"Pretty in Pink"
by pari106
pari106@hotmail.com; http://www.geocities.com/pari106/damain.html
Disclaimer: DA is not mine; Rating: PG-13; Code: Short; Alec
Spoilers: "Shush" (Now Fuhggedaboudit...or however the hell you spell that :P )
Summary: Written in the same tone as "Cheap Shots". Alec still doesn't feel
satisfactorily avenged on Max. So he does something about it.
A/N: This is nuts! Nuts, I tell you! :P But let me know what you think about it. Pretty, pretty please? ;)
Pretty in Pink
by pari106
"Happy now?"
A smile. And a pause (a very brief pause, he noted bitterly).
"Yeah!" she returned. Not a bit of remorse on Max's part. But on Alec's…
He was sorry he hadn't kicked her ass. Instead of being all gentlemanly, which is what
he'd convinced himself he'd been when he'd *let* her win that fight. Well…
He's *mostly* let her win. That last shot he hadn't expected.
And he tried to let it go. Over time. He really did. He tried to forget their fight that
night in the ring. It wasn't so hard, really. But it was the things Max had said during the
fight that Alec just couldn't seem to forget.
"That's for the virus!" he'd find himself remembering, at the oddest times.
Remembering Max's outcry, but also the passion and self-righteous disgust beneath it.
Then he'd mutter to himself about his innocence in that instance for full minutes,
collecting curious stares from the people around him.
"That's for trying to kill Joshua!" Max had told him next. As if he'd had a choice at the
time. Alec would find himself bristling over the injustice of this comment whenever he
and Max were in the same room together.
"That's for getting paint all over my research!"
The list of charges Max had levied against him just went on and on. And that list
repeated itself in Alec's mind, again and again, for weeks afterward, until he knew he had
to do something about it or he'd go mad.
But what could he do? How could he prove that he'd never meant to hurt Max with any
of his actions? He'd never meant to hurt anyone. He'd tried to prove that to Max again
and again, but she never listened.
And why should he have to prove himself? Like where the virus was concerned. He
wasn't the one who'd given it to her. He wasn't the one who'd put her in the position of
having it given to her. She'd done that all herself.
And the way that doctor had blown town without fixing her and Logan a cure? She
blamed him for making that happen. But Alec hadn't *made* that doctor leave. Just as
he hadn't made Max help him pay the guy before he'd left. He'd said that he hadn't
wanted to die, but had he twisted Max's arm into saving his life? No. That had been her
choice. A choice that had saved his life. So it had also kept her from getting some out of
Logan that night. Big deal! Like Max intended on getting some from Logan even if they
were given the chance. After their last brush with a possible cure, Alec seriously doubted
that she did.
"That's for using Joshua to deliver your packages!" Max's voice rang in his head one
day while he was at work.
'Well, that's for never letting him get out of the house otherwise!' Alec found himself
thinking in response. Then he grabbed Max's packages off of Normal's counter while no
one was looking and hid them. It took her all to day to locate and deliver them all.
Yeah, it had been immature. Beneath himself, really. After he'd done it, Alec hadn't
known what had possessed him. But it had made him feel better. It had been revenge, he
realized. Subtle, silly revenge. But it had felt good.
"That's for losing me that baseball!" the Max in Alec's head shrieked one time too many.
So the next time Logan gave Alec a message to deliver to Max…telling her he
*wouldn't* be meeting her at Crash on a particular night, after all (something had come
up with Asha and the S1W instead)… The message was never delivered.
'That's for losing me twenty grand in that fight!' Alec told his inner-Max as justification
for his actions.
This routine continued for months.
"That's for losing me the sweet deal I had going at Manticore!" Alec would mutter as he
scrawled Max's cell number on a bathroom stall wall. 'That's for making me realize it
wasn't such a sweet deal, after all!' he would think as he encouraged some loser at the
bar to pester Max for a date. Again. 'That's for saying you wished you would have let
White's implant blow up in my head…that's for saving me from Berrisford when I just
wanted to die…That's for pestering me to talk afterwards…That's for not being there
when I was actually ready to say something…"
Alec extracted his revenge from Max for months, always in tiny little ways that annoyed
her, but didn't identify himself as the culprit.
With time, however, he grew tired of his sport. Immune to it. It was enough to make
him feel better momentarily, but not enough to erase Max's angry tirade from his mind
and memory.
He needed more.
He needed something better; something bigger. He needed the *ultimate* revenge. He
became obsessed with it.
Then, one day, Alec realized how that revenge could be had.
'It's perfect!' he thought when inspiration hit him. It would be perfect. He knew it
wouldn't be easy… But it would be perfect. He knew it would take a lot of work…
And it did. Alec had to get a second job at an auto shop to prepare. He had to wait till
Max was out one night, all night, with OC for the perfect opportunity.
But it was all worth it. Because when the time came Alec was ready. Ready to avenge
himself. Not on Max…but on the one thing that mattered most in her life.
When they'd fought that night in the ring, Max had won by hitting Alec where it hurt.
Now he would do the same.
That fateful night, Alec entered the room where Max's beloved slept, oblivious to what
would come next. Alec smiled, tools at his side.
"This is for always looking down on me, Max," he whispered. "This is for never taking
me seriously. Let's see how much you like it."
Then Alec went to work, wreaking his ghastly revenge upon the helpless victim of Alec's
own obsession with avenging himself on Max.
For a moment, a brief moment, Alec wondered if perhaps he was going too far… If
perhaps he'd allowed his obsession to drive him mad, after all. But then he heard Max's
voice in his head again and his motivation was renewed.
'This is for never saying "please" or "thank you" or "I'm sorry",' Alec thought. 'This is
for always having something insulting to say instead.'
Hours passed.
'This is for thinking you know me so damned well…this is for *knowing* me so damned
well…'
"And this…" Alec spoke aloud into the dark room in which he worked, an evil grin
twisting his beautiful features. He put the finishing touch on his macabre deed. "This is
for hating me for no damned reason." 'This is because I can't seem to make myself hate
you,' he silently added.
After everything was said and done, Alec looked over his work for a moment. Then he
cleaned up, turned and left.
**** ****
When Max found what Alec had done, he knew it. Sitting on a rooftop across the street
from Max's building, he guessed there wasn't a man, woman, or child within a mile that
didn't know it. Max's horrified scream was so loud, it must have carried on for blocks.
"Oh, my God!" she gasped, running across her apartment early the next morning, when
she saw Alec's handiwork sitting in the main room.
Original Cindy was right on her heels. "Boo! What the hell you be…oh, Fuck!"
Original's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened as she saw what Max had seen.
Meanwhile, Max was dropping to her knees…kneeling, with a wide, unbelieving
expression, next to Alec's victim, her baby. Her beloved motorcycle.
Her *carnation pink* motorcycle.
He'd painted her Ninja, her most prized possession, carnation pink. Baby-doll pink roses
and shiny red hearts had been stenciled all over the sides; an impressively professional
paint job. Red, silver, and pink ribbons, curled like pigtails, spiraled down from the ends
of her handlebars. The seat the bike had originally sported was gone, replaced by one
that was fuzzy, just as pink as the rest of the bike, and lined in delicate lace.
Even Max's helmet was gone. In its place was a pink helmet that had tiny little red hearts
and tiny little pink cupids painted all around the edge of its visor. Its interior was lined
with white satin, and trimmed with pink fuzz and feathers.
It was the most horrific, most awfully *girlie* monstrosity Max had ever seen.
Her outraged cries echoed off the walls of her and Original Cindy's apartment, as her
friend tried unsuccessfully to calm her down.
Across the street, Alec smiled the most genuine smile he had smiled in months.
And for the first time in months Max's voice was no longer present in his head.
Alec watched Max for a while then went home. He wanted to be fresh and rested for
work that day. He'd have to be at Jam Pony early…if he wanted to finish his runs in time
to catch Max when she went out that night.
He had a new camera just waiting to take some prime pictures of little Miss Max, all
pretty in pink.
by pari106
pari106@hotmail.com; http://www.geocities.com/pari106/damain.html
Disclaimer: DA is not mine; Rating: PG-13; Code: Short; Alec
Spoilers: "Shush" (Now Fuhggedaboudit...or however the hell you spell that :P )
Summary: Written in the same tone as "Cheap Shots". Alec still doesn't feel
satisfactorily avenged on Max. So he does something about it.
A/N: This is nuts! Nuts, I tell you! :P But let me know what you think about it. Pretty, pretty please? ;)
Pretty in Pink
by pari106
"Happy now?"
A smile. And a pause (a very brief pause, he noted bitterly).
"Yeah!" she returned. Not a bit of remorse on Max's part. But on Alec's…
He was sorry he hadn't kicked her ass. Instead of being all gentlemanly, which is what
he'd convinced himself he'd been when he'd *let* her win that fight. Well…
He's *mostly* let her win. That last shot he hadn't expected.
And he tried to let it go. Over time. He really did. He tried to forget their fight that
night in the ring. It wasn't so hard, really. But it was the things Max had said during the
fight that Alec just couldn't seem to forget.
"That's for the virus!" he'd find himself remembering, at the oddest times.
Remembering Max's outcry, but also the passion and self-righteous disgust beneath it.
Then he'd mutter to himself about his innocence in that instance for full minutes,
collecting curious stares from the people around him.
"That's for trying to kill Joshua!" Max had told him next. As if he'd had a choice at the
time. Alec would find himself bristling over the injustice of this comment whenever he
and Max were in the same room together.
"That's for getting paint all over my research!"
The list of charges Max had levied against him just went on and on. And that list
repeated itself in Alec's mind, again and again, for weeks afterward, until he knew he had
to do something about it or he'd go mad.
But what could he do? How could he prove that he'd never meant to hurt Max with any
of his actions? He'd never meant to hurt anyone. He'd tried to prove that to Max again
and again, but she never listened.
And why should he have to prove himself? Like where the virus was concerned. He
wasn't the one who'd given it to her. He wasn't the one who'd put her in the position of
having it given to her. She'd done that all herself.
And the way that doctor had blown town without fixing her and Logan a cure? She
blamed him for making that happen. But Alec hadn't *made* that doctor leave. Just as
he hadn't made Max help him pay the guy before he'd left. He'd said that he hadn't
wanted to die, but had he twisted Max's arm into saving his life? No. That had been her
choice. A choice that had saved his life. So it had also kept her from getting some out of
Logan that night. Big deal! Like Max intended on getting some from Logan even if they
were given the chance. After their last brush with a possible cure, Alec seriously doubted
that she did.
"That's for using Joshua to deliver your packages!" Max's voice rang in his head one
day while he was at work.
'Well, that's for never letting him get out of the house otherwise!' Alec found himself
thinking in response. Then he grabbed Max's packages off of Normal's counter while no
one was looking and hid them. It took her all to day to locate and deliver them all.
Yeah, it had been immature. Beneath himself, really. After he'd done it, Alec hadn't
known what had possessed him. But it had made him feel better. It had been revenge, he
realized. Subtle, silly revenge. But it had felt good.
"That's for losing me that baseball!" the Max in Alec's head shrieked one time too many.
So the next time Logan gave Alec a message to deliver to Max…telling her he
*wouldn't* be meeting her at Crash on a particular night, after all (something had come
up with Asha and the S1W instead)… The message was never delivered.
'That's for losing me twenty grand in that fight!' Alec told his inner-Max as justification
for his actions.
This routine continued for months.
"That's for losing me the sweet deal I had going at Manticore!" Alec would mutter as he
scrawled Max's cell number on a bathroom stall wall. 'That's for making me realize it
wasn't such a sweet deal, after all!' he would think as he encouraged some loser at the
bar to pester Max for a date. Again. 'That's for saying you wished you would have let
White's implant blow up in my head…that's for saving me from Berrisford when I just
wanted to die…That's for pestering me to talk afterwards…That's for not being there
when I was actually ready to say something…"
Alec extracted his revenge from Max for months, always in tiny little ways that annoyed
her, but didn't identify himself as the culprit.
With time, however, he grew tired of his sport. Immune to it. It was enough to make
him feel better momentarily, but not enough to erase Max's angry tirade from his mind
and memory.
He needed more.
He needed something better; something bigger. He needed the *ultimate* revenge. He
became obsessed with it.
Then, one day, Alec realized how that revenge could be had.
'It's perfect!' he thought when inspiration hit him. It would be perfect. He knew it
wouldn't be easy… But it would be perfect. He knew it would take a lot of work…
And it did. Alec had to get a second job at an auto shop to prepare. He had to wait till
Max was out one night, all night, with OC for the perfect opportunity.
But it was all worth it. Because when the time came Alec was ready. Ready to avenge
himself. Not on Max…but on the one thing that mattered most in her life.
When they'd fought that night in the ring, Max had won by hitting Alec where it hurt.
Now he would do the same.
That fateful night, Alec entered the room where Max's beloved slept, oblivious to what
would come next. Alec smiled, tools at his side.
"This is for always looking down on me, Max," he whispered. "This is for never taking
me seriously. Let's see how much you like it."
Then Alec went to work, wreaking his ghastly revenge upon the helpless victim of Alec's
own obsession with avenging himself on Max.
For a moment, a brief moment, Alec wondered if perhaps he was going too far… If
perhaps he'd allowed his obsession to drive him mad, after all. But then he heard Max's
voice in his head again and his motivation was renewed.
'This is for never saying "please" or "thank you" or "I'm sorry",' Alec thought. 'This is
for always having something insulting to say instead.'
Hours passed.
'This is for thinking you know me so damned well…this is for *knowing* me so damned
well…'
"And this…" Alec spoke aloud into the dark room in which he worked, an evil grin
twisting his beautiful features. He put the finishing touch on his macabre deed. "This is
for hating me for no damned reason." 'This is because I can't seem to make myself hate
you,' he silently added.
After everything was said and done, Alec looked over his work for a moment. Then he
cleaned up, turned and left.
**** ****
When Max found what Alec had done, he knew it. Sitting on a rooftop across the street
from Max's building, he guessed there wasn't a man, woman, or child within a mile that
didn't know it. Max's horrified scream was so loud, it must have carried on for blocks.
"Oh, my God!" she gasped, running across her apartment early the next morning, when
she saw Alec's handiwork sitting in the main room.
Original Cindy was right on her heels. "Boo! What the hell you be…oh, Fuck!"
Original's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened as she saw what Max had seen.
Meanwhile, Max was dropping to her knees…kneeling, with a wide, unbelieving
expression, next to Alec's victim, her baby. Her beloved motorcycle.
Her *carnation pink* motorcycle.
He'd painted her Ninja, her most prized possession, carnation pink. Baby-doll pink roses
and shiny red hearts had been stenciled all over the sides; an impressively professional
paint job. Red, silver, and pink ribbons, curled like pigtails, spiraled down from the ends
of her handlebars. The seat the bike had originally sported was gone, replaced by one
that was fuzzy, just as pink as the rest of the bike, and lined in delicate lace.
Even Max's helmet was gone. In its place was a pink helmet that had tiny little red hearts
and tiny little pink cupids painted all around the edge of its visor. Its interior was lined
with white satin, and trimmed with pink fuzz and feathers.
It was the most horrific, most awfully *girlie* monstrosity Max had ever seen.
Her outraged cries echoed off the walls of her and Original Cindy's apartment, as her
friend tried unsuccessfully to calm her down.
Across the street, Alec smiled the most genuine smile he had smiled in months.
And for the first time in months Max's voice was no longer present in his head.
Alec watched Max for a while then went home. He wanted to be fresh and rested for
work that day. He'd have to be at Jam Pony early…if he wanted to finish his runs in time
to catch Max when she went out that night.
He had a new camera just waiting to take some prime pictures of little Miss Max, all
pretty in pink.