Story Title : What You Can't Have

Chapter Title : New Acquaintances

Disclaimer : All DA characters belong to Cameron/Eglee and Fox. Katie belongs to me.

Summary : Logan and Max are meant to be together, right? Well then why does a new girl on Alec's scene get Max all worked up? M/A Post FN.
A/N : My first DA fic. Thanks to all my fellow nuns at NWP, my inspiration for writing this story. I'm totally amazed at all the great DA fics that can be found online, and this is my contribution to the pile heh. No idea as to how long it's going to be, that'll be determined from the responses I get.

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(Present time, Inside the Apartment)

"Ah ah ah – choo!" Max sneezed, sending a billowing cloud of dust into the air. Damn. Who would've thought housecleaning could be so… dirty. Hell, who am I kidding! …me? … Housecleaning? It'd been only a week after the hostage situation at Jam Pony, and so far the siege outside TC showed no signs of letting up. Sector Police crawled the entire perimeter, making it hard for them to go on supply runs.

Logan was now a temporary resident of TC; regular blood transfusions from Joshua making it possible for him to live amidst the biotoxins and chemical poison. Max had tried to make him leave, to go back to Joshua's old place, but he had blatantly refused.

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(That morning, Max's Office, HQ)

"Logan, you have to go. You can't stay here," Max pleaded. "You're an…an ordinary and it's dangerous - "

"What? You don't think I can take care of myself?" Logan's tone softened. "I talked to Joshua, and he's agreed to give me his blood twice a week. I figured that since all transgenics have natural immunity… Max, I only want to be there for you."

Max frowned, a worried look marring her pretty face. She couldn't afford to put Logan in any more danger as it was, with their virus still active. Meanwhile, the 'freaks' of TC didn't appreciate Logan's presence either, it seemed. As much as she thought she needed him with her, there would be no point if he were dead.

"Logan, please."

"Max, Eyes Only can operate right here in HQ! Spreading a good word for the freaks and all…" Logan began to rant about all the benefits of having EO operating right inside TC. Max, much to her dismay, began slowly zoning out on him, until all she could hear was a dull droning sound.

After that fateful day a week ago, when she had delivered her rallying speech to the transgenics, she had been running around like a headless chicken, putting together supply lists, working out accommodation, briefing those she had chosen to go get the supplies… the list went on.

Thank god for Alec, she thought. If it hadn't been for him, she would've lost it by now. Gone crazy, wacko. Gone past the point of no return. That asshole, she thought, somewhat affectionately, had helped her out when he could, doing her share of duties as well as his own when she was so run down she thought she'd collapse. Yeah, she owed him alright.

"Max? Max?!" Logan began to whine, but abruptly stopped himself. "Max, come on. A month's trial. If there are any major problems during that time, I promise I'll leave."

"Major problems. How bout a heart attack." Mole muttered, stalking past Max's open office door.

"Okay. One month. Dix!" Max called, preoccupied. "Find Logan accommodation okay? I gotta blaze. Anyone seen Alec?"

Carefully avoiding any eye contact, as well as physical, she stepped out from behind her desk and made her way out of HQ.

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(Present, Inside the Apartment)

"Ah CHOO!" Dammit, all this dust was starting to put Max off fixing up her own apartment. An apartment, she thought irritatingly, that I have to share with Mr Asshole himself. How it happened, she had no idea. Something about the apartment being big enough for four, and that the two leaders of TC should stay together.

Alec? A leader? Max almost laughed out loud, but a thought stifled her. He is pretty good with the 'freaks'. Hell, who am I kidding, he's so popular that I'm surprised his ego hasn't burst yet. She stood up and attempted to make her way to the kitchen area, but misjudged the distance she needed to leap over a pile of old cardboard boxes. She landed flat on her face, all traces of feline grace out the window, with was also accompanied by another massive cloud of dust.

"Need any help there, Maxie?" came a voice from the open doorway. Great, just great. She could basically hear the smirk in his voice, could basically see the twinkle in his hazel eyes. She also didn't know when she began to realise these things about Alec, but it unnerved her. Very much so.

"Ifagtoufalek," her garbled version of 'I Hate You Alec' was muffled by the expanse of wooden floor pressed up against her face. She just lay there, tired out with all the brooming and brushing and dusting she'd just done, having only to go back to square one when the next dust cloud emerged.

"Uh, Maxie? Do you think you could possibly move your head so we can hear?" Alec turned, and said something to the person standing behind him. The word 'we' in his sentence made Max raised her head in curiosity. She watched as Alec beckoned to the person behind him to come forward.

"Alec, what the hell.."

"Max, meet our new roommate, Katie," and Max found herself staring at a tall, willowy blonde with big doe brown eyes.

"X5-467. Nice to meet you," Katie made her way over to where Max lay on the ground, stunned. She offered her flawlessly, perfectly manicured (or at least it seemed) hand to Max's grubby, dirt covered one and hauled her up. "Just made it here from California."

"Oh. Hi. Alec, can I talk to you for a second?" Max tried not to grit her teeth too obviously, and trained her steely gaze at Alec. She stormed, with as much dignity as possible, out of the room, grabbing Alec angrily by the jacket as she did so.

"Oh sure, Maxie. I'd love to have a little heart-to-heart with you. Wonder why we haven't done this before-" Alec began, but was cut off when Max's pointy, albeit dirty, finger stabbed him in the chest. "Whoa, Max, easy on the shirt! I only have so many you know -"

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I don't remembering okaying another roommate! Haven't you ever heard of 'talking it over'? I can't believe you did this!" Max hissed, trying in vain to keep her voice down. Unfortunately for Alec, all Max could see was red. All she could think about was how much of an idiot he really was. Such an idiot. Such an asshole. Such a handsome idiot. Such a handsome, lovable idiot. Such a  -  "Oh My God!"

Alec, who had been standing silent throughout her verbal onslaught, was confused.

"Oh My God what?" He waved a hand in front of her face, becoming slightly worried at her glazed look. "Uh, Max?"

I can't believe I just... Ugh. Am I attracted to him? Don't even go there Max. She blocked that avenue of thought. Suddenly she became aware of his hand moving up and down in front of eyes.

"What?" she snapped irritably, eyebrows drawn down and hands clenched into fists. "So explain. What in god's name possessed you to drag the flavour of the day into our apartment?!"

Alec was in deep. He knew it. But god did he enjoy watching her get worked up. She always seemed to glow when she became angry, her body tensed, dark eyes giving off sparks. Like a spitfire. But so blind. So utterly blind.

Blind to the fact that Alec harboured feelings for her. Probably always had. He'd even dropped her a hint once, when they were rescuing the mermaid in the Blowfish Tavern. I always go for the ones I can't have. She didn't pick up on it, of course.

Instead, she chose to chase after the one that she couldn't have. Logan, exo-skeleton boy. Whenever something went wrong, she'd turn to Logan, as if he could miraculously fix everything. Inwardly Alec laughed. Poor guy couldn't even walk by himself.

Well, if she didn't want to know about Alec, she wouldn't have to.

No, he'd just tell her the truth. About Katie, that is. Heaven forbid should he ever mention his feelings to her. Feelings, he snorted. As if Max thought he had any.

"She just came in, didn't have a place to stay. We're out of room in TC you realise. Need to probably start building someday soon. I bumped into her at HQ a few hours ago, she told me she needed a place to stay so bam," Alec shrugged his shoulders. "I did what any other decent guy would've done."

"What, did you offer her your bed too? I don't give a damn who you sleep with Alec, but at least try to be a bit more subtle," truth be told, Max was unconsciously a little jealous. Jealous of those perfect nails, the flawless pale complexion, the golden, waterfall-like hair. Katie lent a whole new meaning to the word 'perfect'. Manticore liked 'em pretty, that much was clear.

"No, actually I thought she was a nice girl. Really sweet," now it was Alec's turn to become angry. His face hardened and he clenched his jaw dangerously. A guy can only take so much crap from Max, after all. "I'm not always the bad guy, Max. I've told you before." Enough. Time to leave before he did something he regretted. The past week had taken an emotional and physical strain on the pair, making relations between them strained and uneasy at times. There had been so much to do, so little time to do it in. To put it simply, stress was making everyone in TC edgy.

He turned and marched down the stairs, his clutched fists the only evidence that betrayed his relaxed form. Max sighed, shoulders slumped in defeat. Somehow they always managed to bring out the worst in one another these days. Some friendship, she laughed wryly. As if you could even call it that. She turned and walked back into the big apartment.

"Uh, Max, was it?" Katie's melodic voice called her. "Where do you want this stuff to go?"

Max looked around the room, stunned. In the small amount of time she had been having a 'conversation' with Alec, Katie had managed to shift all the furniture and boxes to the walls, find a broom and sweep up most of the mess on the floor, open all the windows and was now sitting cross-legged on the floor unpacking the boxes.

Max felt a surge of irritation. Yeah, cause she managed to do all this in less than a quarter of the time it took you to move half these boxes. It seemed being a transgenic didn't always mean housecleaning came with the full package. She pushed away the hostile tendencies, and approached the other X5.

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