, as soon as her PMS-like demeanor returned.
Vada froze, but she looked both ways. "You better wheel that in. It'll get swiped, otherwise."
She turned around and walked further into the eyesore Alec called home.
"I'll take that as an invitation to come in, then." Max whispered, grabbing her bike.
"Alec's a pain in the ass, isn't he?"
"Excuse me, what?" Max hadn't even started to sit down or begin uncomfortable silence.
"Oh, yeah, my manners. Want something to drink?" Vada offered, heading for the kitchenette.
"Nah. I'm not even supposed to be here…"
"Working?"
"Yeah."
"Daddy checks on me all the time. A pain in the ass, isn't he?" Vada propped herself up on the dirty counter.
"Yeah." Max found herself whispering.
Vada stared at her a bit.
"I heard you guys arguing yesterday." Vada took a sip of her drink.
"Is that beer?" Max asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah, right. With Alec for my father?" Vada rolled her eyes. "He got rid of his alcohol as soon as I came along and won't let me drink at the Crash either."
"Hypocrite." Max snorted.
Vada looked at her oddly.
"He practically lives at the bar." Max explained.
"I thought so. I mean, when he ran into me at the strip club in NYC.." Vada trailed off. "I guess since you're my mother you didn't exactly want to hear that."
Max's jaw dropped. "Even if you were just my sister I wouldn't want to hear that!"
Vada looked guilty. "I needed cash."
"You could have gotten Alec." Max tried to take on the role of the concerned mother.
Vada shot her a look. "You know that he can hardly support himself without stealing. He'd have to be a pro cat burglar and risk exposure to take care of three people."
"Three?" Max asked, looking her daughter up and down. "You look like a single person to me."
Vada didn't meet Max's eyes. "I wasn't."
Max nodded.
"God, Mo---Max, he didn't even treat me that good. I was basically told I couldn't survive without anyone and I guess they're right." Vada started crying and there were thousands of horrible pictures going through Max's mind about her daughter.
Slowly, but steadily, Max made her way to the kitchenette, lightly taking Vada into her arms. There, though they both wouldn't have admitted it, Vada felt right. She fit.
Alec pedaled hard to get back to his apartment. He hated leaving Vada alone since Matt had to do something with the X7s in order not to lead the Familiars to Vada.
He threw his bike down, knowing that would alert her automatically. But when he lightly opened the door, the sight before him seemed unbelievable.
Max was hugging Vada, and Vada was crying into Max's shoulder. Max's back was to him, and Vada was blinded by tears, so they couldn't see him, but still..
Alec softly stepped back. They needed to have their moment in their memories as theirs and theirs alone. After all, he and Vada had so many.
Max rushed into Jam Pony, trying to find him. He was near the lockers and she rushed up to him excitedly.
"I saw her. I saw her up close and talked to her. She's so beautiful and so witty and so.." Max noticed a small smile spreading on Alec's face, even though he wasn't looking at her. "So ours."
That really grabbed his attention. "Ours?"
Max nodded with a smile. "I know that things haven't been good between us.."
---"More like a roller coaster."
"And we haven't had much to share.."
---"Except our entire theories in life and half of a past."
"And, well, this girl, this daughter, she might change that."
---"That means, don't get your hopes up, Alec. I'm being forced to like you."
"Will you just shut up?"
"Sure."
"That isn't shutting up."
"It takes two people to have a conversation."
"I hate you!"
"You need to like me."
"Why?"
"I don't know. You were the one who said it."
Max looked back at him, first shooting him a dirty look, and then bursting out into something Alec had never heard out of Max. Giggles.
"I know why I said it.." Max stopped. "Wait, you were the once that said I'm forced to like you."
"Because?" Alec gestured with his hands, and Max rolled her eyes.
"Because of our daughter, because of Manticore, and because fighting it would be too hard." Max recited in a sing-song voice.
Alec raised his left eyebrow with a look of doubt.
"Fighting the chemistry. We could be good friends if we tried…"
---"You tried.."
"To take each other's jokes.."
---"My jokes…"
"A little less seriously." Max snapped finally, sick of his interrupting.
He glared at her.
"Okay, okay! I'll lighten up." Max rolled her eyes and slid her arm into the crook of Alec's. "You know, Logan and I didn't get along too well, either."
"That gives me hope." Alec whispered.
"It shouldn't." Max murmured.
"Where do you two think you're going?" Normal asked as they began walking out of Jam Pony.
"To get our bikes." Max answered automatically.
"To train for my next Monty Cora match." Alec added.
"No." Max hissed with a disapproving scowl.
"Just trust me." Alec mouthed.
"Well, go on, get cracking!" Normal shouted after them.
Alec smirked and Max slapped his arm playfully.
"Something is going on with those two." OC whispered.
"Definitely." Sketchy said with a look of skepticism.
Alec and Max walked up the stairs, Max using Alec as some sort of support system because she was laughing so hard. Alec was just smiling at her or joking with this adoring grin.
"Ain't this picturesque?" Matt drawled in a Southern voice, standing up from where he had been leaning. "Where's Vada?"
Max stopped laughing and the smile disappeared from Alec's face.
"You don't know?" Matt demanded worriedly.
"Find all the dance studios in the neighborhood." Alec said automatically.
"I'll call Logan." Max offered, putting her hand out for Alec's key.
Alec and Matt flinched. Alec reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and handed her the key.
"I should really get my own. With Vada living here and all." Max shouted as she headed inside.
Alec nodded and started pacing.
"I don't like that guy, either." Matt muttered finally.
"I've tried to like him. I have. Him being Max's.. And all." Alec stopped and glanced at Matt, his face looking pitiful. "But.. I just can't."
Matt nodded. "He's Tristan. The provider that wants her to himself."
"Hey, Logan's not selfish." Alec snapped defensively. "He is one of the most unselfish people I've ever met. Max is one of those people that make him happy. The guy deserves a little happiness."
"Hold on," Max whispered.
Logan replied softly, and he could tell she was eavesdropping. He pulled out a Pre-Pulse device that was supposed to help old people hear better.
"Hey, Logan's not selfish. He is one of the most unselfish people I've ever met. Max is one of those people that make him happy. The guy deserves a little happiness."
It was Alec. Both Max and Logan were both surprised. Logan pulled the little speaker off the phone.
"He's sweet. He really is." Max said after a moment and they continued to talk.
"But don't you deserve it, too?" Matt demanded in a low voice.
"I've got Vada. She's enough." Alec lied.
"But Vada's not Max. As much as you make Vada a distraction, you can't get your mind off of Max! We X6s can read minds a bit, you know?"
"Thanks, Logan. Bye." Max slipped the phone back into it's cradle and headed towards the door.
She stopped when she heard Alec's voice again.
"I told you!"
"I told you, Logan deserves his bit of happiness. No matter how much Max makes me feel, I can't take that from him! It would be like somebody stealing Vada from me! Even if I did have feelings for Max, I'm not going to do anything about the whole Max and Logan situation. They both need each other. If Logan can find someone else that can take care of him and care for him as much as Max does, then maybe the situation will change. But now, all I can do is admire from afar!"
Matt rolled his eyes. "Alec, weren't you the one who told Vada to go out and get what you want?"
Alec sighed. "There's this saying. Those who can't, teach."
Max took in the info and stomped to let them know she was coming.
"Hey, Alec." She chirped with a grin. "There's only one studio in this Sector. Come on. Matt, you stay here just in case she comes back."
She slipped her arm back into the nook of his and smiled. The words she said to Logan on the phone came back to her.
"He's sweet. He really is."