Rude Awakening:

by Rowe

Set: Post Hello, Goodbye.

Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its character belong to Cameron/Eglee and Fox.

Author's note: First attempt so please feel free to give constructive criticism.

Thankyou to those who have reviewed, it is nice to hear something back from the Void.

Chapter 2: And two steps back.

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"Well at least I know she doesn't have total amnesia." Alec thought, still concerned by her disorientation. He had been more than a bit worried about her, head traumas were always a bit dodgy. She had been hit pretty hard and lost a fair bit of blood in the process. "Hey Maxie, how you feeling?" He approached her slowly, still not trusting her not to resort to violence. The stunned deer look was fading and the true Max sneer of attitude was slipping back into place. "That's my girl!" he smiled, relieved that she seemed to be reverting to form.

Her head was killing her. She realised that they seemed to be in some sort of dingy room, but she couldn't for the life-of-her remember where or how they got there. Come to think of it she couldn't remember much and it felt like her head was split in two. She lifted her hand to her head and felt cloth. "Great, now I am doing the turban look." The fogginess wasn't let her think too clearly. She licked her parched lips and Alec moved immediately towards her with a glass of water. "Thanks" she rasped out and started slowly sipping.

Alec could see the questions starting to form in her eyes. He knew that now he was going to have to tell her what a fool he'd been. How he had endangered her life with his own stupidity. "Damn, she didn't need any more confirmation that I'm an idiot" he mentally cursed himself. Moving forward once more to relieve her of the glass, and to fill in time so he could avoid her obvious queries, he berated himself again for his cowardice. "Suck it up soldier, you should never show your enemies your fear". Max wasn't exactly the enemy, but he just didn't want to see contempt for him in her eyes.

White! It was always White. Dogging their heels and threatening their lives. This time he had almost succeeded too. Though more through his own recklessness. "Can't afford to be careless too often or you'll wind up dead, Alec." He winced at the thought. "Or you'll get someone else killed" a small voice added. A voice he had come to hate cause it was always the bearer of bad news and truths he would rather avoid.

Max was watching him expectantly. "We completed the grab and tried to escape but there was a cave-in." He plunged into an edited version of the events that lead them to be holed up in the backroom of an abandoned apothecary. He could tell her the details when she was well enough to kick his ass. Well at least that was what he had almost convinced himself was the right thing to do. "Sorry Max, you've been out of it for about 6 hours. I lugged you here to hole up while I stabilised you." He thanked his lucky stars that he had been able to staunch the bleeding before moving her or they would have left a blood-trail for White to follow to their doorstep. "You managed to get struck by the roof beams. You took it pretty hard: I had to put stitches in. Conveniently they has supplies aplenty so I managed to do a pretty neat job." She was looking a little shell-shocked so he decided to push her buttons a bit to snap her back. "Luckily it hit your head so the damage isn't likely to be noticed." He tried to lighten the mood. Max just grimaced at him. "I didn't want to give you anything for the pain till you had woken up so I could assess you cognitive ability. What can you remember?" he crouched beside the bed.

Max screwed her face up and tried to remember. The concern etched on Alec's face unsettled her nearly as much as his proximity. This was a softer side of Alec she was not ready to deal with due to the fuzzy images dancing through her head. She began hesitantly, confused by the things she could remember. "I was sitting on the Space Needle with a splitting headache and had decided that I should go home. Next thing.." she stopped and looked closely at Alec, then blurted out unconvincingly. "I was here." She waved her hands gesturing at the room. The painkillers were starting to kick in and her body's accelerated healing powers had dealt with the worst of the dizziness and disorientation.

Alec could tell there was more she was reluctant to reveal. He had his suspicions that from how she had woken up it had involved him. He would've given his left pinkie for her to say his name just once like she had then and actually mean it. "Ah Max, you haven't been near the space needle for a couple of weeks. We've been too busy playing cloak and dagger". Alec wasn't going to push too hard just yet. "Must have been some sort of dream you had while you were unconscious. You know putting yourself into familiar surroundings."

Max's face fell. That meant it had all been an apparition. She wasn't too sure if that was good or bad. It had finally happened, Alec had succeeded where Manticore had failed. He had driven her insane. How else could she explain ending up willingly in Alec arms. It also meant she would still have to deal with Logan- "and tell Alec about his little role in my angst-ridden drama of a life." The thought popped out as she tried to stifle it.

"Are you feeling up to getting going? Need to put some distance between us and the bad guys." Alec's voice cut through Max's internal reflection. Time was short and they really couldn't delay much longer. He had managed to get her far enough away to give them a little breathing space but there was no telling how soon White would tumble to where they were. He saw her nod and a look of resolve cross her face. God he loved her fighting spirit.

With more bravado than she was feeling, Max stood and headed for the door. She knew that the spinning room wasn't a good sign. However she kept on going. Manticore had built them tough. She wasn't going to let a little concussion keep her trapped with too many unanswered questions when she could be out kicking ass and ignoring her inner turmoil.

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"So what was your dream about Max?" His feline curiosity was getting the better of him. He had lasted a whole ten minutes since they had started out. He knew cause he had been counting them. " Did you know I heard somewhere that a dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep?" He continued conversationally. "Or it can be your subconscious trying to work out your innermost turmoil. So what's troubling you now Max?" She stopped just a little to quickly at that, and Alec ran into her. She jumped back from the contact as if she had been burnt. Alec raised his eyebrows at her reaction. He, for once, chose wisely not to comment.

"Drop it Alec. It was just a stupid dream." Max was panicking as he had unwittingly hit so close to home. It just made her want to snarl harder at him. "What are you, some pop-cultural reference book or pop-psychologists or something?" It really was amazing how quickly he had assimilated into the outside world. Picking up jargon and the culture far quicker than she had. Hell he seemed to be a font of information that she still had to learn. She really never gave him credit for the things he actually did right. Not that she was going to tell him that. "Got to stop thinking happy thoughts about Alec" her mind admonished her. She turned a bit unsteadily and strode off again. Alec followed along behind her, continuing to ponder out aloud how dreams could be interpreted. "God he can yap." her mind complained. "But you love his inane chatter" a more calm voice noted sagely. The insanity was just getting worse. Her mind started a calming mantra to help her cope. "God I hate Alec. God I hate Alec." Max heaved a sigh of relief; that seemed to be working.

Her beeper, a bit the worse for wear from the cave in, decided at that time to go off. Resisting the urge to just throw it away, she checked the number. Who else could it be but Logan. She was so not ready to deal with him at the moment. She wasn't sure who she felt like killing more, Alec for being irritatingly accurate or Logan for just breathing. This was turning into one hell of a day. She still had a splitting headache and it wasn't going to take much more to trigger some relaxing violence in her.