Acknowledgements: I'd like to thank Infie, alecsangel, NL and everyone in chat on Dec 8 for all their help. I couldn't have started or finished the story without them. And a thank you to my beta: Infie (again).
December 29
"Alec, wake up," Max poked me awake.
Damn it, what the hell? It was way too early. I ignored her and burrowed deeper into the sheets.
"Alec, come on, wake up!" prodded an annoyed Max.
"What?" I finally said as I stuck my head out from under the covers.
"Alec, we gotta pack a few things. We're spending the night in Vancouver remember?"
Oh shit, I thought to myself. I'd totally forgotten about that.
"Five more minutes," I mumbled, pulling the sheets over my head.
"No. Now!" Max replied, yanking the sheets, and me, to the floor.
"Ow. That hurt," I exclaimed, untangling myself from the sheets.
"It got you up didn't it?" She smiled at me, then turned and went back to packing her overnight bag.
I couldn't believe this. She had the nerve to drop me out of bed and actually smile about it! I never thought a day like this would come, where we were actually this comfortable with each other. Somebody up there must like me.
"Well, obviously I'm not going to get any more sleep, so I'm using the shower, 'k?" Without waiting for an answer, I dragged myself into the bathroom.
10 minutes later…
"Alec!" screamed Max as she banged on the bathroom door. "Aren't you done yet? We've got to get going!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I was annoyed as I stepped out of the bathroom in a bathrobe. "Can't a person get some peace around here?"
"We're pressed for time here. Remember the schedule?" Max demanded.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know…" I grabbed some clothes and started to change.
"Hey! Do you mind?" asked Max.
"Mind what?" I asked, a little perplexed even though I was pretty sure I knew what she was referring to.
"Can't you change elsewhere or at least wait until I'm out of the room?"
"Why Maxie? Shy?" I asked mischievously. "It's not like you've never seen the male body before, especially mine."
She stared at me and it was obvious that she was trying to come up with something to say to that. I grinned at her lack of response and her fist shot out and slammed into my shoulder.
"Geez Max, what was that for?" I winced as I rubbed my newly aching shoulder.
"I may be many things, Alec, but I'm certainly not shy. And I am not impressed by you."
"Aww Max," I said as I placed a hand over my heart, feigning a hurt look.
"Shut up. Just shut up," she said as she stalked out of the bedroom.
She had that "I'm going to kick your ass from here to the end of the earth" look and I wisely backed off. However, silence isn't one of my stronger qualities and a few minutes later I found myself speaking again.
"How many men have you been with Max?" I asked, genuinely curious. Who could be better looking than me?
"How many women have you been with?" She shot back, avoiding an answer.
"Too many." I muttered, and for the first time I realized that it was true. Damn, I shouldn't have told her that.
Max's POV
Why did he mutter that response? I wondered as I sat in the living room waiting for him to finish packing so we could head to breakfast. Something didn't sound right with him.
"What'd you say?" I asked, pretending that I hadn't heard him.
"Nothing Max," he answered evasively.
I realized that he was hiding something. What could it be? And why would he hide it? I mean, a guy like him is probably proud of the fact that he's laid tons of girls.
"Ok then. So… um... Alec, what's the plan for today?" I asked, shouting into the bedroom.
"Plan?" he echoed as he walked out of the bedroom with a duffle bag in hand. Slowly, I realized how good he looked. His hair was slicked back from his shower. He had on loose fitting dark denim carpenter jeans with a form fitting red knit sweater that had a little bit of his white wife-beater peaking out. To cap it off, he had on a pair of white old school Adidas superstars. It was stunning how perfect he looked even in such casual wear.
"Yeah, like what are we going to do today?" I responded as I slowly came out of my trance. Damn, he looks good enough to eat. Whoa! Where did that come from? Max, calm down, I thought to myself; this is Alec, remember?
"Well, what do you want to do? It is your trip, after all. I'm just decorative and companionable."
"Hmm, well then. I'll let you know once we get there," I replied with a twinkle in my eye.
"Uh… sure Max," he said sounding a little nervous.
Hah! I've made him uneasy. I smiled inwardly while thinking of all the possible things I could have him do.
"Oh, but Max..." he said, interrupting my thoughts.
"What?"
"I get to pick the activity for the second day," he said, arching an eyebrow at me.
"Uh, no."
"Max, it's only fair. So the next activity is one of my choosing; end of discussion. Now let's go, we've got to meet the rest of the group, and catch our bus," he said as he picked up his bag and opened the door, waiting for me to exit.
"Alec," I said in a sing song voice. "Time to get up, we're here."
I couldn't believe him! He slept the entire way to Vancouver. But I had to admit to myself, he was so cute. Occasionally, his nose would scrunch up as though something was wrong. And other times, he'd mumble like a little boy. At times, I couldn't help but brush his hair aside so that I could admire him a little more.
What the hell was wrong with me? All of a sudden I was admiring Alec. Are my feelings changing towards him? Is there more than friendship? Can there be more than friendship? So many things were running through my mind.
Bringing myself out of my daze, I looked over to find that Alec was still asleep. How much does a person need to sleep?
"Hot boy," I said seductively, purposely purring. "Time to get up."
His eyes immediately snapped open responding to me. Men are so predictable.
"Nice to see you're awake Alec, we're here."
"Ok, ok, I'm up. But, Max, next time don't use that tone of voice with me, unless you mean it," he said suggestively. "By the way, did you call me 'Hot boy' and were you purring?"
"Don't think that there's anything going on. I was just trying to get your lazy ass up. How much sleep could you possibly need?"
"Uh huh, sure," he sounded skeptical. Hell, he wasn't the only one. I'm not even sure what I just said was even remotely close to the truth. Did I want Alec? That is the million dollar question with no answer. I sighed inwardly.
"Everyone, welcome to Vancouver," Lily announced. "We'll be here for two days. You've already been checked into your hotel rooms, courtesy of Delta Whistler. There's no group activity planned for you. All you have to do is meet up at the end of the two days to catch the bus ride back to Whistler. Any questions?" She paused, but no one spoke. "Ok, since there aren't any, the day is yours. Have fun!"
"Ok, Max, we're checked in, what do you want to do?" asked an impatient Alec.
"Sightseeing," I replied.
"Sightseeing?"
"Yes, sightseeing. Let's go."
"Where to first? Vancouver Aquarium? Canada Place? Stanley Park?"
"I thought you said you didn't know much about Vancouver," I said accusingly.
"I don't. I just skimmed some of the brochures and watched some videos last night."
"Are those places any good?"
"Um, it's just like Seattle. Nothing to it," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Damn. Ok, so no sightseeing. What next?"
"Don't know. We could just walk around and see what's interesting."
"Sure."
Alec's POV
Despite Vancouver being so similar to Seattle, I was actually having a good time. Maybe it was because I was with Max. Or maybe, it was because we were relaxed, and for once, we didn't have to have our guard up 24/7.
Lunch was relatively simple. We passed a hot dog stand, and well, got a hot dog. It was simple, but nice. Max did a little shopping down at Gastown, buying presents for OC and Sketch. I opted not to buy here, since she was. Of course, since we were tourists, we played the part to the hilt, with pictures and everything. It was pleasant. Things were good between us, and arguments were far apart. Thankfully, Max did not know of the shopping district otherwise known as Robson Street. If she knew about it, well, I'd be a dead man. The girl can shop.
Then we went to the Old Chinatown area where there were several sports areas and a Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, for me, was nothing special since I'd actually had a course on post 20th Century Hall of Famers. But for Max, it was something special, so we spent quite a bit of time there.
Now we were at General Motors Place, watching a figure skating show rehearsing. We really didn't have time to go to the show itself, but Max thought it'd be neat to see the rehearsal.
"Alec, do you think we could do stuff like that?" Max asked as she pointed to one of the pairs skaters that were rehearsing. The guy had the girl in a twist lift, then brought her down, and then set up into triple throw salchow.
"Maybe, I mean, we are who we are," I replied evasively as I continued to watch the skaters. Some were doing layback spins, camel spins, while others were practicing their axels, lutzs, and still more were into their step sequences.
"Ohh…" sounded Max as she watched a pair performing an inside edge death spiral. "I wanna do that," she said sounding like a little girl. "Come on Alec, let's try."
"Max, maybe we shouldn't. You know this will only bring more attention to us."
"Oh Alec, come on. Who'll know?"
"Hi, you look really familiar, do I know you?" one of the skaters asked me.
"Um, I don't think so," I replied, trying to avoid looking directly at that person.
"No, I think I do know you. Alan, don't you remember me? It's Elliot," the dark haired gentlemen said.
"I really think you have the wrong person. But it's nice to meet you." I tried very hard not to look into his eyes. I know that once he sees mine, he'll know who I am. Stupid Manticore. If only things had been different.
"I'm sorry then. I thought you were someone else I'd met years ago. I'll let you get back to your girl now. Bye," said Elliott as he walked away. I wish I could've told him.
"Alec, what was that all about?" Max asked curiously.
"It's nothing, Max," I replied curtly, trying to avoid the subject.
"It's not nothing, I can tell, you have that look on your face."
"I'm Kelly, would you guys like to come skate with us for a while?" interrupted Elliot's partner, with him close behind.
"Sure," replied Max.
"Uh, Max, why don't you go ahead?" I said. "I think I'll just watch."
"No way Alec! I skied with you, so now you're going to have to skate with me," she replied stubbornly as she pulled me to my feet, dragging me towards a back area where we could get skates.
When we finished putting on our skates, she pulled me onto the ice. It's been so long since I've been on. I wonder if I'm still as good as I used to be.
I glanced over at Max and found that she had no problem being on the ice. Something tells me she's skated before, but not in the same context. Elliott was helping her out, making sure she was alright. I felt a little thread of jealousy coursing through my body, but only a little since I knew that he and Kelly were together, happily, might I add. I sighed wistfully. I wish I had that.
I started slow with some back crossovers around the edge of the rink, getting the feel of the ice.
Then the song "A Moment like This" came on over the P.A. Granted, this wasn't the usual type of song I used to skate to, it was nice and slow, and I could make it work.
I continued with my crossovers, and started into a few glides then setting up for a double axel. Nice and easy, I mumbled to myself. Bam! I landed easily, and without missing a beat, I entered into a camel spin. After that, I started another series of back crossovers, and into a triple flip. That landing was a cinch as well; then sending me into a spiral sequence, a complicated footwork sequence, several more spins, one last triple, the triple axel, and finally a scratch spin.
I was breathless once I was done. I couldn't believe it. All of it came back to me; even the artistic side of it all. Then the applause jarred me out of my musings.
"Very nice," complimented Kelly.
"Thanks," I said shyly. This was not something I tended to be complimented for.
Max was staring at me shocked, stunned.
"I didn't know you could skate," she said.
"You didn't ask," I replied, shrugging.
"Teach me," Max demanded.
"Sure."
I spent over an hour teaching Max the basics of figure skating with the help of Elliot and Kelly. I still hadn't told Elliot who I was, and I figured I never would. Though, since he'd just watch me skate like a pro, he probably had his suspicions. I appreciated that he'd decided to leave me my secrets and let it go.
When the rink rental time was up, we said good bye to Kelly and Elliot and headed off. It was getting late, and quite frankly I was hungry.
We decided to have dinner at Granville Island, a small little area over looking a bay. It was quaint.
"So Alec, why the secrecy?" asked Max.
"Huh?" I knew what she was talking about, but I really would have preferred to avoid the subject.
"Alec, I know you know what I'm talking about. So spill. Where did you learn how to skate? Or should the question be… why?"
"Max, do you really want to know?" I asked trying to hold off this conversation as long as possible.
"Sure, why not?"
"Ok, fine." I sighed. "They had me learn how to skate professionally so I could get close to the daughter of an ex-Manticore doctor. She was a professional skater at the time. It was an assignment similar to Berrisford. Same deal, but luckily, the girl ain't dead. End of story," I explained as emotionlessly as possible. Rachel's mission still brought up tough memories.
"So that's why Elliot called you Alan?"
"Yeah," I said listlessly. "He was a good friend, despite the deceptions."
"Does he know?" she asked tentively.
"No," I replied bluntly.
"Alec," Max covered my hand on the table with hers.
She knew what I was feeling, even though I masked it like we were taught. Max always seemed to know when I was the most vulnerable. God, she's confusing.
For a while, we sat in companionable silence, just enjoying each other's company.
"Max, thanks." I finally broke the silence.
"For what?" she asked.
"For just being you, being there." I smiled, and she blushed.
The food finally came, and we ate while chatting about little things. Max would tell me a little bit more about her siblings, and I would divulge a little more of my twenty years in Manticore.
When the night was over, the mood was pretty light, and things were good. We took the public transport back to the hotel where we were staying for the night.
Hmmm… I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
To be Continued...
