Lucy stood off to the side as people, or more accurately creatures, swarmed around Alec. A young woman came blurring through with a light blue bag and stopped in front of Alec.
"You are annoyingly injured all the time, Alec."
"Just tryin' to keep you in business, Riles." They exchanged smiles that seemed to say more to each other than to Lucy. She watched as the woman prodded at Alec and finally pulled out a pair of tweezers and a bottle of liquor. "Drink up. I'm going to have to mess around with the wound. It's gonna be painful."
"Next thing I buy is going to be some anesthetic."
Max had been quiet up to that point. "You gonna get some from your reliable suppliers?"
Alec rolled his eyes. "Naw. I thought I'd get some from Logan."
They glared at each other and Max looked like she was ready to hit him. Riles stepped in front of the two. "Okay. Injured, uninjured. You do not beat up on him until at least tomorrow."
Max sighed and stepped away. Alec looked pretty triumphant until Riles poked his side again. "Hey, I'm not drunk yet!" As if to prove that point, he uncapped the bottle of whiskey and swigged it. A cloud of smoke puffed into the room and Lucy saw the lizard man standing in the doorway, cigar in mouth. The dogman and catwoman entered the room, laden with boxes. Max told them to sit it in the corner. Max surveyed the room and suddenly realized that Lucy was still standing there.
"Oh, Lucy. I...sorry. Did Biggs tell you where to stay?"
"He said I could stay with the three of you?"
"That's great. Come on. I'll take you to our apartment, leave the idiotic here with Riles."
"I resent that. I'm actually quite-quite brilliant. Isn't that right, Riles?" Alec was sipping on the next bottle of whiskey.
"He's right. It's why he's a repeat patient. Now everybody out now!"
Max smiled a little and started to walk out with Lucy. "Riles, Alec's gonna be fine, isn't he?"
"Yeah. He's used to it."
Max laughed again and walked on with Lucy, ahead of Biggs and Joshua to the apartment.
"He was shot and he didn't even say it hurt!" Lucy whispered, thinking that it would keep Biggs and Joshua from hearing the amazement in her voice. Max shrugged.
"We're transgenics. We're trained to be able to take a bullet."
Biggs spoke up from behind. " 'specially Alec. He's taken several bullets and he's been through a lot worse."
"How'd you hear me?" Lucy asked in awe.
"We're also designed to hear from long distances."
Lucy blushed prettily and Biggs watched her. He was fascinated by the Ordinary that Max knew. She didn't seem as, well, ordinary as the Ordinaries did. She had this look in her eye, it was the same look he saw in many transgenics. Tired, wary survivors. Lucy looked at her feet while Biggs scrutinized her. She hated being the center of attention and the way he was looking at her, it made her scared. She hated being scared. It wasn't right. She shouldn't be scared of him. He wasn't going to hurt her. Not all men were bad. She knew that, but still he terrified her. Joshua spoke, breaking her thoughts, "Logan call videophone while Little Fella was gone. Joshua tell him Little Fella was gone, but he left a message. Call him. It's important." Joshua smiled brightly, proud of himself for relaying the message. Max bit her lip, rolling her eyes. "Everything's important where he's concerned."
Things had been tense between her and Logan for a while. Logan had helped them a great deal, especially when they were trying to get out of Jam Pony, but she was still a danger to him. And Terminal City was an even great danger to him. She'd forced him to leave T.C. to go live at Joshua's crib. Yes, for safety reasons, and also because she was tired of him always looking over her shoulder. She loved Logan. At least she used to. She'd probably always love him. He made her more human, but it wasn't meant to be. They weren't in a fairy tale and there would never be a happy ending for them. She wasn't even sure if she wanted a happy ending for them. She laughed a little when Biggs started to crack up.
"Finally, she realizes that Logan is obsessed! I'm so proud of you, Max. If only Alec were here to share the joy."
Max opened the door in reply and let Lucy in. "Here's our little home. It's small, it's cramped, and it's dirty, but it's home."
Alec tensed up the minute Riles' hands hit his stomach. They were so cold and he didn't like it one bit. The metal of the tweezers felt like they'd been in the freezer and he briefly wondered if Riles had put them in an icebox before she'd come just to torture him. He closed his eyes and tried to find something to think about that would relax him. Max was what he settled on. It worked until he started thinking about her reaction to his being shot. He hadn't expected sympathy. Far be it for Max to sympathize with him about having another unnessecary hole in his body. But she'd been cold to him again. He used to tell himself it was a safety thing. She'd bust his butt on screwing up again because she cared. He wasn't so sure about that now. He heaved a sigh, this topic was a little too deep with the amount of alcohol he'd consumed.
"Are you almost done yet?"
Riles smiled. "I have to stitch you up. You know the drill."
"Do you think Max cares about me cuz I think she really does hate me." He blurted it out in one run on sentence. Riles shook her head while she cleaned up the wound. He bit down on his lip trying to divert his attention from the stinging sensation spreading across his abdomen. "She doesn't hate you, Alec, I know that."
"How?"
"Because she may act like she's mad at you for getting shot, but if you look in her eyes, you can tell she's really worried."
"I've looked in her eyes before...they're really pretty. So brown and chocolatey. They reminds me of coffee."
Riles took a deep breath to calm herself. Alec always got real chatty when he was trashed.
"I never knew you were so insecure."
"I'm not ins-secure!"
"I also know because she asked me if you were going to be all right before she left. She cares."
"Then why am I just a punching bag to her?" Riles snapped off the gloves she'd been wearing and Alec shuddered involuntarily. It brought back memories of Max and the Log.
"All done. I don't know why, Alec. You'd have to talk to Max. I was specialized in field med, not pshychology."
"Mmmm...you're very, very, very good at field med."
"Thanks. Now keep your eyes closed and sleep. It's okay for you to sleep."
Alec snuggled into the pillow she'd given him. "But then the nightmares come." Riles pushed her long blond hair off of her shoulders and took in the sight of Alec. He looked vulnerable and sad, his face scrunched up adorably in worry. She brushed a hair off of his forehead. "You have nightmares?"
"Mhm. A lot of 'em."
"Well, don't worry tonight. I'll make sure they don't come." Alec smiled sweetly before his breathing steadied and slowed. He was fast asleep. Riles set herself in a chair, intending to stay with him all night. Alec was like a brother to her. He was in the infirmary a lot at Manticore and she'd always been the one to take care of him. She wasn't going to shrink from that duty now. Maybe if she sat there, she would be able to keep the nightmares from coming.