Chapter 13...............At Alecs place
Zack walked into the apartment, and was surprised to find the sound of silence. He walked over to the couch, to Find Max curled up against Alec on the couch. Zack felt a small stab of pain in his heart at the sight of Max curled up with someone who looked so much like Ben. He reached out and brushed the hair out of her forehead, "Max" he said quietly.
Her dark brown eyes snapped open. She shifted in her position, waking Alec up in the process. They sat up together, Max still in Alecs lap. "What time is it" Max asked noticing the room had grown darker.
Zack looked down at his watch, "It's about 8:30" He told her.
Max shook her head. It used to be she would hardly ever sleep, but now it seemed she was always tired. Maybe it was some effect from being pregnant or something. She really didn't know, she didn't know much about all this pregnancy stuff. "Maybe I should get one of those baby book things, you know with those corny titles like 'The miracle of pregnancy' something like that" she said. She looked over at Alec, "I don't suppose you know anything about pregnancy" she said to him.
Alec shook his head, "I don't know any more then you do" Alec said. I'll pick one up a book tomorrow for you" he told her. She smiled at him. "Maybe I should get one of those 'how to be a daddy' kind of thing" he said.
"That would be smart" Max said. Then she looked off into space. She couldn't believe she was having a discussion with Alec over baby books. "I'm hungry" she said. She hadn't really eaten much of her sandwich at lunch, and she was really hungry now. And she was still tired. "How about, since I made you breakfast, you make me dinner" she suggested to Alec.
"I guess that's fair" Alec said. He moved Max off his lap, stood up and picked up the phone. He then picked up the phone. and ordered a pizza. He walked back over to the couch and plopped back down next Max on the couch, "wow. I really should give you more credit for cooking, that's hard work" he said.
Max glared at him. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head letting out a cat like yawn. "I'm gonna go shower" she said to Zack and Alec, and she disappeared into the bathroom.
"Hey Zack buddy, can you get me a beer?" Alec asked Zack. Zack nodded and went over to the fridge. He grabbed one for Alec, and one for himself. He went back to the couch and sat down next to Alec, handing him his beer.
"So how is she?" Zack asked him. He was worried about Max. she just wasn't acting like herself. He kept thinking that she would snap out f it, but she hadn't.
"She thought I was Ben" Alec said, lifting up is bottle of beer and looking at it. "I sat next to her and she laid her head in my lap. Next thing I know, boom, she thinks I'm Ben" he took a long drink from his bottle. "I love her, I really do, but it's so hard to have her seeing me as him".
"I don't know what to do" Zack said. "How am I supposed to make this better. They've all had problems, I've almost always known how to fix them. But how am I supposed to fix this? I couldn't fix Ben" he said. They sat in silence, waiting for the answers to come to them. After a few minutes he turned the tv on, to break the sound of silence. There was some strange show on. It was about this girl who was born with out the ability to fear things. So she went around doing all these reckless things. And there was this guy who was in love with her, who was always following her being all worried. It was a pretty stupid plot line, but they watched it any ways.
Max only took about ten minutes in the shower, then she came out and went into Alecs room to get dressed. She came out of Alecs room wearing black sweat pants, and a blue tank top. She sat right in the tiny place between them. "Alec can we please see if there is anything else on?" Zack said, being sure to say his name so Max wouldn't have a slip up.
"I like this show" Max said. She turned her attention to the tv. The guy that was in love with the girl, his name was Jack or Jake or something, Zack couldn't really remember, something with a j, was telling the girl how he didn't like seeing her getting so close to getting killed or something. She was all like 'oh it doesn't matter, I don't fear death' and then he said something about her not being afraid of anything. It was pretty pathetic. The girl didn't even realize that the guy was in love with her. "Okay, never mind, your right, it's stupid, lets change the channel" Max said.
Alec happily changed it to another tv show. It was a pre pulse show, 'the x-files' or something. It could be decent sometimes. It was definitely better then the other show. A knock at the door signaled that the pizza was there. Alec got up to get the door. "How are you feeling Maxie?" Zack asked her.
"I'm fine Zack" she said. He looked at her, reaching a hand up to touch her face. This girl he had loved in so many different ways. But now, now he saw her as the sister. The youngest, lost, scared, needing her big brother to make things right,
FLASHBACK:
Zack felt her small hands shaking him gently. a distant part of his mind wondered how she could be so strong, yet be so gentle. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to come completely out of sleep, since they got so little of it. Not that he needed a whole lot of it, but even he got tired sometimes. "Zack, I know your awake" Max said to him softly, being careful not to wake up everyone.
Zack finally gave up and opened his eyes to look into the large brown eyes of his 8 year old sister, "Max, go back to bed, your bed, not my bed, not Ben's bed, your bed" he told her. He really thought that Max should be sleeping on her own, she was, after all, a solider.
She pouted, "Zack, I can't sleep" she said. She made her voice quiet, sad, and, small, "Your bed is softer then mine. It's not my fault they gave me the bad bed, don't make me suffer".
He groaned and gave in. Usually he would tell her no, and she would go wake up Ben, who was softer then Zack, and convince him into letting her sleep with him. Ben didn't mind, he didn't really like being alone any ways. But tonight he felt like the company of his baby sister. He had had a slightly disturbing dream. He scooted over in the small bed to let her climb up next to him. Max smiled at him before resting her head on his shoulder and falling asleep. He stroked her face a little before falling asleep.
PRESENT;
Max tilted her face into Zacks hand. She wasn't fine. She couldn't be, she thought Ben was there. Zack brought his hand back to his side. Ben, another death he should of been able to stop, but failed to. But maybe Max wasn't crazy, maybe Ben really was with her. He shook his head. He wanted to believe to much that Ben wasn't gone.
Alec came over with plates in hand. He handed Zack and Max their pizza, then sat down and began to eat his own. Max picked at her pizza a little, but wasn't really eating it. Zack was about to say something to her, but Alec beat him to it. "Max eat you pizza, remember your eating for two now" he said the last part somewhat sarcastically, rubbing her stomach, grinning at her. He looked like Ben at that moment, laughing at a joke that only he thought was funny. Max glared at Alec. The look alone was enough to reassure Zack that she knew it was Alec. She never looked at Ben with that kind of annoyance. But her features softened after a moment, and she began to eat her pizza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N-Well, I hope you all liked that chapter. I've been thinking allot about the path the stories taken, and I know I need to make a decision Now, Ben is either going to be dead, and Max is just completely insane, or I could do some corn thing where he was alive, and his spirit was lost, blah blah blah. I of course would try my best to make it as un corny as possible. So just give me your opinion on what you would like to see. I'm actually leaning towards Ben being alive right now, so if you all don't want that, I need to know. I really love Ben, so of course I'll want him to be alive, because I miss him :(
.
Zack walked into the apartment, and was surprised to find the sound of silence. He walked over to the couch, to Find Max curled up against Alec on the couch. Zack felt a small stab of pain in his heart at the sight of Max curled up with someone who looked so much like Ben. He reached out and brushed the hair out of her forehead, "Max" he said quietly.
Her dark brown eyes snapped open. She shifted in her position, waking Alec up in the process. They sat up together, Max still in Alecs lap. "What time is it" Max asked noticing the room had grown darker.
Zack looked down at his watch, "It's about 8:30" He told her.
Max shook her head. It used to be she would hardly ever sleep, but now it seemed she was always tired. Maybe it was some effect from being pregnant or something. She really didn't know, she didn't know much about all this pregnancy stuff. "Maybe I should get one of those baby book things, you know with those corny titles like 'The miracle of pregnancy' something like that" she said. She looked over at Alec, "I don't suppose you know anything about pregnancy" she said to him.
Alec shook his head, "I don't know any more then you do" Alec said. I'll pick one up a book tomorrow for you" he told her. She smiled at him. "Maybe I should get one of those 'how to be a daddy' kind of thing" he said.
"That would be smart" Max said. Then she looked off into space. She couldn't believe she was having a discussion with Alec over baby books. "I'm hungry" she said. She hadn't really eaten much of her sandwich at lunch, and she was really hungry now. And she was still tired. "How about, since I made you breakfast, you make me dinner" she suggested to Alec.
"I guess that's fair" Alec said. He moved Max off his lap, stood up and picked up the phone. He then picked up the phone. and ordered a pizza. He walked back over to the couch and plopped back down next Max on the couch, "wow. I really should give you more credit for cooking, that's hard work" he said.
Max glared at him. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head letting out a cat like yawn. "I'm gonna go shower" she said to Zack and Alec, and she disappeared into the bathroom.
"Hey Zack buddy, can you get me a beer?" Alec asked Zack. Zack nodded and went over to the fridge. He grabbed one for Alec, and one for himself. He went back to the couch and sat down next to Alec, handing him his beer.
"So how is she?" Zack asked him. He was worried about Max. she just wasn't acting like herself. He kept thinking that she would snap out f it, but she hadn't.
"She thought I was Ben" Alec said, lifting up is bottle of beer and looking at it. "I sat next to her and she laid her head in my lap. Next thing I know, boom, she thinks I'm Ben" he took a long drink from his bottle. "I love her, I really do, but it's so hard to have her seeing me as him".
"I don't know what to do" Zack said. "How am I supposed to make this better. They've all had problems, I've almost always known how to fix them. But how am I supposed to fix this? I couldn't fix Ben" he said. They sat in silence, waiting for the answers to come to them. After a few minutes he turned the tv on, to break the sound of silence. There was some strange show on. It was about this girl who was born with out the ability to fear things. So she went around doing all these reckless things. And there was this guy who was in love with her, who was always following her being all worried. It was a pretty stupid plot line, but they watched it any ways.
Max only took about ten minutes in the shower, then she came out and went into Alecs room to get dressed. She came out of Alecs room wearing black sweat pants, and a blue tank top. She sat right in the tiny place between them. "Alec can we please see if there is anything else on?" Zack said, being sure to say his name so Max wouldn't have a slip up.
"I like this show" Max said. She turned her attention to the tv. The guy that was in love with the girl, his name was Jack or Jake or something, Zack couldn't really remember, something with a j, was telling the girl how he didn't like seeing her getting so close to getting killed or something. She was all like 'oh it doesn't matter, I don't fear death' and then he said something about her not being afraid of anything. It was pretty pathetic. The girl didn't even realize that the guy was in love with her. "Okay, never mind, your right, it's stupid, lets change the channel" Max said.
Alec happily changed it to another tv show. It was a pre pulse show, 'the x-files' or something. It could be decent sometimes. It was definitely better then the other show. A knock at the door signaled that the pizza was there. Alec got up to get the door. "How are you feeling Maxie?" Zack asked her.
"I'm fine Zack" she said. He looked at her, reaching a hand up to touch her face. This girl he had loved in so many different ways. But now, now he saw her as the sister. The youngest, lost, scared, needing her big brother to make things right,
FLASHBACK:
Zack felt her small hands shaking him gently. a distant part of his mind wondered how she could be so strong, yet be so gentle. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to come completely out of sleep, since they got so little of it. Not that he needed a whole lot of it, but even he got tired sometimes. "Zack, I know your awake" Max said to him softly, being careful not to wake up everyone.
Zack finally gave up and opened his eyes to look into the large brown eyes of his 8 year old sister, "Max, go back to bed, your bed, not my bed, not Ben's bed, your bed" he told her. He really thought that Max should be sleeping on her own, she was, after all, a solider.
She pouted, "Zack, I can't sleep" she said. She made her voice quiet, sad, and, small, "Your bed is softer then mine. It's not my fault they gave me the bad bed, don't make me suffer".
He groaned and gave in. Usually he would tell her no, and she would go wake up Ben, who was softer then Zack, and convince him into letting her sleep with him. Ben didn't mind, he didn't really like being alone any ways. But tonight he felt like the company of his baby sister. He had had a slightly disturbing dream. He scooted over in the small bed to let her climb up next to him. Max smiled at him before resting her head on his shoulder and falling asleep. He stroked her face a little before falling asleep.
PRESENT;
Max tilted her face into Zacks hand. She wasn't fine. She couldn't be, she thought Ben was there. Zack brought his hand back to his side. Ben, another death he should of been able to stop, but failed to. But maybe Max wasn't crazy, maybe Ben really was with her. He shook his head. He wanted to believe to much that Ben wasn't gone.
Alec came over with plates in hand. He handed Zack and Max their pizza, then sat down and began to eat his own. Max picked at her pizza a little, but wasn't really eating it. Zack was about to say something to her, but Alec beat him to it. "Max eat you pizza, remember your eating for two now" he said the last part somewhat sarcastically, rubbing her stomach, grinning at her. He looked like Ben at that moment, laughing at a joke that only he thought was funny. Max glared at Alec. The look alone was enough to reassure Zack that she knew it was Alec. She never looked at Ben with that kind of annoyance. But her features softened after a moment, and she began to eat her pizza.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N-Well, I hope you all liked that chapter. I've been thinking allot about the path the stories taken, and I know I need to make a decision Now, Ben is either going to be dead, and Max is just completely insane, or I could do some corn thing where he was alive, and his spirit was lost, blah blah blah. I of course would try my best to make it as un corny as possible. So just give me your opinion on what you would like to see. I'm actually leaning towards Ben being alive right now, so if you all don't want that, I need to know. I really love Ben, so of course I'll want him to be alive, because I miss him :(
.