TITLE: Coming Decisions – Chapter 9

WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)

EMAIL: hmfergie@charter.net

RATING: PG-13 (NC-17 where applicable will be separate)

SUMMARY: Set after Freak Nation. A miss understanding turns into some truth telling and decision making for our transgenic pair.

SPOILERS: Everything!

DISCLAIMER: All Dark Angel characters belong to James Cameron, FOX, etc. etc. etc.

FEEDBACK: Always makes me smile! :)

DEDICATION: To all the Nuns at the Church of Jensen, the Blue Lady, and of course Jensen!

RANT: Okay… I did the stupid thing and watched Freak Nation with the commentary. Can I actually say I'm HAPPY that DA was canceled? Seriously what Cameron and/or what the writers wanted to do…. UGH! So, with that annoyance in my head, I just had to correct a few things, or I couldn't live with myself, whatever this will be (obviously, writing this, before I write my fic) is the result of this huge annoyance. SO… let's see how it goes. ;)

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Alec sighed, and rubbed his forehead. That was one thing he really didn't want to hear. *One month,* he told himself. He only needed to get through one more month… just one month and he wouldn't have to see her again or in one month it would all be over… for everyone.

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She parked the bike at the foot of the steps, and sat there for a minute looking up at the house. The day was almost gone. It had taken her most of it to get the courage to actually come over. That and a lot of pestering from Original Cindy.

Max sighed and swung her leg off her motorcycle and stood up. She stood up straight. Adjusted her leather coat, and took a deep breath. And with a new found determination, she started to walk up the steps. And for the first time, in a long time, she felt with each step a small weight was being lifted from her shoulders.

A freedom that she hadn't felt in a long time seemed to sweep through her, and she had to guard against the smile that wanted to come over her face. A smile that would not be appropriate for the news she was about to break to the person inside.

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He didn't even bother to look up from his desk when there was a knock at the door. "Enter."

The door opened, and the smell of smoke drifted to his senses confirming who had walked into the room. "Come in and shut the door behind you."

He listed to the footsteps approach the desk, and stand on the other side. "Take a seat."

"I prefer to stand."

He caught the puff of smoke out of the corner of his eye, "Up to you. But we have some... things... to discuss."

With a huff Mole sat down in the chair, "You know... I don't really like being summoned for."

Alec stood up quickly, leaned both his hands on the desk, and stared at the lizard man in front of him, "I really don't care."

Mole looked back at him hard. "What the hell is this all about?"

Alec pushed himself back from the desk, and leaned back against the concrete wall. He folded his arms, "Did you really think I wouldn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Don't play dumb. I know you have been talking. Talking to the other transgenics. Both the non-human and the X's."

Mole didn't say anything, just puffed on his cigar. It was always better to find out as much as you could before confirming or denying anything.

"We need to make a few things clear. There will be no more talking 'bad' about Max... 452... or however it is that you refer to her." Mole sat up about to speak, and Alec cut him off. "This has NOTHING to do with me. This has EVERYTHING to do with the job we have to get done."

"No one trusts her. She's one of them..."

Alec waved his hand, cutting him off. "And you aren't helping to change that."

"Why should I change that? It's not like she has been very friendly to any of us. Heck, I don't know why you even think we should help the humans."

He ran his hand through his hair. He didn't want to get in this fight again. "No matter how much I dislike the idea... we are going to HAVE to work with her to accomplish this new MISSION." He saw Mole straighten slightly at that word. "Which means... no one here has to LIKE her, but they are going to have to have some degree of respect for her. And that means..." he leaned back over the desk again. "No more negative comments... Do we understand each other?"

Mole took another puff on his cigar, and gave a nod. "I won't say anything negative against your precious Maxie," he said as he started walking to the door.

"Mole!"

The man turned to look back at Alec... "I called her precious didn't I?" The evil look that was returned was enough of a warning. "Fine."

Mole turned back towards the door, "Oh and one more thing," Alec said. "It's also your responsibility to make sure no one else is allowed to either."

He took the cigar out of his mouth quickly, "Oh you HAVE to be KIDDING me!"

That's when Alec smiled, "Nope... let's just say it's your penance for all the crap you already said."

Mole just shook his head, grumbling as he walked out of the office, slightly slamming the door as he left.

Alec sat back in his chair with a sigh, and rubbed his temple. Now he just had to figure out a way so that he could actually still work with her. That is... if she would even talk to him.
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She flipped her hair as the door shut behind her, and she bounced down the old steps. She jumped on her baby, started up the engine and peeled down the street. The air slapping at the smile on her face. It was telling her she shouldn't be so happy about breaking a man's heart. She wasn't. She was happy at finally freeing her's.

Her hands revved up the bike higher as she sped through the dark city. She briefly glanced up at the sky, and caught a falling star. She wished for this to the first step in taking her life back. Or in reality, actually staking a claim to one. There would be no more hiding.

Max's phone vibrated against her hip. She quickly pulled it out, and checked the number. She let out a heavy sigh... well maybe she could stop hiding tomorrow, she thought as she turned her baby up another notch and ripped past the sector guards.
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He rubbed the antenna of his cell phone against his temple. She wasn't answering. Was he really surprised by that? That is if she even was near her phone. The thought of why she wouldn't be made him feel ill. *Stop thinking about it.* He tried to tell himself, but it wasn't working.

Alec dialed her number again... two rings... voice mail came on. He rolled his eyes, and took a breath. "We have to talk." He paused knowing that wouldn't be enough, "It's about the runes." Then he hung up, put his phone in his coat, and left his office.

He walked over to the computers, "Anything?" Both transgenics shook their heads. "Keep me posted," he told them as he walked out of Headquarters. He just had to get some fresh air. Well as fresh as he could get in Terminal City.

He stopped at the alleyway. His looked towards the direction of Jonny's and then he looked towards the parking garage. Part of him said to go to Jonny's, get a drink, and be there if something came up. Another part of him, a larger part of him, screamed at him to get out for a little bit. That if he was needed, they would call. That the standoff with the outside was not going to come to a head that day, or soon at all for that matter. And any information that Dix or Luke found about the runes could wait the small amount of time it would take for him to get back to Terminal City.

The decision made he walked to the garage and mounted his bike. It didn't take long for him to exit their small city and head out into the night, lighted by big streaks of white.
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Her mind was still debating what to do about the phone call. She knew she had to call back. She didn't want to. But she knew that he wouldn't have called her, wouldn't have left a message about the runes... if it truly wasn't important. *Especially with the way he feels.* The realization of that still hit her hard, but she tried not to think about it as she jumped out the window and onto the metal surface.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of air as she started to walk to her favorite spot. As she rounded the corner her eyes met a pair of hazel ones. A pair as shocked as hers were. Both speaking in unison, "What the hell are you doing here?"

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"On no."

Dix and Luke looked up from their computers to see Mole at the telescope. "What or who are you looking at now?" Dix asked.

"Pretty Boy..." The two got up and walked over to him, "And the bitch."

Dix coughed on the last word.

Mole looked at him, "Don't tell him I said that."

"Said what?" Luke said.

Mole nodded, "Exactly." He looked back into the telescope.

"Where are they?" Dix asked.

Mole just shook his head, "On the Space Needle."
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He sprung to his feet, facing her. She quickly retorted, "What do mean, what am I doing here? This is MY spot."

Alec looked down for a minute, then back up, "You come up here to 'get away' from things. What are you possibly trying to get away from?"

"I also come here to think. To just look out at the city."

He nodded and turned back to look at just that. "Yeah, well... I come here for those reasons too."

She was about to comment but held her tongue, and looked at his profile watching the city. He looked... different. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but it looked as if he had... lost something. Some spark just didn't seem to be present. That spark that liked to get under her skin and drive her completely insane.

Max sighed. "Well, you said you wanted to talk anyway. So what's the oh so important conversation about?"

Alec rubbed the back of his head, "Dix and Luke could explain it to you better."

"Oh, so they want me back in Terminal City?" she asked with a little bit of venom.

He turned towards her, "Max... about that..." He wanted to explain, to try and make her understand.

"No... don't. I don't want to hear it. I know how everyone feels. They don't want me back, they just have to have me back." She sighed and looked back out over the dark city, trying to not let the wetness in her eyes fall.

Alec started to reach out to her, but he let his hand fall back to his side. He sighed, "Max... not everyone..."

She put up her hand, "How's Joshua?"

He swallowed, "He's okay. Misses you."

She nodded. "So when do I need to talk to Dix and Luke? What do I have to do?"

"The sooner the better. And I'm not sure... we're not sure exactly what you have to do yet."

"Oh that's just great Alec. You are really informative."

He shook his head. Same old Max. And he thought that just maybe... maybe with the cure... whatever. Defensively he snapped back, "Well we are at least weeks if not months ahead with the information than what you little boyfriend has been finding out."

She turned quickly to him, about to retort that Logan was NOT her boyfriend when she realized that he didn't know that. Heck he had no right to know anything about her personal life. So instead she just rolled her eyes at him, "Whatever you need to tell yourself." She turned to walk back inside. "I'll come by tomorrow morning."

He started to watch her go, "Max..."

She turned quickly to face him, "What?"

Alec heard the tone of her voice, saw the bounce in her step. And even though he could see the hurt in her eyes, there was something else. Something else there that hadn't been there. Hadn't been there since he had 'helped' her escape from Manticore. Helped her 'escape' back into Logan's arms that first time. He shook his head, "Nothing." She gave him a look and then turned and left.

He turned around looking back out at the city. He had been ordered to help her 'escape' that first time into the other man's arms to kill him. But now... now he did it of his own free will and had given her the means not to kill him. He took a heavy seat back on the cold metal. Yep... she was happier out in the real world with... him.

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Chapter 10 Coming Soon! – Please Review!!!