Disclaimer: I don't own any of them blah, blah, blah
A/N: A very special thanks to Infie who is the greatest and checked this out for me and gave me a title J. And I want to thank all the Nuns and Monks cause you are great. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it's really appreciated.
A/N2: Sorry this took so long.
Tough Call
Facing facts
Max woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. Her eyes opened sharply as her enhanced sense of smell detected another fragrance: Oranges! She could not remember the last time she'd even seen, let alone eaten, a real orange.
She stretched her entire body, her feline DNA apparent in every movement, and looked around. She was in her own bed. She was sure she had fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for Alec to come back, which he never did. Or at least she had thought so. Cause there was no way OC could have carried her to her room, at least not without waking her.
He had come back. After all she'd said and done, Alec had come back. She jumped from the bed and ran to the living-room area, glancing around.
"He ain't here" OC said, popping her head from behind the kitchen counter.
Max wasn't fast enough hiding her disappointment and OC shook her head.
"Com'ere boo, sit down and eat." She handed Max a bowl of milk, the eggs and bacon and a glass of freshly made orange juice.
"Where did you get all this?"
"Where do you think?"
Max blushed "Yeah, uhm, there's something I have to tell you"
"What? That you're pregnant? Too late, boo. Why'd'ya think I made you all the food? Goodness of my heart?" she looked at Max sternly then. "And don't go thinking nothin' bad about my boy now, cause he did the right thing telling Original Cindy"
Max blushed again, but she had to ask "Er… What did he say?"
"He said you went into heat - which Cindy already knew. And that you were pregnant." At Max's uncertain look she added "I'm sorry boo, he really didn't want to say nothin' else but I knew he wasn't around when you were in heat, so he finally told me it was another X5." Max's head came up sharply at that, a puzzled look in her face, but OC was watching the food in the stove and didn't notice. "Anyway, boo. The big question now:" she turned around to look at Max out of big probing eyes "What are you going to do now?"
Max looked at her friend's concerned face and saw that no matter what she said, OC would be a hundred percent behind her. Her eyes moistened and she reached across the counter to grab the darker hand of her friend. She took a deep breath. "I'm gonna have it."
"You sure about that, boo?" OC squeezed her hand.
Max just nodded, her eyes not leaving OC's face, and so she watched a beautiful smile brighten up her friend's features.
"Aiight boo. So… what can Original Cindy do to help?"
They hugged and then ate their breakfast, talking about babies, toys and cradles.
-----------------
Normal looked up as Max and OC walked into Jam Pony. "Nice of you to join us ladies. Had a nice vacation Missy-Miss?
"Not really, but thanks for asking."
Both Normal and OC remained completely dumbfounded by Max's lack of hostility.
"Hello guys," Max said shyly, coming to stand near Alec and Sketchy. She looked warily at Alec, unsure of how he'd respond.
"Hey, Max! Good to have you back!" Sketchy said.
"Hi, Maxie" Alec answered, his trademark smirk in place. For the first time since she'd met him, she was glad to see that cocky, arrogant smile of his.
"Hey Sketchy!" OC came to stand besides Max "Hey, boo."
Max watched a beautiful smile light OC's face as she greeted Alec. *Boo?*
But her jaw dropped as she saw Alec smile back. The smirk was gone, leaving only joy. "Hey Cindy." He had smiled at her like that yesterday. A dark, awful feeling invaded her. Sadness.
"Oh, people, before I forget, here's my new cell phone number." Max eyed him suspiciously.
"What happened to your other phone, man?" Sketchy asked.
"Oh, well, let's just say a lot of persistent females had my old number. It was getting tiresome." he said, the smirk back on his face, causing Sketchy to smile, OC to roll her eyes at him and Max to look at him strangely. He clapped his gloved hands and said "Okay guys, see you later, I'm off to sector eleven."
Max followed him outside "All right, Alec, what the hell is going on?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't give me that crap!"
"Max, I seriously don't know what you mean. Nothing's wrong."
Max's eyes narrowed and he watched, fascinated, as she tried to keep her voice down "Why. Did. You. Change. Your. Phone. Number?"
"I just told you."
"Alec…"
"Okay, fine. I lost the other one."
She took a deep breath. "Alec, even I know you just buy a new one and get them to transfer your old line to it." He shrugged and smiled, but Max interrupted him before he could make another stupid comment. "AND I noticed your bruised knuckles."
"I was feeling frustrated because of the phone thing and hit a wall?" he tried, knowing she wouldn't fall for it.
"ALEC!"
"All right." He sighed "You know the Romanov thing I told you about?" Max unconsciously raised her hand to her neck. "And you know how I had a buyer?" She nodded "Well let's just say he isn't very happy with me right now."
"Oh, come on! It's a free market. The guy's got to know you'd sell to the highest bidder…"
He just stared at her "How many people do you think could afford that kind of purchase? And besides, he was under the impression I was playing him."
At Max's questioning look, he reluctantly added, "It was supposed to be a simple job. In, out, back in Seattle on Monday. Only the exhibition was delayed at L.A. for some reason, so I had to stay there for a week. And then a couple more days till I made it back here. I should have taken it to them then, but first I .. uhm…I wanted to …uhm… show it to you so you could admire it."
"You wanted to rub it in my face, show me what I had missed." she corrected him.
He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "So, when you didn't come to work I went to see you. And then I decided you'd probably like to have it, so…" he shifted his weight from foot to foot, uncomfortable. "Anyway, I went to see the guy, to tell him I didn't have the piece to sell anymore and he didn't take that so well. Neither did the other four guys that were with him."
"I'm sure they were even less happy after you left." she said, looking at the cut barely visible now on his eyebrow.
A half smile played in his lips along with a feral look. "Yes, a lot less happy."
"So, what about the phone?"
"Oh, that. Well, they had my number, so I thought it would be easier if I just changed it."
"Okay" Max said.
It was not okay, of course. Oh, the phone thing she believed. As well as the part with the buyer and his goons. Of course she was sure it hadn't gone as smoothly as he made it sound; they'd probably had guns, heavy ones, and five armed men against one, transgenic or not, was not a fair fight. They must have knocked his gun away from him at some point, which would explain the knuckles. But that wasn't what was bothering her. He could handle that and more.
It was the other parts he wasn't saying.
Like those two extra days to get back to Seattle. Why the hell two days? Especially if he'd had a week to do the recon.
And she might still be a little dazed by the being pregnant thing, but she could still add, and a week plus two extra days didn't account for the time elapsed till he came to see her. There were a couple of days unaccounted for. He had not gone to see her immediately after he got back.
Of course, there could be a million explanations for that, the simplest one, he hadn't thought about her till two days after. But that didn't make sense, not when he had a quarter of a mill worth of jewelry and an anxious buyer waiting. Plus he had said it in a way that made it sound like a continuous flow of events. Why would he do that unless he was hiding something?
And then there was the conversation with OC that morning. How did he know that?
"What are you not telling me?"
"That's about it." he answered evasively.
Since when was Alec so secretive? She snorted at herself. Who was she trying to kid? He talked all the time, but never really said anything. It had never bothered her before. She had been happy knowing only superficial Alec.
"Alec!"
Why was he lying to her? She was Alec's only friend, why wasn't he telling her everything? She felt hurt, dejected. And she ignored that little voice in her head telling her she'd never given him the chance to open up to her, that she was always judging him, that she never really paid attention to him. No. They had a bond of sorts now. And he was lying to her. Anger rose inside her again.
He knew she was wondering about the holes in his story, but he really didn't want to get into it now, not when the image of his friend leaving was still so fresh in his memory. "Seriously Max, nothing else of significance."
"Oh great, Alec! Just lie to me!" she shot him an aggravated look "Is this the kind of father you are going to be?" Max gasped the very second the words left her mouth. That had been a low blow. Really low.
She watched his eyes widen and then lose all expression.
Alec had thought it wasn't possible for him to feel worse than he had this past couple of days. He had been wrong.
Is this the kind of father you are going to be?
That had hit too close to home.
And the worst part was she didn't even have a clue.
He was a liar. He was a screw up. But that wasn't it.
All the thoughts he had been trying to put in the back of his mind since he decided to be that baby's father came back to haunt him.
He was a KILLER.
He had taken human life. Sometimes in cold blood. He had been ordered to do so, yes, but he'd done it all the same.
He had let himself forget that. How could he have, even for a second? He was a lousy example. Hardly someone a kid should look up to. What did he have to offer? A familiar ruthless coldness swept through him, leaving him empty.
A voice was trying to penetrate the walls around him.
She reached out and touched his arm. "Oh, god! I'm so sorry Alec. I didn't mean that" She shook him a little, trying to get him back. "I'm a bitch. Tell me that! Please, just yell at me."
They stood there, Alec looking vacantly into space, Max anxiously at his face, her hand still on him.
Her eyes teared up. She searched for the right words to say to him. Words that would express how she felt, how sorry she was, but couldn't come up with anything. What could she say to him?
It seemed every time she opened her mouth she hurt him.
----------------
An old man looked around the room out of wise eyes that seemed to take it all in. It was filled with eighteenth and early nineteenth century jewelry and costumes. Everything was perfectly displayed for effect, creating a luxurious atmosphere.
Well, almost everything.
In the middle of the room there was an empty glass case.
"I tell you it is impossible, yes?" a gray-haired man was saying with a heavy russian accent to what appeared to be a police detective "There is the motion detectors, the guards, the weight detector, sound detector, lasers. It had to be inside job. No human being on the planet could get in and steal that unnoticed!"
Both the policeman and the Russian turned to look at the old man that appeared to be snickering at them, but dismissed him quickly.
Who cared about an old fool with a cane anyway?
-------------
After what seemed like an eternity Alec forced his mind to take in his surroundings. He recognized Max in front of him. She was crying. He then felt his arm in her hands. She was touching him.
There had to be something good about him. Max was the 'always do the right thing' kind of person, and she was still here, despite of what she had said.
And he had changed. He worried about other people now. And he loved that baby. Maybe he wasn't perfect, hell, he was far from perfect, but his child would be loved and cherished and looked after.
He felt something warm sweep through him. And it was HIS kid. No matter what he'd been in the past, no one was going to change that.
His eyes started to focus again.
---------
"You are a bitch Max." he said very softly. "You're just lucky I have a thing for bitchy women."
Max started laughing while tears still ran down her face. Relief surged through her, leaving her weak.
Her sobs slowed as she looked into his eyes. "I really am sorry, Alec. You know I didn't mean that, don't you?"
He sighed. "Yes Max, I know"
Max groaned. She'd done it again. She had just made the whole situation all about herself. She was sorry. She hadn't meant it. He had to understand her.
She tried again, "Are you all right?"
"I'm always all right."
She winced. Okay, she deserved that. She decided to give it another try.
"Thanks for telling OC, she had to know but... I was not looking forward to it." He nodded, his eyes a little warmer at the mention of the other woman's name. "You knew that! Didn't you?" Max gasped. "You told her so it would be easier for me." When he didn't answer her eyes teared up again. "Why?"
He tore his gaze from the wall behind her and looked at her. "Why?"
"Yes, why are you doing this?"
"I want that baby too."
A shiver of pleasure went down her spine at his words, but she continued anyway. "That's not what I meant. Why are you so nice to me? Why do you go out of your way to make things easier for me? Why are you always around, always there for me? Why do you put up with me?" She looked down at her feet. "I'm never nice to you, and I'm always yelling at you, and blaming you for everything…" She glanced up at his eyes again, searching for an answer.
And that was the exact moment Sketchy chose to come out of Jam Pony. "Max, Alec, you still here? Normal's gonna be climbing the walls if he sees you!" Both transgenics turned to look at him, startled. "Come on Max, I'm heading for sector three too." Sketchy added.
"Uhm yeah, I … " She looked back at Alec, but he already had his sunglasses on and was arranging the strap of his bag across his torso.
"I'm leaving too, see you guys later." he said, pedaling his way down the alley.
---------------
"So Max, please don't yell at me or punch me, but, is something going on with you and Alec?"
They were riding in a quiet street, trying to avoid the holes in the pavement.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, it's just that I haven't seen Logan around much lately. And I haven't seen Alec with other girls for a while now. And you two seem to disappear at the same time often…" He looked at her. "I'm a journalist. I pick these things up." he said, making big movements with his head to emphasize his words.
A sad smile played on Max's lips. "I guess you do, Sketch. At least for the part that concerns Logan. You are right. We are not together anymore, not that we ever really were… I guess whatever we thought we had just wasn't there." She had started saying it so that the transition to her and Alec having a baby wouldn't be so surprising to Sketchy in the future, but as she did, she realized it was all true. She didn't know how or when, but somehow, at some point, Logan had lost his place as the center of her world.
Sketchy nodded, smiled and turned his eyes to the road again. Max sighed and looked at him strangely, wondering why she was telling him all this. Sometimes she tended to dismiss him as just a harmless fool. But she had done the same thing with Alec ever since they met. And if there was anything Alec was, he was definitely not a fool. Maybe she should start paying a little more attention to Sketchy.
-----------------
Alec nodded distractedly at the middle-aged woman signing his clipboard. He thanked her and walked away without waiting for his tip.
Max's words were still dancing around his head. Why?
Why was he still around? Why hadn't he left Seattle? Why had he given her that necklace? Why had he felt so devastated to know she'd been with someone else?
*Why do you think, Alec? You're in love with her.*
He was in love with Max. That was why. Of all the women in the city, of all the X5s Maticore ever created, he had to fall in love with the most complicated, difficult female of all.
He loved her.
That was why he was there for her, why he took her abuse, why he tried to make things easier for her. He took care of Max because he loved her.
And that was what he would do for his child. Take care of it. Because he loved him or her.
All of a sudden there was a smile on Alec's lips.
-----------------
"Welcome to Salem." the sign read.
The dark haired young man driving an old classic car glanced at it out of the corner of his eyes.
*Salem, Salem, why does it ring a bell?* he frowned a little, trying to remember, welcoming the detour from his previous train of thought.
*The exhibition!* Of course. He'd read about it somewhere. It was supposed to start a couple of weeks ago…
He decided to check it out. Maybe he would get lucky and it would still be around.
He laughed bitterly at himself. Since when did Lady Fortune accompany him?
*Well, I don't think anyone can get any more unfortunate than me, can they?* Plus he could really use the money.
And the distraction. Don't forget the distraction.
The last thing he needed was time to think.