The meaning of the runes
By Sinful Starlet
Disclaimer: everybody! "Not mine, never will be, wish it was, etc etc"!
Rating: PG-13 / R - I'll warn in advance of any rating changes
Summary: Alternate take on events around and following 'Love Amongst the Runes' - certain aspects of the storylines around that time really bugged me! Basically Max discovers the runes, but they aren't quite as unique as she thought. What do they mean and what will that revelation mean to her and the ones she loves?
Author's note: right - chapter four. Kind of an interesting spin on chapter two (she hopes!) - the plot thickens, and Logan has a conversation he would probably rather forget. Just a quick note - I'm not a Logan-basher (at least I hope I'm not!) I don't hate the guy, I just have a problem with the idea of him and Max as a couple - right, well hope that cleared that up! Hope ya like it anyway! *SS*
4
Alec hesitated for a second before he knocked on her door that evening, though he couldn't have said exactly why. It was true, things had been going fairly well between them lately - which made for a nice change - but he still felt a little awkward coming to see her like this. It'd come as something of a shock when he stepped out of the shower, but nevertheless, he'd got dressed and made his way straight over to her place. She was back in TC again, that night, having decided to crash there rather than ride back to her apartment.
She was still basically living with OC, but she also had a room set aside in TC so if she had to be there for anything, or for any other reason, she had somewhere there that she could sleep. The fact that this second place of hers was all of two doors down from Alec's new home was apparently entirely coincidental. Well, that was what she kept protesting to Alec, when he wound her up saying she couldn't stay away from him.
It also helped to convince Logan of the fact that he and Max were together. He had called round to her old apartment a couple of times since she'd broken up with him and OC had been able to say entirely truthfully that Max wasn't there - allowing Logan to fill in the blanks about where she actually was. OC hadn't been entirely happy about lying to Logan like that, but she had done it for Max's sake, of course.
Alec brought himself out of his momentary reverie and knocked on the door again, hoping she hadn't already gone to sleep, but thankfully after a few seconds, he heard her voice saying, "Hold on". "Hey", she managed as she opened the door, looking more than a little surprised to see him, especially that late at night, "is everything ok?" "Not exactly", Alec said, smiling weakly, "can I come in?" "Sure", Max said, stepping inside to let him in - walking over to the chair where she'd dropped a towel, picking it up again and starting to dry her hair again.
She'd just come out of the shower too, Alec realised, sensing the slightly steamy atmosphere of the room (literally steamy I mean!), and the slight flush on her still moist skin. He cursed himself as his mind wandered off an entirely inappropriate tangent, bringing him back to reality with a thud as he noticed she was standing in front of him, looking like he was crazy or something. "You wanna tell me about it?", she said, abandoning the towel again and crossing her arms in front of her, still regarding him with that questioning look.
Okay, he was supposed to say something now, right? Unfortunately, all ability for rational thought seemed to have deserted him for that moment, as he watched a tiny droplet of water run from her hairline, down her cheek. She brushed the offending drip aside with the back of her hand and shook her head. "Alright, well I'm going to make some coffee", she said, speaking slowly as if she were talking to a child, "if you recover the ability to speak or remember why you came here, feel free to let me know".
He tore his gaze away from her lips long enough to focus and managed to say, "I think there's something you should see". That got her attention and she turned back to face him, putting the kettle she had just picked up, back down on the worktop to her left. "What is it?", she asked, suddenly looking a little worried again, "Alec are you sure you're alright?" He thought of explaining but didn't really know where to start, so he just shrugged off his jacket and grabbed the hem of his shirt, about to pull it over his head.
"Whoa!", Max cut in, holding up a hand to stop him, "Alec, what the hell are you doing?" "Will you relax?", he said, finally managing a laugh, seeing the expression on her face - a mixture of fear, incredulity, and he wasn't sure what else. Before she could object again, he reached for the hem of his shirt again and pulled it all the way off again, dropping it down onto the chair next to his jacket. Max closed her mouth on the protest she had been about to form, realising what it was he had wanted her to see, but all she seemed able to say was, "How?"
"You got me", Alec shrugged, "I just stepped out of the shower and they were just there". Unable to stop herself, Max walked over to him, reaching up a hand to ghost over the runes across his chest. There was only a single line of them, running horizontally across his chest, about three inches below his collar bone. Alec had been about to ask her what she was doing, but shut up as soon as he felt her warm fingers tracing over his skin. He waited a few more seconds, but eventually realised at least one of them had to say something.
"Max?", he managed, his voice soft and deeper than usual. "Yeah?", she said, jerking her head up instantly, apparently only just realising what she had been doing, snatching her fingers away from his chest. "I thought we better get some pictures of them, before they fade", Alec said, struggling to hold onto his train of thought, "you've still got the camera right?" "Yeah", Max nodded, walking off towards her 'bedroom' and coming back seconds later. She had to fight the urge to smile as he raised his eyebrows at where she had kept the camera.
"In case I got any more runes", she explained, trying her hardest not to laugh. Alec made a fairly non-committal gesture she guessed was supposed to approximate 'fair enough'. She turned the camera on and laid her hand on his chest as she positioned the lens to capture the runes on his skin. "Hold still", she said, a little unnecessarily. "Yes ma'am!", Alec quipped, smiling as she rolled her eyes. "So", he said, needing to say something to detract from the sensation of her fingers pressing gently again his skin, "have you had any more?" "Runes", he added, when he saw the lack of comprehension on her face.
"A few more groups on my arms, but that's it", Max said, "I was gonna get the pictures over to Logan tomorrow". "Right", Alec said quickly, trying to gloss over the waver in her voice as she said Logan's name. "All done", Max said, a minute later, "there weren't any more were there?" "Nope", Alec said, reaching for his shirt and pulling it back on over his head, missing the look that crossed Max's face as he did that. Which was probably just as well, the conflicting emotion that was running through Max at the moment was really messing with her head.
"Well I better go", Alec said, breaking the silence that had descended between them, "so were you gonna call Logan on the vid link tomorrow?" Max nodded, slightly thrown off by the mention of Logan's name again, "Yeah", she added a little sadly, "I don't think I could face going over there again". "Right", Alec replied, knowing not to pry any further, "well, knock on my door before you do - maybe I should be there too". That confused Max for a second, why exactly was he supposed to be there? She knew she'd asked Alec to pretend to be her boyfriend in front of Logan but what was he going to do - give Logan a visual over the vid link?
She cursed inwardly, pushing back the multitude of images that flooded her at that moment, all the more potent given the intimate situation the two of them had just been in. She eventually realised that he meant he should be there so he could find about the runes, so she managed to say something to the affirmative. Alec nodded, regarding her closely for a second, apparently having noticed the long time it took her to respond. He let it go though, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door, saying he would see her in the morning.
*
It was all of seven hours later by the time they were standing in the hub of their command centre at TC, calling up Logan on the vid link. Max had called him on his cell first, dragging him out of bed apparently, much to the chagrin of Alec who had been woken up loudly by Max almost an hour earlier. Logan looked rather pleased to see Max when he eventually got the vid link going, but his smile quickly faded when he saw Alec standing beside Max.
"We've got some more runes for you", Max explained quickly, "I'm sending the files over to you now". She gestured for Dix to upload the files from the camera and within a few seconds, Logan called them back, as they downloaded onto one of the monitors in front of him. "Right", he said, scanning through the images one by one until he came to one in particular. It was of an entire design, an entire design on a chest that was very obviously not Max's, one that was very obviously male. "Who else--", he started, but Max interrupted.
"Alec", she said, looking over at him quickly, "they turned up last night". It took Logan a few seconds before he could respond, though they all knew what he was thinking. Alec and Max shared an awkward glance before he took in the faces of the others around him - Joshua, Dix, Mole, and the nomaly who had been created for the sole purpose of digging trenches (AN. Does anyone even know what his name is? V confused!) They all knew about Max's lie to Logan, Alec having explained so that none of them accidentally let the truth slip.
"You didn't get any more?", Logan's reply came at last, "Just this single string?" "Um yeah", Alec said, slightly taken aback at being directly addressed by Logan. "I guess they aren't as unique to you as we thought, Max", Logan said, still looking at the images rather than at the vid link showing her face, "maybe they're encoded into all the transgenics". "Don't think so", came the reply, somewhat surprisingly from Mole, and in fact, everyone turned round to hear what he had to say, including Logan. "After Alec told us about his runes, Joshua and I did a little survey of the Terminal City residential population - no one else has got them".
"Well", said Logan, the first to reply to this revelation, "maybe it has something to do with contact, maybe they're 'passed on' or something". "Yeah maybe", Max replied, frowning, "but Alec isn't exactly the only person I've come into contact with lately". "Well, maybe it depends on the degree of contact", Dix started, ever the rational one. "Sure", Logan cut in, "I mean you'll obviously have been closer to Alec than anyone else, right?" If it was possible, the tension in the two rooms got even worse after that statement, and apparently nobody knew what to say.
Right - well that was chapter four. I know that was kind of a mean place to stop, but I was running out of steam (again literal steam!) on this scene. Story picks up pace quite a bit after this now, and there's still a fair chunk of it left. Hope ya liked it anyway! *SS*