Seized
by alecsangel
Summary: A medical crisis forces Max and Alec to discuss their feelings for each other.
Disclaimer: I'm fairly certain that if I owned anything remotely related to DA, there would have been no Logan and Alec would have been the center of every single story :D. Since that is sooo not the case, I obviously own nothing. (Except Sandi, Sean, and Gila and the plot since I've never seen this done before.)
Now, on with the story...
~~! Command Center - Terminal City !~~
Alec rubbed his eyes tiredly and picked up another piece of paper from the folder in front of him. He felt Max's hands slide around his shoulders and start to knead the tense muscles. He sighed, wondering why he hadn't heard her approach.
"Why don't you go take a nap, Alec?" Max suggested, continuing to massage his shoulders.
"I can't. I've got to finish going over this information before I go brief the three X's I'm sending out to do some recon on White's most recent headquarters. Then, I have to go get the list of supplies that the Med. Center needs from Sandi. And, then, I have to plan the run to get the supplies. As if that's not enough, I still have to set up a training area for the X6's iand/i find them a trainer."
"Someone else can do that stuff. You haven't slept in three days, Alec. Go take a nap."
He spun his chair around to face her. "Were you not just listening to my laundry list of things to do?"
"Do you want me to get Sandi and her tranquilizers after you?"
Alec whimpered convincingly and shook his head. "That's a low blow."
"I'll do it."
"I have no doubts."
"Nice to know that you see things my way for a change."
"I didn't say I was going to go take a nap." He pointed out.
"What if I promise to join you in said nap?"
He grinned up at her, tilting his head slightly as he thought about her offer. "I still have a lot to do, Max."
Max turned and shouted, "Mole!"
"You bellowed," he muttered, making his way toward them.
"Get someone to go get the list of supplies needed at the Med. Center. Then start planning the run. Also, see if you can find someone to train the X6's and to find them a suitable training area."
Mole turned his head to look down at Alec, who was once again rubbing his eyes. He looked horrible with dark bags under his eyes and a pale face. The younger transgenic nodded at him and slowly stood up.
"Sure, Boss." Mole directed his reply to Alec and watched with concern as he stumbled toward the door. Max slipped her arm around his waist to help steady him and they walked out together.
"Dalton, go find Sean for me. You know who he is?" Mole found the young X6 standing by Dix's computer, talking quietly to the transhuman while he waited for someone to send him on an errand. Dalton had become the gopher boy of headquarters, running errands and keeping up with the whereabouts of the VIP's.
"Yeah, I know him. What do you want me to tell him?"
"Just bring him back here. You can tell him I want to see him."
"Is he going to be the trainer?"
"If he wants the job, he will. Now get outta here, kid."
Dalton nodded tersely, and headed out of the Command Center.
"Dix, I'm going to go over to the Med. Center. Gotta get a list of supplies. I'll be back later." He grabbed a walkie-talkie off of the rack by the door. Alec had decided that they needed to stay in better touch with the Command Center, so he'd found several walkie-talkies and a charger while out in Seattle one day. It was now common for them to grab one as they walked out the door. "I'm on channel 9."
~~! Medical Center !~~
"Mole!" Gila called when she saw him walking through the main doors. She hurried over to him, her expression concerned. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. Alec asked me to pick up the supply list. He's getting some rest."
She nodded, concern still marring her features. "Max was in here yesterday, talking to Sandi about his lack of sleep."
"Yeah, he's been really busy lately." Even to his own ears, it sounded lame. Something else was going on with the X5.
"He's keeping himself busy. There's something wrong." Gila was not one to beat around the bush about anything. She certainly didn't try to blow sunshine up your ass.
"I agree, but he's not going to talk to us. He probably won't even talk to Max."
"What are you two talking about?" Sandi startled them and they both turned to face her.
"Alec." Gila replied, and watched Sandi's face fall into the look of deep worry that was reserved only for Alec.
"I'm going to try to talk to him later. I was hoping he'd come to get the list."
"He sent me."
"Oh." Sandi's jaw dropped. Alec was delegating jobs to other people? It wasn't possible. The invincible 494 would do it all himself or die trying.
"Yeah, Max kind of forced him to get some rest."
"Finally," Sandi muttered. "If she had any brains at all to start with, the time she's spent among the Ordinaries has depleted them to nothing."
Mole and Gila could only nod at her statement. Max was like a female with constant PMS to them; always bitching about something. However, they had seen her with Alec when he was hurt, seen her sit by his bed and hold his hand. She loved him and he loved her and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
"So, where's that list?" Mole asked, deciding that a subject change was in order.
"Lying on top of my desk. You can just go in my office and get it when you're ready to go. I'll leave you two alone. I've got a couple of seizure patients to check on before I'm going to go get dinner."
They nodded at her and smiled at each other. Gila led him to a vacant room at the end of the hall and they disappeared behind the door.
~~! Alec's Apartment -TC !~~
Alec and Max both lived in the same building on the top floor. There were six apartments on their floor, but they were the only two to take advantage of the view. They could see almost all of TC from their windows and it was close enough to headquarters that they could get there in under two minutes. The only drawback was that the elevator hadn't worked since Bush's presidency.
There was a bedroom, a working bathroom, and a small living room with a connected kitchen. It wasn't decorated, although Alec had managed to find a working TV that was set up in the corner of the living room.
Max curled up to Alec's warm body and watched him sleep. He had immediately collapsed onto the bed when they had finally made it to his apartment and promptly fell into a deep sleep. She had removed his boots and pulled a blanket over him before climbing under it herself. She wanted to be close to him, to watch him. It always calmed her and made her feel loved because he slept deeply when she was around. He trusted her enough to let his guard down and actually get some rest. She had tried to sneak into his room before and he'd awoken immediately at the slightest sound, but when he knew she was there, he would really sleep.
She was worried about how hard he'd been working lately. It showed on his face and in his movements. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. Trying to keep TC a dusty, but well-oiled machine was taking its toll on everyone, but Alec had taken on the responsibility of looking after everyone; first with the supply runs and later actually taking command and sorting things out.
Max's eyebrows drew together in confusion as she moved closer to Alec's body. 'Is he shivering?' she asked herself. His body stilled for a moment before a tremor passed through him once more.
"Alec!" Max called, shaking his shoulder. She decided that she needed to wake him and find out what was wrong. There was no way that he could be cold, but there was also no way that he could be sick. She frowned and shook him again. "Alec! Wake up!"
"What? What's going on?" He woke with a start, sitting up quickly. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he turned to look at Max.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" She asked, gripping his shoulders as another tremor wracked his body.
"Shit," Alec muttered, rubbing his temples. "This is not good. This is so not good."
"What? What's wrong?" Concern was etched in her features but he ignored her. Stumbling out of bed, he searched his pockets for his cell phone.
"Where's my phone?" He paced in front of the bed for a moment before Max leaned forward and caught his arm.
"What's wrong, Alec? Your cell is in your pocket." She pointed to the lump in his right jean pocket.
He quickly pulled it out as he grabbed Max's arm and pulled her off the bed. He led her to the door, but she put out a hand to keep him from opening it.
"I don't have time for this, Max." He sighed and tugged on the doorknob.
"What's going on?"
"I'm going to have a seizure soon. Really, really soon. And I need you to get me to the Med. Center in case I don't make it on my own."
"I have my Tryptophan. You can take a couple and then you'll be okay." She started to pull away from him, but he tightened his grip.
"No. Tryptophan would only make it worse." He didn't bother to explain further as he hurried out the door and down the stairs. She followed him, watching him closely.
~~! Medical Center !~~
"Alec!" Sandi shrieked, falling to the floor beside where he lay, convulsing violently. He and Max had just walked through the door together when he slipped out of her grasp and fell to the floor, unconscious and shaking.
His body jerked and his head slammed into the concrete floor before Max took his upper body into her lap in an effort to keep him from hurting himself.
"Gila! Bring a stretcher over here." Sandi called, her attention focused solely on Alec as she took his pulse and checked him over.
Gila arrived with the stretcher moments later and together, they manage to lifted him onto it carefully and wheel him quickly into an exam room.
"Max, hold onto him. Make sure he doesn't fall off the stretcher. I don't want to have to strap him down." Sandi shuddered at the thoughts of restraining him, but she knew that she may have to. She needed to get him stabilized and fast.
"Gila, get 6 cc's of Lorazepam ready." Max's head shot up and she gave Sandi a quizzical look. "It's a anticonvulsant." She explained.
"Oh," Max replied. "He said that Tryptophan wouldn't help him. What did he mean by that?"
"Alec's seizure is caused by an excess of serotonin in his brain. Tryptophan would only make his condition worse because it increases serotonin production." Sandi patiently explained this while checking Alec's temperature. She cursed under her breath when she discovered that his temperature was elevated.
"Why does his brain have an excess of serotonin while mine has a deficiency?"
"Because Manticore liked to experiment on us, Max. It was just another one of their experiments."
Gila returned and handed a syringe to Sandi, who flicked her fingernail against it twice to remove the air bubbles. Gila gripped Alec's arm and held it steady by placing one hand on his shoulder and one hand on his wrist. Sandi quickly injected him with the drug. She didn't know exactly how long until it would take effect and she cursed herself for not knowing. It was something she should know. She sighed and moved to attach the receptors for the heart monitor to his chest since Gila had just cut his shirt off so that she could have access to it.
The steady, albeit rapid, heartbeat filled the silence of the room. The three women breathed sighs of relief that his heart was smoothly beating and all of them returned to the task at hand, making him better. He was still convulsing, although the seizures were weakening. Max stroked his hair away from his face with the hand that didn't have a tight hold across the top of his chest. She whispered reassurances in his ear.
Sandi and Gila busied themselves with preparing the other items that they needed for his treatment. Gila started setting up an IV line as the convulsions weakened into inconsistent twitches.
Sandi pulled her to the side of the room. "Put a cooling blanket on him to get his temperature down and bring me another 3 cc's of Lorazepam."
"Do you think he's through it?" Gila asked. Being a new medic, she wasn't used to being around the seizing X5's.
"I hope so, but we'll just have to wait and see." Sandi said grimly, turning to look back at Max and Alec. She was still stroking sweaty locks off of his forehead and whispering to him.
~~! The Next Morning - Alec's Usual Private Room !~~
The shades were drawn and the lights were dimmed when Alec finally awoke. Max was sitting by his bed, watching him. She wasn't asleep; not that he was surprised, she rarely slept.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, leaning forward.
"You really don't want to know." He replied, rubbing his face tiredly and slowly sitting up. She immediately leaned over to kiss him, but he pushed her away gently.
"Max, what are you doing?" He asked.
"Kissing, Alec. Are you sure you're okay? You usually enjoy this." She grinned at him, but realized that his mood was somber.
"I'm sorry, it's just..." Alec trailed off not knowing what to say.
"What's wrong?" She asked, watching his eyes shift away from her.
"It's nothing," he murmured quietly.
"It's not nothing. It's something." She replied, trying to draw him into talking. "Alec, we've been doing the dating thing for a while now and you keep stopping us before we get too deep into anything. What's wrong?"
Instead of giving a reply, Alec continued to silently stare at his hands rather than looking at Max.
She remained quiet for a long time before finally whispering, "Is this about the Berrisford mission?"
Alec's head shot up. He turned his eyes on to Max. But still nothing was said.
"C'mon. Talk to me. I can't help you if you don't talk to me."
"Max... I can't." She almost started crying at the sound of his voice. He sounded exactly like a lost little boy.
Feeling the sudden withdrawal from Max, Alec asked, "Max, are you ok?"
"No," she replied. "I'm not okay because you're not okay."
"Oh, Max," Alec said, as he tried to pull her into his arms.
"Alec, please, just talk to me. I can't keep going on like this."
He sighed. "Are you sure?"
"I need to know, and I think that you need to tell me. If we don't get past this, our relationship isn't going to go anywhere."
"I suppose."
She waited for him to start, but it was obvious that he was having a hard time. "I'm right here with you." She said, reaching out to grip his hand.
"At first, it was just supposed to be a simple mission," Alec started as he lost all emotion in his voice. "I was assigned to terminate Berrisford because he was a threat to Manticore. My cover was to go in as Simon Lehane, the piano teacher for his daughter, Rachel."
Max squeezed his hand and moved to sit on the bed beside him. She waited silently for him to continue.
"It really was simple. All I had to do was kill the real Simon, and then infiltrate the Berrisford home. But it all went downhill when I laid my eyes on her."
Alec paused.
"She was beautiful." Max whispered, remembering the young girl lying on the bed at the Berrisford mansion, remembering watching Alec cry over her.
"She was so full of life and vibrant, like nothing I'd ever seen before. She didn't look perfect like us, but she was beautiful in her own way. Rachel smiled all the time, like she didn't have a care in the world." Alec's expression was wistful until he bitterly muttered, "Yet, I managed to destroy her life."
"When did you realize that you loved her?" She asked, trying to draw him away from such thoughts.
"I don't know. Somewhere along the way, she snuck into my heart," Alec said. "But it was different. I'd never felt the emotions before. It was all so new."
"But I had a job to do," Alec continued. "I knew I had to finish."
"What happened?"
"They wanted me to kill both Rachel and her father. I couldn't do it," Alec said quietly. "I tried to warn her. I even told her the truth." Alec paused trying to control his emotions.
"Oh, Alec." Max reached out to embrace him, but he stopped her.
"And when I did, she looked at me like I had destroyed her world. There was so much hate in her eyes. Right then, she destroyed my world too."
"She hated me," he said softly. "I couldn't take that."
"What did you do?" She asked gently.
"I didn't do anything. I couldn't. They came and dragged me back to that god-forsaken hell I'd spent my life in. They tossed me into Psy-Ops, again."
They both fell into silence at the mention of Psy-Ops. It was Alec who broke the silence, anguish apparent in his every word.
"She was the only person who'd ever loved me. But then again, she loved Simon. Not the real me."
"Alec?" She waited for him to look at her, but he refused to. "Look at me." Finally his eyes lifted to meet hers. "She loved you. The real you was there in Simon. Names don't change who you are."
"Sometimes, I wished things had turned out differently. At least, if she died that day, she wouldn't have suffered all that time in a coma."
"Alec, there was no way you could've known that she'd be in a coma," Max started. "Sometimes, things are meant to be like that."
"Then how come she died after I got there?"
"Maybe she was waiting for you, so she'd know that you were well. You disappeared. You weren't there when she got hurt. Maybe she was worried about you. Maybe knowing that you were well finally helped her let go."
Alec nodded, taking in her words and drawing comfort from them. Deciding that he liked Max's reasoning, he returned to their previous line of discussion. "Maybe it would've been better if I hadn't told her the truth."
"There was no other way. You had to tell her." Max was trying to soothe him.
"Maybe you're right, Max."
For a long time, they sat there in silence, unsure of what to say next. Max broke the silence first. "Alec, are you ready to love again?"
"I'm not sure I ever knew what love was."
"Maybe we could learn about it together." Max offered, smiling up at him.
Alec smiled back. "I guess that would work."
"Good. So, it's settled. We're going to try to make this love thing work?"
"Yes," Alec pulled Max into his arms.
"I think I love you, Alec." Max whispered from his embrace.
Alec was momentarily stunned by her declaration. "Max, I don't know what to say."
"I know. I just . . . thought you should know."
"Thank you." Alec smiled. "Just give me a little time?"
"You can have all the time you need." She leaned forward and captured his lips in a soft kiss.
~~! The End !~~
Author's Note: Sorry that it took me so long to get it out. This was the third scenario that I tried writing and thank the Blue Lady that it stuck with me. :) Thanks to Infie for betaing! And a special thanks to jt for helping with the final dialogue between Max and Alec! And thanks to the nuns! What would I do without you all!?! And a very special thanks to all of you who reviewed and will review! Let me know what you think of this one too :D