Story: The Pair
Chapter 18: History
Disclaimer: Blah Blah, you know
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Vin didn't see Alec in the cabin so he walked outside. He walked around to the back of the cabin thinking it was strange but he could almost 'feel' that this was the way that Alec had come. He found him sitting on a boulder with his knees drawn up to his chest, his arms clasped around them. The look on his face bordered on tortured and it hurt Vin just to see it.
He walked up behind Alec who didn't even acknowledge his presence. Though with his enhanced hearing there was no way that Alec hadn't heard him. Standing behind him Vin said said "Mind if I sit with you?" his voice a low rumble.
"Don't mind but I won't be good company." Alec answered his voice also low.
Vin moved to his side and sat down. The rock was cold but they had been engineered to survive extreme elements. "What are you thinking about?"
"Everything, nothing."
"That's a lot things. Want to share?"
"Not really."
Vin glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Alec stared at the ground unblinking. Vin made a decision.
"Then maybe you should just listen."
Alec looked at him his face puzzled. He opened his mouth to ask what he should be listening to but Vin cut him off.
"That night we left.. it tore Lexa apart. She didn't want to leave you. I didn't either but I wanted her to live more. I guess it was all of the training they had put us alphas through. When we were in single training the ingrained it in us that the pair, the mates were to be protected at all costs..
Flashback..
Vin is standing in a line with all of the alphas. The instructor is walking back and forth in front of them lecturing but not one of the young soldier's eyes follow him. The remain rigidly at attention with their eyes on the wall in front of them.
"First priority is to ensure the safety of your pair, the mates. Is that clear?" The instructor barked.
"Sir yes sir!" Came the reply from the small soldiers.
"Protect the pair, say it!"
"Protect the pair sir!"
Satisfied the instructor moved on.
"The next priority is the mission.."
End flashback.
"In a way I told myself that I was fulfilling my objective. I think it made it easier that we were leaving you behind. If you blame anyone, I would understand if you blamed me."
"I was angry and hurt. I am sorry about what I did to you guys when you first got here."
"We understood. Lexa told me about your uh, conversation."
"She did?"
"Well, some of it. She said that you were mad because we didn't say good-bye."
"Yeah." Alec's face remained an expressionless mask.
"That's not entirely true."
"Bullshit! I think I would remember you guys telling me good-bye before you left me alone."
Vin held up his hand. "I said entirely. We were at the door ready to leave, she pulled away from me and went back to your bed while you were sleeping. She kissed you good-bye. Later on she told me that she had also told you she would remember you."
Alec was quiet for a moment and when he turned to Vin he could see tears in his eyes. "I thought I dreamed that." realization dawned on his face "She didn't say anything because she thought it would be easier for me to hate her."
"I think that was her reasoning."
"There is so much I don't know about you guys."
"There's a lot we don't know about you too you know."
Alec looked at him. "There is something I do know though."
"What?"
"You took good care of her."
Vin looked away and was quiet a moment. "Not always."
"What happened?"
"Many things. She was dating a guy once. His name was Richard. We stayed in the town too long and Manticore heard we were there and sent an operative to come get us. While we were trying to escape he was killed. She blamed herself. She would talk to me, or anyone for that matter, for weeks. She was scared someone else would die."
Alec then understood why she had taken what happened with Rachel Berrisford so well. She had experienced it also.
"There was a girl named Rachel. It was my first solo deep cover mission and the target was her father. We got close and then I was told to kill them. She was the first person I let myself love after you guys left and I was told to kill her. They gave me a bomb and told me to put it under the car. And I did. Damn it, I did. I couldn't go through with it so I told her as her father got in the car. She ran to save him and the car exploded as I watched. They had two people watching me the whole time and when I decided not to kill them they tried to do it for me. It wasn't until two years later that I found out she had lived." he gave a sardonic laugh. "If you can call it living. She was in a coma. She died right after I saw her again."
Tears were streaming down his face when he finished his story. Vin felt awkward about seeing him like this. Alec wiped the tears away and cleared his throat. "Sorry man."
"It's okay. Don't worry."
"Will you tell me another story about her from when she was young?"
Vin thought for a moment and then laughed. "When we first got out we went crazy. Lexa discovered how much she loved any type of media. Movies, music, t.v., you named it. At first we were in foster home after foster home. When we turned what they thought was eighteen but we figured was closer to seventeen, we moved out and got jobs. Lexa had an affinity for computers. She could do anything. We worked during the day and stole at night. Every house we went into, if they had books she took some. At first it was cute but in the end it got to be a pain in the ass. She would end up with a pack of books that wouldn't bring in money. She would rather have them than a statue that could bring us five grand." They both were laughing hard at the end.
Their laughs were cut off abruptly when a piercing scream broke through the night.
**TBC