By Valjean
Worried Sick
Logan had told her to get some rest, but sleep was the last thing Max felt like doing right now. She checked the time. Alec would probably be gone at least 10 hours, maybe more, and she wasn't going to be able to relax until he returned.
If I don't come back, then I'm dead. I won't let them take me alive.
She wandered around the compound for awhile, looking in on some of the various projects the mutants were working on -- better computer connections, a couple of generators to help with power, fixing up the few vehicles they had ...
She found herself near the dark and deserted food distribution center, and was rather surprised to see someone else there at this time of night as well.
"Hey, OC," Max said. "Come down her to get formula for the baby?"
Original Cindy made a wry face. "I swear Boo, that young'un and her transgenic lungs are enough to turn a saint into a sinner."
"She cries a lot?"
"You talkin' about me, Gem, or the baby?" OC laughed. "All of us are up tonight. Poor child's got colic. I came down here for some quiet."
"Mind some company?".
"Pull up a chair." OC indicated an empty packing crate beside her.
Max sat cross legged on the box and leaned back against the girder behind her.
"You look like somethin' the cat dragged in," OC commented.
Max self consciously pulled fingers through her long tangled hair. "I haven't had time to get cleaned up in awhile."
"You oughta come down to Oak Street, use Gem's apartment as a place to get away from all this." OC indicated the command center around them. "We could probably even come up with enough hot water so you could take a bath."
"A bath," Max said wistfully. "That would feel so good."
"Where are you and Logan stayin'?"
"Logan's got a room one block over," Max said. "I haven't really picked a place yet. I've been taking naps on this old couch Mole scrounged up."
OC was shaking her head. "And Joshua?" she asked.
"Over on Pine Street. He's happy as a clam."
"And your boy?"
"He's not my boy," Max said firmly. Then she shrugged. "I don't know where he's staying. Probably shacked up with some female X5. Or else he's still with Joshua."
"You don't care where Alec roosts?".
"Don't care a bit."
"Where is he now? I haven't seen him around since that first day."
"Alec was hurt pretty bad," Max said. "He took it easy until a day or so ago, but now he's outside scouting for a supply source."
OC's eyebrows went up. "That boy's out there all by himself? Without you backin' him up? Sugar, you know how much trouble he gets his ass into. And you let him go out alone?"
Max wriggled on the box, suddenly uncomfortable. "Alec can take care of himself. He's trained all his life for missions like this. He'll be fine."
"He'll be gone all night?"
Max nodded.
"And so you're just sittin' here worryin' 'bout him?"
Max knew she couldn't fool OC. Again she nodded.
OC let out an exasperated breath. "Boo, you got serious issues about our boy."
"No I don't," Max said defensively. "It's just ... Alec's a friend, just like Joshua. I'm allowed to worry about my friends. White could be waiting out there. And if he's caught ..."
OC crossed her arms looking like a stern older sister. "If he's caught you'll go rescue his ass just like you always do."
Max looked up, her eyes wide with worry. "No. That's just it. I can't go after him. He made me promise. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to everyone else in here, risking myself, their so-called leader, for one man."
OC relented. "He'll be all right, Boo. This time tomorrow you'll be bustin' his ass about the next stupid thing he's gonna do."
"I hope so," Max said morosely.
"'Sides," OC added. "Alec's gotta come back so he can take care of you next week."
"Next week?" Max didn't know what she was talking about.
"It's that time again. Don't you remember?"
"What time?" Max asked. And then suddenly she did remember. "Oh God," she breathed. "I forgot."
"You forgot it was your cycle time?" OC said. "Girl, you're gonna hafta make serious plans in a hurry. There's nowhere in Terminal City where you can hide away like you did back at our place. No nice locked bathroom with cold runnin' water. No convenient stranger to have a one-night stand with."
"Stop!" Max said. "I haven't had a one-night stand since ... since before Manticore went down. You know I've been careful."
"Know is right, sugar. I'm the one who locked you in that bathroom for a couple of days every few months this past year so you wouldn't go killin' Logan or really makin' Alec's day."
"What am I going to do?" Max asked. "Logan would die if he knew the things I've done. I've got to find someplace to stay in here, someplace away from everyone."
"Ain't no such animal, Boo," OC said, shaking her head sadly. "Even the sewers are crawlin' with transgenics."
"I know what I'll do," Max said. "I'll go down to Oak Street and ask one of the female X5's to take me in. They'll protect me."
OC looked at her askance. "Uh-huh. Sure they'll protect you. Max, those X5 males down on Oak Street have a mean reputation. Especially that Dante fella I heard you were talkin' to 'til Alec decided you were done. They aren't gonna let you be in heat down there without sniffin' around."
"Then how do the other X5 females manage?" Max asked. "They must be cycling too. We've been off the birth control drugs ever since we escaped. How do they keep the males away?"
OC looked at her sadly. "They don't keep 'em away, Boo. They pair off. Get a big male as a protector for a few days and the two of them go at it 'til the heat's off. You wouldn't believe how many of those girls are knocked up. What I'm thinkin' is that you better be pickin' an X5 male yourself -- one who can protect you when you're vulnerable like that. Else you're gonna find yourself carryin' a little X6 baby in your belly with a total stranger for a daddy. You know you won't be able to stay away from down there. You know you'll end up naked with maybe that Dante dude."
Max shuddered, feeling sick at the very idea of Dante touching her. "That's disgusting," she said.
"No more disgusting than you trawlin' bars for a piece of meat a year or two ago."
"I'd never let that happen again," Max said. "And if you're trying to scare me into asking Alec to watch over me, then you might as well give up because that'll never happen either. I already turned him down as a mate once already. He hardly means anything to me. We're barely friends. I don't find him attractive at all."
"'Course you don't," OC said with a sly grin. "Anyone can see he's one of the ugliest things Manticore ever made."
Max said nothing.
"But you gotta ask yourself somethin' girl, and you gotta give yourself an honest answer."
"What?" Max said sullenly.
"You gotta ask yourself why in the hell you're sittin' down here all alone in the dark worryin' yourself sick about Alec instead of spendin' the evening with the man you say you love. You gotta ask yourself why all you can think about is that boy when Logan's supposed to be the only one you care that much about."
"Logan is the only I care about," Max whispered, but the words didn't sound convincing even to herself.
OC merely shook her head sadly.