ARCHIVE: No
By Valjean
Bad Idea
Alec rarely lost his temper, but when he did the whole world had better watch out.
"Max, I said no!" He turned away from her, looking out over the ocean, the hard set of his shoulders a warning.
"I'm not asking your permission," Max said icily. "I was just telling you what I'm going to do." She was standing with one hand resting lightly on a tree trunk and the other on one of Sandeman's chimera-headed canes, still unable to put full weight on her healing leg.
Alec spun around so fast the leaves on the forest floor beneath his boots flew into into the air, the look in his green eyes beyond angry. "I will not have Logan Cale on my island," he said, biting off each word. "It's bad enough you keep askin' him to help us, first with finding the others in Canada, then the museum heist, and now with the tryptophan. You know he only does it because it's a way to keep in contact with you. Max, the guy's still in love with you, and he still wants me dead."
"Alec--" she began. She looked down, trying to collect herself, control her anger. Finally, she raised her eyes, and the fire in their brown depths was as frightening as the green flame in his. "Alec, I love you. But I loved Logan first. And he's still a friend. No, he's more than a friend, he's a confidante and a companion. I enjoy being with him, talking to him ... he understands me in some ways like no one else, not even you. The plague is killing thousands of people every day. It's not safe for him in the United States any more. I want him here, on the island. He'll be able to help us find more sources of tryptophan, help us with finances, help us find Syl, Krit and the others we can't locate ..." She gestured with the cane. "You can't let your blind jealousy endanger our people, Alec. Logan's a valuable asset. We need him. I need him."
Alec stood staring at her, his mouth slightly open, at a total loss as to how to respond to what his mate had just said. Part of him couldn't believe he'd heard her correctly. How could she be so naive where Cale was concerned? How could she not see that his intentions were, if not evil then at least far less than honorable?
He swallowed hard, his mind racing, words he knew he would regret at the back of his tongue. "Max," he said, his voice deep and serious. "What if I ask you to make a choice? What if I told you that if Logan comes to Chimera then I'm leaving?
"What if?" Max said quietly. "Are we speaking hypothetically here, Alec? Or are you serious? Would you really leave your family, your home, your friends just because of Logan? Would you let him win that way? Drive you out of your own life? I don't think so."
She'd called his bluff. She knew him too well.
"What if I said I'd kill him?"
Max's eyes grew wary and she searched his face.
"No bluff, this time Max. If Logan comes to the island, sooner or later I'll end up killin' him, and I won't even promise it will be in self defense. You say it's not safe for him in the States. Well, it would be a whole lot more dangerous for him here, around me. Workin' with him long distance occasionally like we have been is one thing. But havin' the guy in my face every day, knowin' how he wants you ... he might as well commit suicide."
Letting go of the tree, she limped toward him, leaning heavily on the cane. Then she was standing directly in front of him, her head no higher than his chin. Leaning forward she put both hands on his shoulders and rested her face against his chest.
Alec didn't move -- was barely breathing.
"If Logan ever tried to hurt you again," she said softly against the leather of his jacket, "you wouldn't have to kill him because I'd kill him myself." She looked up into his eyes. "I'm bringing Logan here, Alec. And you'll live with it."
"Why?" he asked roughly. "Why do I have to live with it?"
"Because you love me," Max said. "And you'll do it for me."
And damn it, she was right.
*****
"This place sure has gone downhill," O.C. commented as she and Alec made their way on foot through the streets of Seattle.
"I didn't think it could get any trashier," Alec said, sidestepping a pile of debris on the street. "But I guess city services are kinda busy with things other than waste removal."
"Like body removal," O.C. said in a more subdued voice, nodding in the direction of a corpse lying in the doorway of an abandoned apartment building. "They said on the news that people are droppin' like flies on the west coast from the plague, and I guess they were right."
"We'll be fine," Alec assured her, putting an arm around her shoulder and giving her an affectionate squeeze. "I'm immune thanks to Max's blood and you've had Sandeman's vaccine."
"Which is exactly what our friends at good old Jam Pony need," O.C. said. She rested her hand on the messenger bag draped over Alec's shoulder. "I can hardly wait to see the look on Normal's face when we come through the door with his salvation."
Alec's eyes sparkled, his look smugly pleased. "I'm just glad Max was able to talk Sandeman out of some extra doses of the vaccine. Of course she does kinda have the old guy over a barrel, what with her bein' the only source of the antibodies and all. And I mean really, what's a couple dozen shots gonna cost him? It's the least he can do to repay his Prophetic Army and Special One for their services."
"What makes me mad is how only the rich folk seem to be gettin' the cure," O.C. said. "It wasn't supposed to work that way."
"Always does, O.C.," Alec said lightly. "The world may be comin' to a freakin' end but cash is still king, which is why I know damn well our pals at Jam Pony need our help. No way could the guys afford the ten thousand bucks a dose the vaccine is goin' for on the black market. They'd hafta sell their souls to the devil to buy this stuff."
"Speakin' of the devil, you gonna be okay with Logan as a house guest?"
"No."
"Didn't think so," O.C. said with a big sigh. "For what it's worth, Alec, I tried to talk Max outta this crazy idea. I told her that the two of you would just end up killin' one another and it would be all her fault. But she's got this dang hang up about Logan -- never really wanted to live with the man, but now she can't seem to be without him."
"Tell me about it."
"He's packin' as we speak you know, with Max's help. Gettin' ready to move to the island."
"O.C.," Alec said. "Please, drop it. I said I know. And I'll take care of Logan later, if I have to."
O.C. stopped and put a hand on his arm. "Alec, just ... be careful around Logan. He's a real smart man and not someone I'd wanna have gunnin' for me, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think Max is puttin' your life in danger and Logan's too, like mixin' two chemicals together that are gonna make a huge explosion. But she won't listen."
"Hey," Alec said, pulling away from her. "There's Sketchy."
*****
Normal had aged, the creases in his face deeper, his hair streaked with grey. It had only been 12 months, Alec thought. How could someone change so much in just a year?
"Hey Normal!" Sketchy called out, an arm around the shoulders of his two friends. "Look what the cat dragged in!"
Normal didn't look up from where he was sorting packages behind the counter. "What are you doing back here already? I told you to go on to Sector nine for another pick-up. We may be overstaffed, but that doesn't mean you can--" And then he raised his eyes. "Holy cow! Where did you come from?"
"Actually, I was made in a lab," Alec said flippantly. "But O.C. here, I've never quite figured out where she came from. How ya been buddy?" Alec held out his hand to his former employer.
"Found these two wandering the street," Sketchy said, a big grin on his face that alleviated some of the weariness in his eyes.
"I heard on the news that a lot of you people had died out on some God forsaken island in the Pacific," Normal said, hurrying around the counter and wiping his hands on a towel. He stopped in front of Alec, a half dozen emotions playing on his face. Then he simply gave up and grabbed his golden boy in a huge hug. "I'm so glad you're not dead," he sobbed against Alec's shoulder.
Alec looked over at O.C., brow creased, a look of mild panic in his eyes. Help.
O.C. gently took hold of Normal's shoulders and pulled him off his boy. "I'm glad to see you too, Normal," she said.
"Oh," Normal said, noticing her for the first time. "I see you're also alive."
"And kickin'," O.C. said. "Which is what I'm gonna do to your ass if you don't give me one of those big hugs too."
Making a wry face, Normal obliged. "What brings you back here, young man?" he asked. "Seattle isn't exactly a top tourist attraction any more, what with everyone dying and all."
"Everyone isn't dying," Alec said. "It just seems that way. And I see the business is till going strong."
"Not so strong," Normal said. "Barely surviving. But people still need things delivered, even when they're at death's door."
Alec was looking around the locker room. Usually the place would be bustling with couriers going in and out, but he only saw about three messengers in the break room. "This is worse than when Max and me came back to work for you and you lost half your clients," he commented.
"More than half my clients are now dead," Normal said. "Which does tend to put a damper on business."
Alec drew the older man to one side. "You, uh, had the vaccine, Normal?"
He shook his head no. "Couldn't afford to even if I could find a source," he said. "I just figured when my times' up, it's up."
Without a word, O.C. opened the flap of Alec's messenger bag and took out a vial and syringe. Normal's eyes grew even wider than before. "What's that?" he whispered.
"Exactly what you think it is," Alec said. He turned around. "Yo, Sketchy. Come here buddy."
Sketchy ambled over from where he'd been talking to Sky. He saw O.C. administering the shot to Normal and his mouth opened. "Is that--"
"It is, fool," O.C. said blithely. "Now roll up your sleeve, and then go tell Sky to get his bony ass over here."
By the end of the shift they'd vaccinated ten Jam Pony employees. Most were old friends, but a couple of new ones got the gift of life as well. It didn't take long to get rid of the other doses either. Several of the messengers had wives and children. True, they might take the vials and sell them on the black market instead of vaccinating their loved ones, but Alec was willing to chance that.
When they were fresh out of vaccine and ready to leave, Normal stood beside him with tears in his eyes. "I never thought I'd see you again," he said honestly. "And I never dreamed you'd come back like this ... to save my life."
"What are friends for, Normal?" Alec said lightly, uncomfortable with the hero role Normal was casting him in.
"Oh," Normal wailed, throwing his arms around his golden boy again, "you beautiful, beautiful man."
"O.C.!" Alec shouted.
This time it took both her and Sketchy to pry Alec's number one fan away.
*****
Alec was sitting in his old place at Crash Bar, enjoying a Scotch with Sketchy when he felt the first vague symptoms.
"What's that?" Sketchy asked when he saw Alec uncap the bottle of pills. "Don't tell me you're doin' drugs now?"
"Yeah, Sketch," Alec said. "I'm a hard core addict." He held up the bottle to his friend could see the label.
"What's tryptophan?"
"Health food supplement," Alec replied truthfully. "Keeps my neurotransmitters on line."
"Dude," Sketchy said. "You're shaking."
"I know, Sketch. That's why I'm--"
The pair of hands that suddenly grabbed him from behind caught Alec totally by surprise. Normally, someone would never have been able to sneak up on him like that, but he didn't feel very well and the seizure aura was dulling his senses.
"Hey!" Alec shouted, finding himself flying through the air to land on top of a table. The four people seated there barely managed to salvage their drinks as they quickly scrambled out of the way.
Alec tried to focus his eyes, wondering who on earth was attacking him now. The huge guy lumbering toward him didn't look even vaguely familiar. "Keep away from my woman!" the gorilla shouted.
"What?" Alec shook his head, feeling like he'd just been dumped into the Twilight Zone. "What woman?"
"My woman!" the guy roared, reaching down and dragging Alec up off the floor.
Enough was enough. A quick upward strike broke him free from his attacker's grasp, and an equally lightening fast punch shattered the guy's nose.
"Leave me alone!" Alec yelled as the man staggered backwards, holding his hands to his face as blood gushed. "I've got my own woman to worry about and she's a handful, so I sure as hell don't need yours!"
"Alec!" Sketchy hollered. "Watch out!"
The jolt from the shock prod in his lower back roared through Alec's body like a lightening bolt, the pain paralyzing, the interruption to his nervous system devastating. He fell to his knees ... fumbled with numb fingers for the gun concealed beneath his jacket ...
The second jolt took him to the floor. A third and he was unconscious. And the fourth was administered because the three Sector Policemen who'd witnessed the fight were just plain mean.
Also, I'd like to encourage all M/A DARK ANGEL fans to read Max Collins' official prequel novel BEFORE THE DAWN. True, Alec isn't in the story (yet), but there's lots of canon background material in the book that would be pertinent to Alec later on. Plus, Mr. Collins says that Alec and Joshua will be "centerstage" in the DARK ANGEL sequel novel SKIN GAME coming out next February. -- author's note