Love to Hate You, Hate to Love You
By: Anndee
Disclaimer: Dark Angel is the property of James Cameron (I don't care, I loved Titanic) and Eglee. Don't sue, you wouldn't get much (maybe my Beatles Box set but I would have to hunt you down and steal it back, besides JC, you can afford your own).
AN: If you are reading this then I finally got through and was able to upload. There aren't words that can express how frustrated I was with , well yes there is but they are not very polite. Wrote this like TWO weeks ago, hope you enjoy.
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Chapter 18
"Why is she so mad at me if she did the exact same thing to me that I did to her?" Logan asked the two blondes who stood in front of him as he sat down on his couch.
"Jesus Logan." Alec muttered, getting angry with him. God for someone who is supposed to be a genius he sure is dumb.
Asha rolled her eyes, "I love you Logan but sometimes you just don't get it do you." She sighed sitting down next to him.
Logan looked at her slightly shocked and most definitely confused. "Asha, I'll leave you with dumbass here to talk." Alec said making his way back towards the door, "I'm going to find Max and see if she's alright."
Asha nodded and turned to Logan just as the older man sprang up and grabbed onto Alec's arm.
Alec looked down at the hand on his arm and then up into the be- speckled face of its owner with a crook of his brow.
Logan noticeably swallowed and removed his hand from the taller, stronger, and territorial male X5's arm.
"Can I help you with something Logan?" Alec asked.
Logan looked up at Alec's face, "Do you love her?"
Alec looked at Logan, then behind him to a silent and observant Asha, "Do you love her?"
He nodded back to the small blonde. "Yeah." Logan nodded.
"So then you know what love is? You know how to recognize that what you feel for her is love?" Alec asked him. "Is she what you think about first when you wake up and the last thing when you fall asleep? Would you be willing to die just to make sure she sees one more sunrise and sunset? Even though you know, and respect the fact that she can take care of herself, you still want to protect her and keep her safe?" Alec asked, crossing his arms in front of him.
Asha smiled, and stood up, walking towards the two men, wrapping her arms around Logan from behind and standing on tip toe to place her chin on his shoulder, "Answer carefully." She teased.
Logan nodded, "Yes to all of those things."
Alec smiled softly, his eyes both dark with emotion and light with the knowledge of reaffirmation of something already known. "Then I guess I love her." With that he quietly exited the apartment.
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Alec was not happy. Not happy at all. "Damn it Max!" He muttered as he stomped up the stairs to his apartment, soaking wet from the rain that had begun a few hours ago, shortly after his search for the pissed off genetically enhanced female had started. "Where the hell could you have gone?" He asked out loud as he unlocked his apartment door and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Took me a lot of walking in the rain to figure it out but I didn't go far." An equally as wet and tired looking Max said from a chair in the middle of his living room/dinning room.
Alec blinked, several times. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been asking myself the same thing since I got here ten minutes ago." Max replied, standing up. "But I'll go if you want me to. I don't really have the right considering how I treat you to ask for your shoulder to cry on." She said making her way around him.
Alec's arm shot out, blocking her escape path. "Don't go."
Max stared at his leather clad arm, afraid to look anywhere else for fear of - well - many things really.
"It wasn't my place to tell you." Alec said softly.
Max shook her head, still not looking at him, "Don't worry about it Alec. For once, I'm not mad at you."
Alec couldn't help but laugh softly, "Well that's a first."
Finally Max looked up at him, "You went looking for me?"
Alec gave her a sarcastic smile, "No, decided that I wanted to walk around in the rain for three hours, because you know the kitty cat in me just loves the water."
"Why?" Max asked softly.
Alec shrugged out of his wet jacket and placed it on the dinner table, "Why did I go looking for you? Or why did I just say something sarcastic to you?"
Max rolled her eyes, "The former you ass, the latter is just Alec protocol."
Alec opened his mouth to make a smart comment when he suddenly closed it and sighed, "Okay, I'm wet and that makes me irritable, so let's forgo the usual bickering for the strait hard edge truth of the whole matter."
Max gulped and replied, "And what is the straight hard edge truth?"
"I went looking for you in the rain, the wet rain mind you," Alec made sure to point out, "because I was worried about you. I know you can take care of yourself Max, but you were hurt and upset and sometimes you just need someone to lean on; and, I wanted to the one to be there for you." He said softly. "Okay, now go ahead and make fun, kick my ass, whatever will make you feel better, I know you want to at least kick my ass for what happened while you were in heat."
Max took a step towards him, "I'm not going to kick your ass Alec; it's to cute to bruise."
Alec blinked, "Say what?"
Max took the few steps left in her journey to stand directly in front of him, "I'm not going to kick your ass. Why do you think I came here? Because I knew I needed to talk to someone, lean on someone as you put it, and I wanted to lean on you. But the thing is I'm not even upset with Logan anymore and I know that tomorrow when I go over there I'll leave with my relationship with one of my best friends intact, because that's all he really ever was if I really think about it. I never felt a need for him like I do for you. The only passion I've shared with him is in his work, nothing like what I feel for you. The way you piss me off, no one has been able to get under my skin the way you do, and I will probably be forever thankful that I went into heat when I did, because I got to experience a taste of what I had admitted to myself I that I wanted days before it happened."
The only thing that came to Alec's whirling brain was, "But you hate me."
Max smiled, a smile that looked very much like a cat's to Alec, and said, "I love to hate you, and I hate that I love you."
