Title: Harm's Way
Author: Bent137
Chapter: Seven
Rating: R, Violence, Language.
Genre: Angst, Humor
Pairing: M/A Friendship with undertones, M/L angst
Summary: Max finds out how Seth came to die, and she's none too pleased.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all to do with Dark Angel, if I did it would still be on the air.
Author's Note: First, Thanks to Adrolien for taking a chance an unknown and new writer and betaing. This is a response to a challenge posted at NWP. It's the "After Seth" challenge posted by Vanessa_TaleWeaver, and includes spoilers for the entire run of the show and the first book "Before The Dawn."
Challenge: Here are the parameters:
1) Can be set anytime season 2, after freak nation, or in an alternate universe.
2) Alec and Joshua must help Max work through the fall out. OC would be nice too, but that's not compulsory.
3) Sketchy must make an appearance, in which he shows he's not as dumb as he usually acts. (long or as short as you want.)
4) Max must confront Logan about not telling her about Seth, and they need to have a rip-roaring fight.
5) Someone needs to point out to Logan that the deal he made with Max was extremely heedless of her safety, given what happened to Seth.
6) Logan cannot be portrayed as stupid or maliciously selfish. Narrow-minded, blinkered, and not nearly as accepting of Max's special abilities as he pretends to be, sure!
7) One of Max's other siblings must be mentioned. Living or dead, real-time or flashback, mentioned in passing or full-blown guest appearance - anything goes.
8) Whether Max forgives Logan or gets together with Alec is up to you. BUT she cannot blame any part of this mess on Alec, and they must be friendly, at least, at the end. Hot love and steamy sex are always preferred, however.
9) Alec cannot be the one to tell Max about how Seth died. He can be the first to know, but he cannot be the one to actually tell her.
Chapter Seven: Gettin' Busy? Not The Plan No More
Max took a deep breath as she headed into command at Terminal City. She looked around for Alec but didn't see him. Over in the corner Joshua was working on a new painting. She walked over to him, plastering a smile on her face. "Hey big fella, what you doing?"
Joshua whirled around, "Little fella can't see!"
"Why not?"
"Joshua, painting for little fella. Make little fella happy."
"Thanks, big fella," Max covered her eyes with her hands. "I won't look. Have you seen Alec?"
"Medium fella in his office."
"Thanks, Josh. I'll go see him so you can get back to painting and I won't see."
"Bye little fella."
"Bye Josh." Max turned, took her hands off her eyes and strode to Alec's office. She knocked once and entered when he called for her to come in. "Hey Alec."
He looked up from some papers on his desk, "Hey Max. What's up?"
"Joshua's painting me something, to make me happy."
"I know, we talked earlier, I think it's nice of him."
"Why did you call O.C. last night?"
"I thought you might want to talk to your girl about it."
Max nodded. "Well thanks, it was nice of you."
"Yeah, that happens occasionally."
Max laughed, "Everyone's been great through this so far. I expected a lot more 'I told you so,' especially from you."
"Maxie, that hurts."
"Well you did tell me so."
"I did, but I didn't plan on rubbing it in your face."
"That's reassuring."
"Say, you want to go get some breakfast before work? I know this great place in Sector 5 that sells homemade donuts. This little old lady makes them from a pre-pulse recipe."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Well, I suppose in such a situation a girl does have to have her sugar." She smiled at him as he got up and joined her.
"Especially when someone else is paying?"
"Exactly."
*
Max smiled to herself as she entered the ladies room at the bakery she and Alec were at. She was actually having fun. If Logan hadn't caused Seth's death she might have felt a little guilty. She never thought she'd have this much fun with Alec. He was being nice, but not too nice.
He was right about the place too, she hadn't seen any place quite like this in Seattle before. It was cleaner than most other establishments, and the donuts were great and decently priced. Finally someone who didn't want to take all her hard earned money. She was going to have a plain donut, but Alec insisted she try their Cinnamon-Sugar Cider donuts as well.
She finished her business, applied some lip balm to her chapped lips. She had a bad habit of biting them when she was stressed, and the past few days have been pretty stressful.
She reentered the main room and returned to the small table where Alec was waiting for her.
"Hey," Alec greeted, "you okay?"
"Sure, thanks for this though. You were right. This is a great place."
"It is, so are you ready to go?"
"Yeah. We better get to work."
Alec nodded, "I'll just pay."
She followed him to the counter and watched as he smiled at the woman behind it.
"That it for today Alec?"
"Actually, can I get three cider donuts to go?"
"Plain or Cinnamon-Sugar."
"Um, plain."
Max looked at him curiously as the woman hurried to put the donuts in a small brown paper bag. He returned her gaze steadily.
"For Dix, Mole and Josh."
Max nodded.
"Here you go Alec," the woman handed the donuts to him with a smile. "You come back soon. You too Max."
"I will," Max and Alec promised at the same time.
"Bye Marjorie," Alec added.
They turned and walked out the front door.
*
Max and Alec rode down the street together.
"Thanks for breakfast," Max said, breaking the silence.
"No problem."
"No, really. It was a great place, and it was nice of you to pay even though I offered to buy my own."
"Well, the way I see it you owe me breakfast now."
Max cracked a smile, "I hope you don't expect me to cook it."
It was Alec's turn to smile, "I'm not stupid."
Max smirked, "Well, I guess we'd better get back to work."
"Way to change the subject." Alec glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "You go, I'll take these back to TC and meet you there."
"Okay," Max agreed. "Bye." She steered her bike away from him and down a nearby alley. Alec watched and continued down the street.
*
Alec was almost to the other end of the alley when the van pulled up. His senses instantly on alert he froze as the door slid open. He dropped his bike and turned to run but a tazer caught him in the back. He stumbled, another tazer caught him in the leg and he went down. Two people clad in black, faces obscured, picked him up and heaved him into the van. One of them then grabbed his bike and tossed it in before jumping in and slamming the door shut.
To Be Continued...