TITLE: Coming Decisions – Chapter 19

WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)

EMAIL: hmfergie@charter.net

WEBSITE:  webpages. charter. net/ fergus80 (Jensen)

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 watched him go shaking his head. *What does he know anyway?* Even if he did try to get her. What would be the point? She was happy where she was. She wasn't interested in him. Why even try when you know what the outcome will be? He sighed again, and took another drink. His eyes caught a blondes at the bar, she smiled back. He took one last drink and sat the glass on the table. He stood up and headed for the exit. He had to get out of there before he did something he would only regret in the morning.

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"I don't like this."

"It has to be done."

"But like this?" her dark eyes asked.

He looked over at Dix and the little transgenic nodded. He looked back at her, "Unfortunately... yes."

She sighed, and leaned against the wall. "We're intentionally infecting the world with a virus."

"Max... you know it HAS to be done. And what the consequences will be if we don't."

She ran her hand over her face. "Yeah, but Alec... some won't live because of it."

He closed his eyes. He didn't like that idea either, but... "How many more will die if we don't?"

She knew, but she didn't have to like it. "You know we will get blamed for this. Heck, it will be our fault." He nodded. "We'll be blamed for this epidemic. And they will NEVER believe we were only trying to save them from something else."

He noticed her use of 'we' and 'them' but didn't say anything. "More than likely."

"How will we then... EVER convince them that we can coexist peacefully with them?"

"We'll figure that out later."

"But we need to..."

"Max... we don't have a whole lot of time to figure every little aspect out. We have to get this done, and soon. The virus has been made. It's ready to be spread. It's now or never. If we wait too long, it won't spread enough and people will still be sick by the time the comet gets here."

She closed her eyes, and lowered her shoulders. He was right. What choice did they have? "Okay, let's do this."

He leaned against the wall next to her, and lifted her chin back up to look at him. "Well, you could think about it like this..." She opened her eyes and waited for his answer. "We succeed and at least in our own minds we know we saved everyone. Or we don't succeed and..."

"And?" she asked.

"Then we don't have to worry about what they think." She closed her eyes on that, not liking that idea at all. He watched her, and could tell how much the idea hurt her. He didn't like it either. His fingertips lightly brushed against her cheek trying to comfort her. Her eyes opened instantly and locked onto his, when he spoke with conviction. "But that WON'T happen."

She gave a small smile. "This time... I really... REALLY hope you're right." She leaned slighting into his touch, and for a brief moment their eyes held.

Alec caught his breath and pulled his hand away, dropping it to his side. "Okay then. Let's get this started." He stood up straight and headed for the door, Max followed seconds later, and then Dix shaking his head at the two in front of him closed it behind them.

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{{Ten more cases have been reported in Los Angeles. Twelve in New York. Eight in Miami. Three in London. Fourteen in Paris, and six in Tokyo.}}

The door opened, and he moved his gaze from the reporter on the television to the man walking towards him and the group that had formed.

"How's it going?" he asked and then coughed.

He took the cigar out of his mouth, "It's spreading like wild fire. So it's good or bad depending on how you look at it." He pointed his finger at him, "You don't look so good. You should be in bed."

Alec rubbed his slightly red nose, "I'm fine." He then turned to Dix. "How long do you think before total exposure?"

The little transgenic sneezed and then responded, "At this rate, seventy-five percent of the worlds population should be exposed by the end of the week."

He nodded, and then turned back to Mole, "Our men in the field?"

"Hitting the remote populations as we speak, or will be by tomorrow."

Alec was about to ask more when he heard a loud smack quickly followed by a grunt. His brow crinkled in confusion as he turned in the direction of the sound coming from her office. He thumbed to the door, looking at Mole. "What was that?"

Mole smiled, "She's not liking the news."

He smiled when he realized what she was doing, and then tried to make a decision. Let her continue using his peace offering to ward off her steam, or take a chance and make the tempered beast feel better. Both options had their good and bad points.

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Punch. Hit. Kick. Punch. Grunt. Punch. Punch. Kick. Smack. Punch. Grunt. Punch. Punch. Punch. "ARRRGGG!" She screamed as she spun and kicked the bag again. A small drop of sweat flew from her forehead, as her fist struck out again hitting the red leather.

She knew it had to be like this. She knew they were doing the right thing. She knew it was for their own good. But she didn't have to like it. She punched the bag again and it swung hard on it's chains.

She hated it. Hated having to infect her best friends with it. Hated to ask Dr. Carr to help them infect the hospital. Hated to have to send X5's out all over the world infecting international airports, seaports, and remote areas. She closed her eyes and both fists started punching, left and right, again and again.

And what did she hate more than anything? She had no one to blame. *How do you blame a comet?* she screamed at herself. Sure she could try and blame White and his cult loonies because they didn't share their immunity with the rest of the world. But it wasn't like they were bringing that damn comet here.

She swung again and missed as the knock on the door startled her. "Enter," she yelled as her fist flew out again this time striking the bag hard. The door opened behind her and she turned around quickly, slightly out of breath… "Hi…"

"Hi," he responded shutting the door and slowly walked over to her. "You okay?"

She rolled her eyes, and smacked the red leather again as she walked over and sat on the corner of her desk, "Oh yeah… peachy."

"Max… you know it had to be…"

She cut him off, "I know… I KNOW. Okay?"

He sighed, putting his hands up in the air, "I didn't mean to…"

"I know…" She said again more calmly.

"Do you want to know the status?"

She shook her head no, "Just tell me if it's working or not. I really don't want to know the numbers."

"It's working so far."

She nodded and crossed her arms around herself. He saw her response and knew. "It's the right thing Max." She closed her eyes and nodded that she knew. He started to walk over to the desk to sit down next to her, but stopped part way. His eyes squinting, his nose twitching, his breath holding.

Max looked up at him, her eyebrows knitting, "Alec…"

And then he sneezed, hard. A second later, "Damn… I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

She smiled slightly, "Bless you."

"Huh?"

She giggled, "You know… 'Bless you,' common saying after someone sneezes."

He nodded, "Oh yeah… just not used to someone saying it to …" he stopped before he could say me and sneezed again.

She was on her feet this time and over to him before he got to open his eyes. Her hand on his forehead, "Damn Alec… you're hotter than hell."

"Wow…" He said with a cocky grin, "You finally admit it."

It took her a second to understand, and then she hit him in the shoulder. "I didn't mean it like that!" She yelled, and then smacked his shoulder again.

"Ouch," he replied with a puppy dog look, "Sick one here."

"Yeah, I know… that's WHAT I was referring too." She sighed, taking in his appearance, "And you don't look so good."

He sighed, "Oh perfect. I go from 'hot' to 'not so good' in like five seconds."

"Alec…"

He was about to respond but his lungs had other ideas as he started on a coughing fit.

She rolled her eyes at him, pulling him over to sit on the couch. He sat down and she pushed his shoulders back to rest on the cushions. "Why the hell are you even out of bed?"

He finally stopped coughing, and shook his head at her. "You sound like Mole."

"Excuse me?"

"He said the same thing just a min…" he started coughing again.

"Okay, that's it." She took his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"What's it?" he managed through coughs.

"You're going home."

He shook his head, "I'm fine." He coughed again, "Fit as a fiddle," and then sneezed. His hand went to the side of his head, he felt slightly dizzy. "Okay… maybe not a fiddle… banjo?"

She gave a small smile, shook her head, put her arm under his and around his back. "Let's get you to bed."

"Wow, 'hot' and 'bed' in under five minutes…" he didn't get to finish his sentence as he got his ass smacked. His eyebrow shot up and he looked over at her as they started to walk to her door.

"Couldn't hit your back and make you cough again, and couldn't kick your ass… so I compromised." *Yep… that's why.* She told herself.

He nodded as they got to the door, his mind trying to believe what she said to help him rationalize it. But he straightened his shoulders as she started to open the door. "I'm walking out there without your help Max." She looked at him confused. "I have to." Then she understood. He didn't want to show the others his weakness. What he had just shown… her. She nodded and watched him take a deep breath and exit. She followed a few steps behind.

Alec stopped in the middle of the room, and looked over at Mole, "More reports coming in?"

"Yep, still working."

He nodded, took another breath and walked over to Dix. "Go get some rest. Luke's better now, he can fill in." Dix nodded, and reached for the phone. Alec turned back to Mole. "You have everything under control?" The reptilian nodded. "Good. If you need me… I'll be in my apartment." He took another deep breath and started walking to the exit.

"Got it," Mole replied and then looked at Max following Alec. He nodded at her, and she gave him one in return before she left through the door. "I'll be damned." Mole said with a grin, shaking his head as he turned back to the television.

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Chapter 20 Coming Soon! – Please Review!!!