A/N: Ta da. Here we go. Chapter 16. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I *still* don't own Dark Angel. It belongs to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, and Fox. But come on; does it really matter anymore? The show's cancelled.
Chapter Sixteen
_________________________________________________________________
Lifeline
Streets
Seattle, WA., September 14, 2021
He lay wan and still beneath the effulgent light of the moon, the handsome
features of his face alive with undulating shadows. His palm bucked for a single moment
against her own, a final twitch of resistance, and then his body lay silent. Only the gentle
rise and fall of his chest indicated a sign of life.
"Shit." Max murmured, slipping her hand from beneath his. She raised
trembling fingers to her face, and found them dark and glistening beneath the crimson
sheen of his internal fluids. Heart thundering within her ribcage, she gently flipped his
palm over, and blanched at the sight of the dozen glass shards protruding from ragged
flesh. "Shit, shit, shit! How the hell am I supposed to get this out? What do you think I
am-a one-woman medic unit?" she griped softly.
He shifted in unconsciousness, moaning lightly, his head dropping to loll weakly
against wet pavement. Max slid a hand beneath him, cupping the base of his skull in
blood-slick fingers, unconsciously stroking the fine strands of his hair as she supported
him.
Lying prone against the gory street, he looked heartbreakingly young, his features
easing into serenity. A child who'd wandered into the center of a battlefield, and been
cut down in the crossfire.
Max's face softened as she looked down at him, and almost unbidden, she leaned
down to gently kiss his forehead, cupping the curve of his cheekbone in a small palm.
*Maybe I shouldn't bitch. He did save my ass, even if the only reason it was in trouble
was because I had to come to his rescue once again.*
His skin burned abnormally hot beneath her softly wandering fingertips, gliding
wetly under her hand. His full lips parted in another moan, one that thrust Max's heart
into her throat. She bent to kiss him again, this time touching her mouth lightly to his
own, and hoisted his limp body into her arms.
"Come on, pretty boy. Let's get you off the street before our psycho friend over
there wakes up and decides the party's not over."
* * *
*Flashback*
Carmine illumination seared his eye, thrusting to the very depths of his mind. He
felt its cruel touch in the deepest recesses of his memory, tearing and probing with
vicious fingers. Ripping away his sense of being, the forbidden and human emotions
he'd begun to experience.
He arched against his restraints, gnashing teeth clamping hard against the
delicate flesh of his tongue. Blood foamed to his lips, the tang of vomit lurking thick
within the unpleasant taste of his own gore. He felt the liquid traverse the slope of his
jaw, clinging to the stubble darkening his chin.
The scream tore itself unbidden from his lips, reverberating throughout the small
room, echoing within his sensitive ears.
He hadn't meant for them to make him scream. He'd endured the agony so
silently, with hardly a whimper escaping his tortured soul, but now something deep
within him broke, and he couldn't seem to stop.
The laser probed deeper, carving a torturously lethargic path through his brain,
thrusting harder, until he felt himself passing mercifully into blackness.
*End flashback*
He thrust into consciousness screaming.
Max held him steady, cradling his head in her lap as he thrashed. His cries
pierced her sensitive ears, shattering the stillness of the warehouse.
She stroked damp hair from his forehead, her fingers moving softly against
perspiration-soaked flesh. "Alec. Alec! Calm down. You're ok. It's me. It's Max."
she whispered into his ear, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand.
He quieted at her words, panting, his entire body trembling against hers as his
head fell back to lie still in her comforting hands. His eyes flickered closed, the image of
a red beam still taunting him.
"Alec." She jostled him gently. "Say something."
"Did you pay White off to stab me so you could use that as an excuse to hold my
head in your lap?" he murmured weakly.
"Oh God, you don't know how relieved I am to hear you being a dumb smartass."
she said, exhaling shakily, one hand straying to his forehead once more.
"Gee, Max, you always know just how to brighten my day." Alec drawled
sarcastically. " 'Dumb smartass.' Isn't that kinda' a direct contradiction? You're calling
me dumb, and then you're-"
"Shut up." Her tone lacked its usual caustic snap. Instead, she sounded
almost...concerned. He tilted his head to look her in the face, and glimpsed dark eyes
glistening beneath a sheen of moisture.
"I thought that damn knife might have some of that snake venom on it. The stuff
that was supposed to kill me but didn't. When you weren't waking up...you kept shaking
really bad, and you felt too hot. I thought you were dying."
"Well now, Max, does that mean you were worried about me? You know what
this means, don't you? You like me. I suspected it all along, but this just clinches it.
First you bust me out of Manticore, and it's not like we even had sex and you wanted to
be able to come back for seconds; I guess my animal magnetism was just too much for
you to resist, huh? Then you save my ass from White, twice now, and Berrisford, who
was lookin' to blow my brains out. Plus that whole molesting me in Logan's kitchen
episode, and-"
Her fist connected with the back of his head.
"Hey!" he whined, rising slowly into sitting position, the effort tensing his
features in a grimace of pain. "I *am* injured here, you know. And might I remind you
just why I'm injured; because I jumped that son of a bitch while he was workin' you over,
when I could have-"
She grasped his head fiercely in both hands, pulling him roughly to her, her lips
silencing him. He stiffened in surprise for a moment, then relaxed against her as her
fingers began to sift the fine hairs at the nape of his neck, curving to cup the base of his
skull.
Her mouth ground briefly, almost violently against his own, tasting him,
reassuring herself of his presence. She drew back only a moment later, and Alec's eyes
fluttered slowly open. "What was that for?" he asked huskily.
"You scared me, dammit." Max hissed, scowling at him. "And you're still
bleeding."
"You kissed me because I'm still bleeding? Well, Max, not that I'm complaining
or anything, but if you were attempting to apply pressure using your tongue to stop the
bleeding, you were putting it in the wrong place. Not that I'm protesting your method of
course-"
"Take off your jacket."
"And now you're stripping me. I think we should wait until we at least get out of
this cold old warehouse." he said, but weariness thickened his vocal cords, swallowing
the usual smugness.
"Take it off, 'cause you're not going to like that way I do it."
"Oh, rough are we?"
She glared silently, and he thrust up both hands in acquiescence. "Ok, ok. Stop
tryin' to drill death lasers into my brain."
"Do you feel ok?"
"Yeah-like a million bucks. Some psycho maniac decided to get off on beating
me with his gun, I put my hands up to protect my face when a bullet blew out the front
windshield of that god-awful vehicle of White's and got a palmful of glass, and then the
aforementioned maniac stabbed me twice. Feelin' just great, Max."
"I meant you don't feel too hot or anything? Like you're running a fever? You
don't feel sick?"
Alec shrugged. "Just the burning pain in my arm, and my lips, where you ravaged
me. But I'm not complainin' about that last part."
"Then take off your jacket. I have to check and see how bad you're hurt." she
replied, purposefully ignoring his last comment.
He struggled from the blood-slick article of clothing, hissing lightly as the
movement pained him. Her expression softened, and she reached out to help him draw it
off, chucking the damp material carelessly aside. His eyes fluttered as she ran a fingertip
lightly across the sculpted muscles of his biceps, probing the wounds as gently as she
could.
"You're gettin' a lot of practice playing nursemaid."
Her full lips curved slightly. "Only 'cause you keep getting your ass whooped
on."
"Hey, I did *not*-"
"It's not too bad." she interrupted. "At any rate, you shouldn't bleed to death
before we can get back to Logan's. Just keep your jacket on it to slow the bleeding."
"Or you could take your shirt off, and I could use that."
"How 'bout I take it off and shove it up your ass?"
"Ah...how 'bout you just take it off? I mean, what if my jacket's not enough? I
could need something else to keep the blood flow down. You wouldn't want me up and
passin' out on you again, now would you, Max?"
She took his hands in her own, his flesh warm against hers as she turned his
palms face up and reached to extract the piece of glass nearest her.
He flinched, dark lashes fluttering to eclipse gleaming hazel orbs for a single
moment.
"Sorry." she murmured. "But I gotta' get this shit out."
"I'll just think happy thoughts. Like the two of us rolling around on the floor in a
sweaty, naked tangle."
Max's head snapped up. "Alec!" she hissed, a brilliant flare of color
blossoming in high cheekbones.
He smirked, the slight curl of his lips not quite reaching his eyes, and she sensed
the pain lurking just out of sight in his beautiful gaze. "I'm picturing it right now, in fact.
I'll let you be on top, Max, since you're the domineering type."
"Picture me beating your ass, because that's the only type of physical contact
we're going to have if you keeping spouting off about your perverted fantasies."
"So if I stop does that mean we have a chance of having physical contact other
than you beating my ass? Such as hot, dirty, make-the-bedsprings-squeak physical
contact?"
She jerked another piece of glass free, and felt him tense in her grip.
He fell silent, the precious quiet a rarity in his presence, watching her from
beneath lowered lashes. Moonlight danced and weaved its way throughout the broken
remnants of nearby windows, painting their bowed faces in luminous silver.
"I'm doing it as gently as I can." she said after a moment, feeling the sudden urge
to break the silence.
"I know." Alec replied, voice taut with the effort of keeping tears of pain from
traversing his face.
She glimpsed the glimmer of moisture in his eyes, and raised his bloody fingers to
her full lips, softly kissing their tips.
"Max, do you like me?" he asked suddenly, trapping her slender hand within his
own two larger ones. His eyes sought her own, and for a moment he looked as vulnerable
as a scared, lost little boy.
She blinked up at him, surprised. "No, you big stupid idiot. I heard a gunshot,
figured you'd gotten your ass in trouble, and came running all because I was hoping to
finally get rid of you. I paid that stupid greasy little scum five grand to take a bomb out
of your head because I hated your guts and wanted to watch you die. What the hell do
you think?"
"Max, I'm in love with you." he blurted. *Why the hell did I just say that?*
Her movement ceased; her gaze surged up to meet his own, two stunned pairs of
eyes locking. He felt his palms grow slick, perspiration twining as one with blood to
glaze his flesh.
He looked terrified, for once his mask nowhere to be seen, only Alec peering at
her now, his eyes dark with emotion.
"Max, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. I know Loga-"
She thrust his face down to her own, kissing him firmly, her mouth lingering on
his. "Shut up." Max whispered against his lips. Her mouth closed on Alec's once more,
claiming him, her tongue flicking out to part his lips.
He leaned into her, seeking the warmth of her body, his own tongue darting out to
taste her.
Max pulled slightly back, resting her forehead against his, smiling as his harsh
breath whispered across her silken flesh. "Logan has nothing to do with this anymore.
He's in the past."
"So you're really not-"
"Still in love with him? No. Sometimes I wonder if I ever actually was in love
with him, or if I was just grateful. He's the only ordinary to accept me for what I
am, who doesn't hate me because I was manufactured in a lab. Except for OC, of course.
Even before the virus, there weren't the sparks between us that you'd expect between two
people in love. We were just...comfortable." She kissed him softly. "Not like you."
"So you're sayin' there's enough sparks between us to start a forest fire." he said,
grinning.
"Yeah." Max agreed, grinning back. Then, her voice dropping, she lifted a hand
to his cheek, caressing the flesh. "Alec, I love you too."
He turned his face into her touch, kissing the warmth of her palm. "What took
you so long to figure it out?"
She rolled her eyes. "Not too sure of yourself or anything, are you?"
"I just knew that sooner or later you'd have to succumb to my charms. I mean,
it's not like any woman can resist me for long. You must have the record going for that,
Max."
"OC's managed to evade your greatness." Max replied, smirking. She returned
to methodically picking his hands free of glass.
"That's not fair. OC prefers the ladies. You can't throw that in my face."
"Maybe so, but if you're as wonderful as you keep telling people, shouldn't she
have seen the light and switched teams by now?"
"The only reason she hasn't switched teams yet is because she hasn't gotten a
taste of me in bed. That would be enough to convert any gay female."
Max snorted. He leaned in to kiss her, and her nostrils flared with his masculine
scent. "C'mon, Max-if you were gay, that kiss I just gave you would persuade you to
leave the ladies, am I right?"
"Maybe." she conceded. "Ok, probably."
His lips touched her jaw lightly, the warmth of his tongue present for a single
moment before he drew back and nipped gently at her ear. "Jesus, what the hell
happened to you neck?"
"Oh, that. Had a little run-in with Psycho Transgenic."
"He did this to you?" Alec asked, fingering the bruise flaring vividly against
carmel flesh.
"Yeah; knocked me off a building too. Hurt like a bitch. I was fighting him
when I heard gunshots, and figured you'd gotten your ass in trouble again. Lucky I
happened to be nearby."
"Well I hope you broke his balls for leaving this little token behind." He kissed
the mark lightly. Max's lips curved in a smile as his mouth fell warm against her flesh.
He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, his breath whispering gently across her
skin. His lips moved softly against the delicate flesh of her throat, thrusting shivers down
her spine. "I love you, Max." he whispered huskily, and pressed a kiss to the side of her
head.
"I always knew you had some good taste lurking behind those big-chested whores
you were prone to picking up at Crash."
He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing blood-smeared knuckles. "I only brought
them home because I knew it would be a cold day in hell before you agreed to come
home with me." He shrugged. "And because they looked like good lays."
"Stop." She gently disentangled her fingers from his. "I'm trying to work here."
"Logan's probably having a coronary right about now." he murmured, kissing his
way across her chin. "I was on the phone with him when White and his goons pulled up.
He probably thinks I'm dead."
"Call him on your cell. Tell him not to bother staging a rescue; we're fine."
He winced as another piece of glass parted with the shredded flesh of his palms.
"Says you."
"Hey, it's not like I escaped all pretty like. I told you that jerk chucked me off a
building, and he got a couple of good hits in. I'm gonna' be black and blue for a few
days. Not to mention, I had to haul your unconscious ass in here, considering that I really
didn't want to stick around and find out when White was going to wake up."
"You were probably just going to leave me there, until you recognized that me
bein' unconscious was a way to cop a feel on my ass without me noticing."
"Is everything always about your ass?" Max demanded, scowling.
"Should be. Ow! Jesus, Max! Go easy, would you?"
"I am. You're just being a big baby." She studied his face for a moment, brows
knitting. A slender hand touched his face, lingering lightly against soft flesh. "You still
feel too hot. Are you sure you're fine?"
"Yeah. Well, not fine; frankly, I feel like shit. But I probably just got a slight
fever comin' on; my immune system's had to fight off a lot of infections lately, what with
me gettin' shot at Jam Pony, then stabbed by White. It's a lot to handle, even for a
transgenic's healing capabilities."
"I'm just checking. I'm not carrying you anywhere else."
"Max, you're too good to me; 'I'm so glad to hear you being a dumb smartass
again. Shut up. You're a dickhead. I'm not carrying you anywhere else.'" he
mimicked.
"Shut up."
"C'mon, Max, you don't really mean that, do you? I know how much you love
the sound of my voice; you can't want me to shut up."
She scowled. "You're such a-"
"Wonderful, gorgeous, and insanely brilliant man? Thanks, Max, but you don't
have to tell me something I already know."
"Believe me, that wasn't what I was going to say." She released his hands, and he
allowed her to go reluctantly, already mourning the loss of her warmth. "Come on; time
to get you home. Can you stand ok?"
"Max, I'm insulted. What do you think I am? An invalid? Of course I can
stand." Alec replied, his full lips quirked in a frown. He rose unsteadily to his feet,
dizziness thrusting his temple. The slick of bile surged upward to glaze his throat.
Max reached for him as he swayed, slinging one arm over her shoulders.
Alec scowled. "How's this going to look when I come limping into Logan's
apartment with you half-carrying me over your shoulders?"
Max shrugged. "Just tell them I was desperate for any excuse to throw myself
into your arms."
Disclaimer: Sadly, I *still* don't own Dark Angel. It belongs to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, and Fox. But come on; does it really matter anymore? The show's cancelled.
Chapter Sixteen
_________________________________________________________________
Lifeline
Streets
Seattle, WA., September 14, 2021
He lay wan and still beneath the effulgent light of the moon, the handsome
features of his face alive with undulating shadows. His palm bucked for a single moment
against her own, a final twitch of resistance, and then his body lay silent. Only the gentle
rise and fall of his chest indicated a sign of life.
"Shit." Max murmured, slipping her hand from beneath his. She raised
trembling fingers to her face, and found them dark and glistening beneath the crimson
sheen of his internal fluids. Heart thundering within her ribcage, she gently flipped his
palm over, and blanched at the sight of the dozen glass shards protruding from ragged
flesh. "Shit, shit, shit! How the hell am I supposed to get this out? What do you think I
am-a one-woman medic unit?" she griped softly.
He shifted in unconsciousness, moaning lightly, his head dropping to loll weakly
against wet pavement. Max slid a hand beneath him, cupping the base of his skull in
blood-slick fingers, unconsciously stroking the fine strands of his hair as she supported
him.
Lying prone against the gory street, he looked heartbreakingly young, his features
easing into serenity. A child who'd wandered into the center of a battlefield, and been
cut down in the crossfire.
Max's face softened as she looked down at him, and almost unbidden, she leaned
down to gently kiss his forehead, cupping the curve of his cheekbone in a small palm.
*Maybe I shouldn't bitch. He did save my ass, even if the only reason it was in trouble
was because I had to come to his rescue once again.*
His skin burned abnormally hot beneath her softly wandering fingertips, gliding
wetly under her hand. His full lips parted in another moan, one that thrust Max's heart
into her throat. She bent to kiss him again, this time touching her mouth lightly to his
own, and hoisted his limp body into her arms.
"Come on, pretty boy. Let's get you off the street before our psycho friend over
there wakes up and decides the party's not over."
* * *
*Flashback*
Carmine illumination seared his eye, thrusting to the very depths of his mind. He
felt its cruel touch in the deepest recesses of his memory, tearing and probing with
vicious fingers. Ripping away his sense of being, the forbidden and human emotions
he'd begun to experience.
He arched against his restraints, gnashing teeth clamping hard against the
delicate flesh of his tongue. Blood foamed to his lips, the tang of vomit lurking thick
within the unpleasant taste of his own gore. He felt the liquid traverse the slope of his
jaw, clinging to the stubble darkening his chin.
The scream tore itself unbidden from his lips, reverberating throughout the small
room, echoing within his sensitive ears.
He hadn't meant for them to make him scream. He'd endured the agony so
silently, with hardly a whimper escaping his tortured soul, but now something deep
within him broke, and he couldn't seem to stop.
The laser probed deeper, carving a torturously lethargic path through his brain,
thrusting harder, until he felt himself passing mercifully into blackness.
*End flashback*
He thrust into consciousness screaming.
Max held him steady, cradling his head in her lap as he thrashed. His cries
pierced her sensitive ears, shattering the stillness of the warehouse.
She stroked damp hair from his forehead, her fingers moving softly against
perspiration-soaked flesh. "Alec. Alec! Calm down. You're ok. It's me. It's Max."
she whispered into his ear, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand.
He quieted at her words, panting, his entire body trembling against hers as his
head fell back to lie still in her comforting hands. His eyes flickered closed, the image of
a red beam still taunting him.
"Alec." She jostled him gently. "Say something."
"Did you pay White off to stab me so you could use that as an excuse to hold my
head in your lap?" he murmured weakly.
"Oh God, you don't know how relieved I am to hear you being a dumb smartass."
she said, exhaling shakily, one hand straying to his forehead once more.
"Gee, Max, you always know just how to brighten my day." Alec drawled
sarcastically. " 'Dumb smartass.' Isn't that kinda' a direct contradiction? You're calling
me dumb, and then you're-"
"Shut up." Her tone lacked its usual caustic snap. Instead, she sounded
almost...concerned. He tilted his head to look her in the face, and glimpsed dark eyes
glistening beneath a sheen of moisture.
"I thought that damn knife might have some of that snake venom on it. The stuff
that was supposed to kill me but didn't. When you weren't waking up...you kept shaking
really bad, and you felt too hot. I thought you were dying."
"Well now, Max, does that mean you were worried about me? You know what
this means, don't you? You like me. I suspected it all along, but this just clinches it.
First you bust me out of Manticore, and it's not like we even had sex and you wanted to
be able to come back for seconds; I guess my animal magnetism was just too much for
you to resist, huh? Then you save my ass from White, twice now, and Berrisford, who
was lookin' to blow my brains out. Plus that whole molesting me in Logan's kitchen
episode, and-"
Her fist connected with the back of his head.
"Hey!" he whined, rising slowly into sitting position, the effort tensing his
features in a grimace of pain. "I *am* injured here, you know. And might I remind you
just why I'm injured; because I jumped that son of a bitch while he was workin' you over,
when I could have-"
She grasped his head fiercely in both hands, pulling him roughly to her, her lips
silencing him. He stiffened in surprise for a moment, then relaxed against her as her
fingers began to sift the fine hairs at the nape of his neck, curving to cup the base of his
skull.
Her mouth ground briefly, almost violently against his own, tasting him,
reassuring herself of his presence. She drew back only a moment later, and Alec's eyes
fluttered slowly open. "What was that for?" he asked huskily.
"You scared me, dammit." Max hissed, scowling at him. "And you're still
bleeding."
"You kissed me because I'm still bleeding? Well, Max, not that I'm complaining
or anything, but if you were attempting to apply pressure using your tongue to stop the
bleeding, you were putting it in the wrong place. Not that I'm protesting your method of
course-"
"Take off your jacket."
"And now you're stripping me. I think we should wait until we at least get out of
this cold old warehouse." he said, but weariness thickened his vocal cords, swallowing
the usual smugness.
"Take it off, 'cause you're not going to like that way I do it."
"Oh, rough are we?"
She glared silently, and he thrust up both hands in acquiescence. "Ok, ok. Stop
tryin' to drill death lasers into my brain."
"Do you feel ok?"
"Yeah-like a million bucks. Some psycho maniac decided to get off on beating
me with his gun, I put my hands up to protect my face when a bullet blew out the front
windshield of that god-awful vehicle of White's and got a palmful of glass, and then the
aforementioned maniac stabbed me twice. Feelin' just great, Max."
"I meant you don't feel too hot or anything? Like you're running a fever? You
don't feel sick?"
Alec shrugged. "Just the burning pain in my arm, and my lips, where you ravaged
me. But I'm not complainin' about that last part."
"Then take off your jacket. I have to check and see how bad you're hurt." she
replied, purposefully ignoring his last comment.
He struggled from the blood-slick article of clothing, hissing lightly as the
movement pained him. Her expression softened, and she reached out to help him draw it
off, chucking the damp material carelessly aside. His eyes fluttered as she ran a fingertip
lightly across the sculpted muscles of his biceps, probing the wounds as gently as she
could.
"You're gettin' a lot of practice playing nursemaid."
Her full lips curved slightly. "Only 'cause you keep getting your ass whooped
on."
"Hey, I did *not*-"
"It's not too bad." she interrupted. "At any rate, you shouldn't bleed to death
before we can get back to Logan's. Just keep your jacket on it to slow the bleeding."
"Or you could take your shirt off, and I could use that."
"How 'bout I take it off and shove it up your ass?"
"Ah...how 'bout you just take it off? I mean, what if my jacket's not enough? I
could need something else to keep the blood flow down. You wouldn't want me up and
passin' out on you again, now would you, Max?"
She took his hands in her own, his flesh warm against hers as she turned his
palms face up and reached to extract the piece of glass nearest her.
He flinched, dark lashes fluttering to eclipse gleaming hazel orbs for a single
moment.
"Sorry." she murmured. "But I gotta' get this shit out."
"I'll just think happy thoughts. Like the two of us rolling around on the floor in a
sweaty, naked tangle."
Max's head snapped up. "Alec!" she hissed, a brilliant flare of color
blossoming in high cheekbones.
He smirked, the slight curl of his lips not quite reaching his eyes, and she sensed
the pain lurking just out of sight in his beautiful gaze. "I'm picturing it right now, in fact.
I'll let you be on top, Max, since you're the domineering type."
"Picture me beating your ass, because that's the only type of physical contact
we're going to have if you keeping spouting off about your perverted fantasies."
"So if I stop does that mean we have a chance of having physical contact other
than you beating my ass? Such as hot, dirty, make-the-bedsprings-squeak physical
contact?"
She jerked another piece of glass free, and felt him tense in her grip.
He fell silent, the precious quiet a rarity in his presence, watching her from
beneath lowered lashes. Moonlight danced and weaved its way throughout the broken
remnants of nearby windows, painting their bowed faces in luminous silver.
"I'm doing it as gently as I can." she said after a moment, feeling the sudden urge
to break the silence.
"I know." Alec replied, voice taut with the effort of keeping tears of pain from
traversing his face.
She glimpsed the glimmer of moisture in his eyes, and raised his bloody fingers to
her full lips, softly kissing their tips.
"Max, do you like me?" he asked suddenly, trapping her slender hand within his
own two larger ones. His eyes sought her own, and for a moment he looked as vulnerable
as a scared, lost little boy.
She blinked up at him, surprised. "No, you big stupid idiot. I heard a gunshot,
figured you'd gotten your ass in trouble, and came running all because I was hoping to
finally get rid of you. I paid that stupid greasy little scum five grand to take a bomb out
of your head because I hated your guts and wanted to watch you die. What the hell do
you think?"
"Max, I'm in love with you." he blurted. *Why the hell did I just say that?*
Her movement ceased; her gaze surged up to meet his own, two stunned pairs of
eyes locking. He felt his palms grow slick, perspiration twining as one with blood to
glaze his flesh.
He looked terrified, for once his mask nowhere to be seen, only Alec peering at
her now, his eyes dark with emotion.
"Max, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. I know Loga-"
She thrust his face down to her own, kissing him firmly, her mouth lingering on
his. "Shut up." Max whispered against his lips. Her mouth closed on Alec's once more,
claiming him, her tongue flicking out to part his lips.
He leaned into her, seeking the warmth of her body, his own tongue darting out to
taste her.
Max pulled slightly back, resting her forehead against his, smiling as his harsh
breath whispered across her silken flesh. "Logan has nothing to do with this anymore.
He's in the past."
"So you're really not-"
"Still in love with him? No. Sometimes I wonder if I ever actually was in love
with him, or if I was just grateful. He's the only ordinary to accept me for what I
am, who doesn't hate me because I was manufactured in a lab. Except for OC, of course.
Even before the virus, there weren't the sparks between us that you'd expect between two
people in love. We were just...comfortable." She kissed him softly. "Not like you."
"So you're sayin' there's enough sparks between us to start a forest fire." he said,
grinning.
"Yeah." Max agreed, grinning back. Then, her voice dropping, she lifted a hand
to his cheek, caressing the flesh. "Alec, I love you too."
He turned his face into her touch, kissing the warmth of her palm. "What took
you so long to figure it out?"
She rolled her eyes. "Not too sure of yourself or anything, are you?"
"I just knew that sooner or later you'd have to succumb to my charms. I mean,
it's not like any woman can resist me for long. You must have the record going for that,
Max."
"OC's managed to evade your greatness." Max replied, smirking. She returned
to methodically picking his hands free of glass.
"That's not fair. OC prefers the ladies. You can't throw that in my face."
"Maybe so, but if you're as wonderful as you keep telling people, shouldn't she
have seen the light and switched teams by now?"
"The only reason she hasn't switched teams yet is because she hasn't gotten a
taste of me in bed. That would be enough to convert any gay female."
Max snorted. He leaned in to kiss her, and her nostrils flared with his masculine
scent. "C'mon, Max-if you were gay, that kiss I just gave you would persuade you to
leave the ladies, am I right?"
"Maybe." she conceded. "Ok, probably."
His lips touched her jaw lightly, the warmth of his tongue present for a single
moment before he drew back and nipped gently at her ear. "Jesus, what the hell
happened to you neck?"
"Oh, that. Had a little run-in with Psycho Transgenic."
"He did this to you?" Alec asked, fingering the bruise flaring vividly against
carmel flesh.
"Yeah; knocked me off a building too. Hurt like a bitch. I was fighting him
when I heard gunshots, and figured you'd gotten your ass in trouble again. Lucky I
happened to be nearby."
"Well I hope you broke his balls for leaving this little token behind." He kissed
the mark lightly. Max's lips curved in a smile as his mouth fell warm against her flesh.
He nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, his breath whispering gently across her
skin. His lips moved softly against the delicate flesh of her throat, thrusting shivers down
her spine. "I love you, Max." he whispered huskily, and pressed a kiss to the side of her
head.
"I always knew you had some good taste lurking behind those big-chested whores
you were prone to picking up at Crash."
He lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing blood-smeared knuckles. "I only brought
them home because I knew it would be a cold day in hell before you agreed to come
home with me." He shrugged. "And because they looked like good lays."
"Stop." She gently disentangled her fingers from his. "I'm trying to work here."
"Logan's probably having a coronary right about now." he murmured, kissing his
way across her chin. "I was on the phone with him when White and his goons pulled up.
He probably thinks I'm dead."
"Call him on your cell. Tell him not to bother staging a rescue; we're fine."
He winced as another piece of glass parted with the shredded flesh of his palms.
"Says you."
"Hey, it's not like I escaped all pretty like. I told you that jerk chucked me off a
building, and he got a couple of good hits in. I'm gonna' be black and blue for a few
days. Not to mention, I had to haul your unconscious ass in here, considering that I really
didn't want to stick around and find out when White was going to wake up."
"You were probably just going to leave me there, until you recognized that me
bein' unconscious was a way to cop a feel on my ass without me noticing."
"Is everything always about your ass?" Max demanded, scowling.
"Should be. Ow! Jesus, Max! Go easy, would you?"
"I am. You're just being a big baby." She studied his face for a moment, brows
knitting. A slender hand touched his face, lingering lightly against soft flesh. "You still
feel too hot. Are you sure you're fine?"
"Yeah. Well, not fine; frankly, I feel like shit. But I probably just got a slight
fever comin' on; my immune system's had to fight off a lot of infections lately, what with
me gettin' shot at Jam Pony, then stabbed by White. It's a lot to handle, even for a
transgenic's healing capabilities."
"I'm just checking. I'm not carrying you anywhere else."
"Max, you're too good to me; 'I'm so glad to hear you being a dumb smartass
again. Shut up. You're a dickhead. I'm not carrying you anywhere else.'" he
mimicked.
"Shut up."
"C'mon, Max, you don't really mean that, do you? I know how much you love
the sound of my voice; you can't want me to shut up."
She scowled. "You're such a-"
"Wonderful, gorgeous, and insanely brilliant man? Thanks, Max, but you don't
have to tell me something I already know."
"Believe me, that wasn't what I was going to say." She released his hands, and he
allowed her to go reluctantly, already mourning the loss of her warmth. "Come on; time
to get you home. Can you stand ok?"
"Max, I'm insulted. What do you think I am? An invalid? Of course I can
stand." Alec replied, his full lips quirked in a frown. He rose unsteadily to his feet,
dizziness thrusting his temple. The slick of bile surged upward to glaze his throat.
Max reached for him as he swayed, slinging one arm over her shoulders.
Alec scowled. "How's this going to look when I come limping into Logan's
apartment with you half-carrying me over your shoulders?"
Max shrugged. "Just tell them I was desperate for any excuse to throw myself
into your arms."