Part 10: Time To Go

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Angela asked Alec one more time as she prepared to leave their room and Manticore, for good.

Alec nodded. "I'll try to get out if I can. Let's just get this over with." He said softly. They left and made their way to the cells holding the X5's. They quietly walked through the halls avoiding the cameras. Soon they were in the cell room and Alec was unlocking the doors. "The C4 will go off in three minutes, you'll only have five before they realise you're gone. Good luck." Alec said, trying to act like he didn't care. He turned to leave the room.

"Alec wait," Angela caught his arm. "I'll come back for you. I promise, just hold on for a little while." She reached up and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Don't forget us," she whispered in his ear.

Zack took her by the waist and pulled her away from Alec. "We need to go now," he told her, practically dragging her out of the room.

They ran down the halls, taking out guards of they were seen. The C4 went of three minutes later and the explosion threw them all to the ground. But they were up seconds later, this time at a full run. They broke out the back doors, making their way into the forest. Their escape went unnoticed as everyone was occupied with putting out the fire caused by the explosion.

They ran into the forest and out onto the roads, as luck would have it, a huge pick-up truck was coming along. Zack ran out to the middle of the road and flagged it down. The truck slowly pulled to a stop before him. Zack walked to the driver's side, planning on knocking him out and putting him in the back.

"Need a ride?" A familiar voice asked.

"Logan!" Max called running over to the truck. "How did you know?"

"Alec told me," Logan responded. "Now lets get as far away from here as possible before they realise you're gone."

They all piled into the truck, some on the front, some in the back. "What did Alec tell you?" Angela asked, sad that they had to leave him behind.

"To come and pick you up." Logan told her. "I didn't believe him at first, thought it was a trap to get Eyes Only. But he seemed on the level. He actually seemed sad about it. What's all that about?"

"He let us go?" Angela responded quietly before turning to look out the window. "But I'm going back for him."

"What?" Logan asked. "He just got you out of there and you're going back to get him. Why the hell would you do something so stupid?"

"Because she still loves him," Zack told him quietly. It was then he knew the truth; Angela had never stopped loving Alec, and seeing him again, brought old feelings back. The pain was worse than when he had been shot.

Angela looked at him sadly, but nodded. "I'm so sorry, there's nothing else I can say to make this better. But I do still love him."

Zack nodded, trying to look understanding. "He was the first guy you ever loved. I get that, you love him." He turned away from them and jumped into the back with the others.

Angela looked at him sadly, then turned to Max, who turned away from her angrily. They rode back to Seattle in silence, dropping the truck off at a truck stop and walking back to Logan's. Since Logan had moved after Alec and Angela had broken up, they were safe for a while.

"I'm sorry," Angela told her Max when they were alone. "But I couldn't lead him on."

"Then you shouldn't have started it in the first place." Max whispered furiously. "If you still had feelings for Alec, you shouldn't have started with Zack."

"Alec was out of the picture then. I thought I was never going to see him again. I thought that with Zack I could get a little bit of happiness. You didn't even notice." Angela was now getting angry herself. "You were happy in your own life with Logan, you didn't know that I was dying little by little each day."

"If it hurt you that much why didn't you say something? To me or Original Cindy." Max asked her, angry at what she did to her brother.

"I tried, but every time I tried something would come up or you'd leave, to come here. After a while I just figured it didn't matter. I was never going to see him again, there was no point bothering anyone about it." Angela left the room sadly. She made her way to one of the guest rooms avoiding people as she went. She opened the door and flopped on the bed. She tried, but she couldn't hold back the sobs.

Max, remembering how Angela had been after Alec left. How many times she had tried to talk to her, but Max brushed her off, always having something more important to do. But the truth was it wasn't important, not always, mostly she had come here, to Logan's, basking in happiness that Angela no longer had.

"Hey boo," Original Cindy said, walking up to give her a hug. "Good to have you back."

"Original Cindy," Max turned to her friend, who was more in touch with other people's emotions than she ever would be. "Do you remember after Angela broke up with Alec?"

"Yeah, why?" Original Cindy asked with a frown on her face.

"What was Angela like after that?"

"What do you mean?" She was still confused.

"Was she upset? Did she try to talk to me and I just ignored her?"

Original Cindy nodded. "My poor girl was heart broken. I tried getting her to talk to me, but she kept saying that she'd talk to you about it. So many times she tried to get you to listen to her, but you said you have other things to do. One day she came home and seemed happier, I figured that you two had talked, and she was all better, problem solved."

"I didn't talk to her," Max admitted. "She just told me how she felt after Alec left." Max turned to Original Cindy, her eyes filled with guilt. "I was the one who kept telling her Alec was a bad guy, that she should break up with him. I didn't even know that she loved him. I just thought he was another one of her games. How could I have missed it? How could I have been so blind?"

"Maybe you should go talk to her boo," Original Cindy suggested quietly.

Max nodded and made her way to the guest room Angela always used when she was here. She was about to knock when she heard sobs coming from inside. If it was possible Max's guilt escalated. But she knocked anyway. "Angela, can I come in? Please?"

"Yeah," came softly from inside the room.

Max quietly opened the door and was treated with the site on Angela lying face down on the bed, her whole body shaking with the force of her cries. Max went over and sat beside Angela, just stroking her hair. "I'm sorry," Max, said quietly. "I didn't know how much you cared for him, how much you loved him."

"Apology accepted," Angela mumbled.

"Please don't be so forgiving." Max pleaded. "I don't deserve to be forgiven. Not after the way I treated you. My best friend was in pain, and I was too wrapped up in my own life to notice it."

"You had other things on your mind," Angela said. "I should have tried to talk to you more," Angela had turned her face away from the pillow so she could be heard more clearly. "I'm sorry about what I did to Zack. If it's any consolation, I did have feelings for him. My feelings for Alec are just stronger. Please tell him that I didn't mean to hurt him." Angela asked Max.

"I will," Max, promised, getting up from the bed. "You get some rest."

"Thanks, Max." Angela whispered before falling asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"How is she?" Zack asked Max.

Max started. She hadn't known he was outside the door. "I think she'll be okay." She turned to her brother. "I guess you heard everything said in there, huh?"

Zack nodded. "She loves Alec. I think somehow I knew that. Whenever I was with her, it was almost like she was wishing I was someone else." He shook his head. "I thought she was over him, she seemed pretty angry when we saw him on the computer screen."

Max nodded. "Anger's Angela's way of dealing with things. I just hope we can get Alec back for her," she turned to her brother. "I'm sorry I didn't- "

Zack held up his hand. "It's alright, I know how much you care about her."

"I just don't know what it will do to her if she looses him again. It could tear her apart. We have to get him back." Max said desperately. "I can't loose my best friend."

"We will, Alec's strong. He knows how to survive." Zack told her. "We'll have him back before she knows it."

"I'll talk to Logan. See if he can find out what will happen to him." Max said walking away. Before she turned the corner into Logan's office she asked him; "Are you going to be okay?"

Zack nodded. "I've been through worse than this." She smiled slightly before walking into the kitchen. It was odd, but he knew that he was going to be okay. He would get through this.

TBC

What do you think? Major twist, but I just think Alec's better for Angela. Please tell me what you think, and if you're worried about Zack don't be, he'll find somebody.