Max & Alec + elevator + another locked room = ?

By Sinful Starlet

Disclaimer: given the way the second season ended, I seriously doubt that anybody connected to the show would have written this, but just for the record - not mine, never will be, blah blah woof woof!

Rating: Not too sure - probably PG-13, but maybe R in places

Summary: Sequel to "Max & Alec + locked room = ?" So Alec kissed Max - what now? And what do an elevator and another locked room have to do with it all?

Author's note: Right, here it is - for those people who requested the sequel (and thank you to you all for making me write again!) I'm not sure if it's as funny as the last one but I'm giving it a go, and *standing on her soapbox* this is M/A all the way!! No way you can get the wrong idea now.

IMPORTANT NOTE: right, I posted this before as an insert scene because I hadn't written anything else, but this now functions as chapter three of the story so apologies if you've already read it, but at least it makes sense in context now! *SS*

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Max couldn't get out of the apartment soon enough, being in such close proximity to Logan and Alec when she was having all these conflicting feelings was really not healthy! Unfortunately there was only really one way back down to the street. Well that wasn't strictly true, but she didn't really feel like taking the stairs and Alec was already following her into the elevator. She let out a barely audible sigh as the doors slid shut and was only brought out of her silent reverie by the thud of the brakes as Alec pressed the emergency stop button.

She wheeled round to face him, all ready with a "What the hell did you do that for?", but he got there first. "Ok, I give up - what the hell is up with you today?" "What?!", Max said, startled, but trying not to show it, "What are you talking about?" He let out a slightly comical sigh whilst dodging to block her in her attempts to reach the restart button, "Oh yeah, you're fine", he said sarcastically, "come on Max! You're so wound up you're giving 'on edge' a bad name!"

She gave up trying to reach the controls then, obviously they weren't going anywhere until she had given him at least some kind of answer, although she had no idea what he was waiting for. She knew why she was mad with him, but she didn't have a clue what his problem with her was. It was only then that she realised that she hadn't said anything for about thirty seconds and Alec wasn't yelling at her at all. He was just standing, leaning against the wall opposite her with his arms folded across his chest, just waiting for her to eventually say something.

He didn't even look mad, just sort of......what was that? Concern? Damn it! She really didn't have a clue what he was thinking and that was bugging her more than anything else. "Come on Max", he said again, much more softly this time, uncrossing his arms and walking a little closer to her, "I'm not moving this elevator till you tell me what's wrong......but I would kinda like to get out by lunch time if that's possible!"

The joke didn't go down well...at all. She was just starting to think that maybe there was something there between them after all and he had to go and make some typical smart-Alec remark like nothing had happened the night before. Well, she had two options as far as she could see - either act like nothing's wrong and try and bluff it out or tell him the truth about the way she was feeling now, and that really wasn't tempting. She decided to give option one a go - well she tried anyway.

"What's wrong with me?", she said, sounding a little more angry than she intended as she began to pace the elevator, well as much as she could round an 8-foot square space! "What about you?" He leaned back against the elevator wall again, an expression of confusion crossing his face, "Not sure I'm following ya". Max sighed, "Figures!" He frowned this time so she held up her hand to stop him interrupting while she tried to think of something else to say. "I just...", she hesitated, not sure this was her best idea, "...I just don't get how you're acting today".

"Excuse me?", Alec asked, getting even more confused. He didn't get it before, and if anything the situation was getting more complicated by the second. Of course, the fact that Max was standing all of about eighteen inches away from him wasn't exactly helping his concentration at that particular moment! He glanced at her then, seeing a frown on her face as if she was trying to psych herself up for something. Not a bad guess really.

"I'm not sure what you think I've done Max, but if you're offering an explanation I wouldn't complain!" "Okay", Max said under her breath, the subtle approach didn't seem to be working, let's see if spelling it out works. "I don't understand how you can act so cold today, I mean last night you're kissing me, today you're......well I don't know what you're doing today but---". She stopped short then.

She didn't really know what she had been expecting - surprise, confusion, but laughter definitely hadn't been on the list. But there he was, not exactly rolling on the floor, but laughing just the same. "God Alec, for once could you just take something seriously?" "I'm sorry", he said, stopping laughing fairly abruptly, although a smile still remained, "I guess I was just waiting for you to kick my ass for that kiss!" She couldn't help but smile a little at that, missing the look of realisation that suddenly crossed his face.

"So that's what was bothering you?", he asked, his voice suddenly more serious and quieter. Max nodded, but then hesitated, he was clearly waiting for something else but she didn't know what. "But what exactly was your point?", he asked, moving round to stand in front of her where she had stepped away from him before. "Are you mad because I kissed you yesterday or...", he hesitated himself then, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't about to make the biggest mistake of his life, "...or are you mad because I haven't kissed you today?"

Uh oh. And after all the subtexts and explanations that had been whirling round Max's head, it all came down to that one simple question. And she really didn't know what to say. This was Alec she was thinking about! The guy that seemed to spend most of his life complicating hers, and making her crazier than anybody else ever could. But if it was really nothing then why couldn't she get the memory of that stolen half-kiss out of her mind?

She had been glancing down at her feet for the last few minutes, and only now did she risk a look up when she saw the other pair of feet in the elevator moving closer to hers. "Okay Max", Alec was saying, although she was having a hard time concentrating on the actual words he was using, "as it seems you're not having a great day in terms of sayin' anything, how about this?" He stopped when he was about a foot away from her, "I don't know what's going on inside your head Max, but I think we have to do something about it".

He hesitated for a second, seeming to come to a decision in his head before he spoke again, "Right - in about ten seconds, I'm gonna kiss you. If you don't want me to, then all you have to do is stop me and we can go back to antagonising the hell out of each other like we normally do...but if you do...". He didn't need to finish the sentence, he was already edging closer and closer to her, their faces now so near to each other that Max could feel Alec's breath on her cheek. This is it, she thought, no chance of misunderstandings this time...She couldn't tell whether she was relieved or disappointed when just before they finally touched, there was a loud clunk and the elevator doors slid open again to reveal a rather surprised-looking Logan!

"I thought you guys would have gone by now", he said, still looking surprised to see them there. "Almost", Alec said, seeing that Max wasn't really up to answering herself at that moment, "we had to wait for the elevator". Logan seemed to accept this, though he remained a little suspicious - the look on Max's face that she was now trying to conceal, gave him enough cause for concern. There was definitely something up with her today, he thought, but it didn't seem like he was going to get a chance to ask what just then.

"Yeah, we got it", Alec said, a little sarcastically, interrupting Logan's train of thought, "you really worry too much Logan - it's just not healthy!" Max had to suppress a laugh, given the indignant look on Logan's face, but he didn't seem to notice. "Alright - well I'll see you two later", Logan said at last, realising they did actually have to show up for work at some point that day. Alec managed some vague response as Max nodded, watching Logan walk back into his apartment before the elevator doors slid shut once more.

"Well", Alec started, a wicked smile starting to cross his face, "that was close, huh Ma--?" He didn't exactly get the chance to finish the sentence. As soon as Max had felt the elevator start to move, so that she knew there was no chance of Logan bursting in on them again, she had pressed her lips against Alec's. At first Alec was going to break it off to add some witty comment that had just come to mind, but the continued soft pressure of her lips against his wasn't exactly an incentive to push her away.

He relaxed back into the kiss, running his hands up her face to comb them gently through her hair as she moaned into his mouth. Alec was entirely grateful for their Manticore-engineered ability to hold their breath as they didn't break the kiss even once all the way down from floor 23 to the lobby. They only separated once the elevator stopped and the doors slid open again. Max clearly wasn't quite ready to make a public spectacle of herself just yet.

In actual fact, there were only about three other people in the lobby of Logan's building, and they barely noticed the two leaving the elevator and walking fairly rapidly towards the outside door. Alec was a little confused, though he was firmly sitting on any rational objections to what they had just done. He was doing a little better than Max anyway. She hadn't noticed the blush on her face until she got outside and the distinctly cooler air stung her cheeks. All this time she had managed to avoid looking directly at Alec as well, though she knew she wouldn't be able to keep that up.

It wasn't that she was regretting what she had just done - in fact few things in her life had felt as good as that kiss, but she had no idea what to do or say now. Eventually he was the one that forced some communication. He stepped in front of her, gently lifting her chin up so she was forced to look into his eyes. What she saw there just about stopped her breathing. He was looking at her in a way that he never had before. There was something serious in his eyes, usually full of mischief, that she had never noticed before. It was almost like hunger. He seemed to devour her with his gaze, but there was something else too. She saw underneath the desire only too evident now - he was just as uncertain as she was.

"Well?", Alec said, letting her off the hook as she still hadn't said anything. "Well...", she said, apparently not able to think of anything else to say and managing an awkward smile. Alec hesitated again, trying to get some kind of clue from Max, anything even. Then he gave up. "Screw it", he said, almost under his breath. Max had just enough time to form a confused expression before she found his lips back on hers. If Alec had been uncertain before, he certainly wasn't showing it now, pouring months of longing and frustration into the most passionate kiss Max had ever had in her life.

She couldn't help it this time, the blush on her cheeks as they pulled apart approaching crimson. But he didn't pull back from her. He stood back enough to give her room to breathe, but kept his arms wrapped round her waist and his forehead resting against hers. "You ok?", he asked at last, tearing his eyes from her lips and looking her in the eye. She still hadn't exactly calmed down, but she did manage a sly smile when she replied, "After that, you have to ask?" Alec smiled too, brushing his lips against hers far more lightly this time. His heightened Manticore sensory awareness had already allowed him to notice that they were drawing something of an audience from the few people on the street at that time, but he'd never exactly been one to care what other people thought of him.

Well, maybe he did care what one person thought of him, but he certainly wasn't bothered about anybody else at that moment. "So what do you wanna do?", he asked, not sounding quite as confident as he would have liked. "Well", Max said, comically arching an eyebrow at the use of that word again. She moved her arms around the back of his neck and kissed him again before she said, "We probably should at least put in an appearance at work again some time today - I know Normal loves your ass, but he'd have no problem firing mine!"

Alec jokily shuddered at her turn of phrase, "I don't think it's my ass Normal loves - at least I hope it's not, but that wasn't exactly my question". "What was it again?", Max asked, feigning innocence, "I forget". "I said...", Alec started punctuating each word with a kiss to Max's neck which was making it seriously hard for her to concentrate, "what...", kiss, "...do...", kiss, "...you...", kiss, "...wanna do?", finishing with another kiss to her mouth. Max moaned against his lips, pulling him closer to her, though she pulled away a second later, looking a little shocked.

"Not me", Alec said, smiling but managing to look comically disappointed at the same time. Max swore and grabbed her vibrating cell-phone out of the pocket in her jeans - remembering the similar situation from last night all too well! "What?", she said, sounding somewhat frustrated as she answered the call. "Damn girl!", came OC's voice on the other end, sounding quite amused, "Sorry I called!" "Sorry boo", Max said, calming down a little, "you just surprised me a little is all", mouthing a further sorry to Alec.

"Evidently!", Cindy replied, a little sarcastically, "So what's the what? You meeting me for lunch like today or should I just go get pizza with Sketchy?" Max sighed, remembering just in time to hold the phone away from her face as she did so, "I'm on my way", she said at last, "I just got a little tied up at Logan's". The potential other meanings of that sentence were definitely not lost on Alec, whose suggestive look almost prompted Max to drop the phone from trying to hold her silent laughter in. "I'll see you in 10", she said at last, hanging up once OC had replied.

Okay well I hope you liked that preview, cos that's all you're getting for the time being! Uni work is a little excessive at the mo. I'll try and get on with the story as soon as I can, but it might take a while! Thanks for reading anyway! *SS*