Title: anything and everything

Author: sue

Rating: PG

Show: DA

Genre: Angst/Romance/Adventure

Type: WiP

Summary: under the chaos of a failed mission, somehow Logan had managed to do the impossible- infect Max with the virus. Now, it's up to Alec to stop her from taking an unplanned journey across the tunnel that ends with the bright lights. And he won't stop at nothing to make sure of that..

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this chapter was beta-ed by heather :) thanks a lot heather! *smile*

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Chapter 4. The Frantic Search.

Logan's apartment.

Alec was standing alone in Logan's empty apartment. His eyes stared unseeingly ahead as his mind started going into full panic mode. Realizing this, he pulled himself together sharply. He couldn't possibly find Max if he wasn't himself. He took a deep breath, his mind now crystal clear, he pulled out his cell phone and punched in Logan's number and waited impatiently to be connected. He groaned in frustration as he got the voicemail. Quickly he left a brusque message, asking about Max and to call him as soon as possible. He almost smashed the phone to pieces before he noticed something that almost brought a smile to his face. Almost but not quite.

In the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Logan's computer. He hesitated for a while, knowing that Max would probably kill him on the spot if she knew he had gone through the computer. But it's not like he had other options staring right in his face, he thought. He cast aside the idea that probably Logan and Max's absence was because the former had taken the latter out for the night. Something very much like a date, even though 'they were not like that'. The possibility was so miniscule, Alec grinned inwardly, it was almost nonexistent. As far as he knew, both of them had all their 'dates' right here, candle-lit dinner of pasta and pre pulse wine.

And that brought to one last possibility. One of Logan's numerous missions. Alec gritted his teeth as anger suddenly replaced amusement. It would be just like Logan to drag Max along without back up.

Alec marched to the corner where Logan's computer stood. He brushed away visions of a very livid Max about to do bodily harm and concentrated on the matter at hand. With quick efficiency he ran through Logan's documents. As suspected all of them were protected by passwords. He then turned his attention to the contents in the bottom drawer. He shook his head, predictably Logan had kept quite a number of spare parts lying around. Enough stuff to lend him a much needed hand to hack into the computer. His hand blurred busily for the next couple of minutes, and in the end a very complicated circuit was the result. He went through the drawers, trying to find something to attach the computer with his 'helper'. After finding what he had been looking for, he quickly connected them together. Then, one by one all of Logan's documents were opened and bared for him to read through. Within minutes, he had his suspected documents. Files on one Stephen Kirlington.

The more he read about Kirlington, the more certain he was that everything was an elaborate ruse. Everything was too good to be true. Heart pounding, Alec started a background check on Kirlington. The muscles in his jaw leapt out in anger as he noticed that Kirlington definitely didn't have a shady background, in fact his was much too perfect. Under closer inspection, it was also too precise, contained too much inconsistency… hence too made up. He had no idea why it didn't ring any warning bells in Logan's head before.

Next, he pulled everything he could on every single thing Kirlington ever owned. Every piece of property either personally owned or under his business. He just knew it would lead to something and that something would lead to Max's whereabouts. While waiting for the list to appear(in which he blamed Logan's not so fast connection), he turned around in his chair trying to loosen stiff muscles and he spied some blueprints almost hidden from view. He went through them meticulously as his photographic memory capturing everything, analyzing them and mentally he crossed referenced every single fact he had, trying to find some sort of connection when he ran across something that almost made his blood turned to ice. The so called abandon building belongs to a company called SeaFort Ltd. which was currently owned by Stephen Kirlington. Why would someone, like the accountant, conceal something that would eventually destroy someone else, like Kirlington, in one of Kirlington's own buildings? That just didn't make sense, Alec frowned lightly. But he did appreciate the irony, heck who wouldn't?

Without doubt he knew it was a trap, and that was before his mind presented him with something he'd seen a couple of months ago. Before this, he had no idea what it meant but today…

On one of his runs, he saw White sitting at the back of a small restaurant with another guy, hunched together while discussing something over a couple of drinks, almost hidden under poor lighting and wafting smoke that rose lazily upwards. Quickly he leaned against the wall, out of White's line of view but keeping the enemy in sight, hoping to glean some info on White's next move. Wouldn't hurt to know what your enemy was thinking, he mused. But he was a tad too late. As he saw them stand, ready to leave, Alec heard both of them muttered Fe'nos tol under their breaths and then he saw White's friend as he faced the window, it was Kirlington.

He clenched his teeth with the realization that White was the one behind it. And White had wanted Max, desperately.

*

Alec stopped the car as he found what he had been looking for. Logan's car. He had no idea how Logan had managed to shake White and the Familiars from his tail and then succeeded in hiding out of White's sight when he didn't even bother to cover their tracks. He could even pointed the exact place Logan had got away from White and Co. Anyone with half his training could if they knew what they were looking for. He had been following the tracks Logan's car had left all the way from the abandon building. That should have meant something, right? Like Logan was a damn lucky guy who got everything he wanted, even if he doesn't really deserve them. Like Max. Alec almost smacked the side of his head, he was desperate to find her, and on top of that he was babbling, and he hated people who babble.

He got out and slowly and cautiously approached the stationary car. Although he knew that White wasn't here yet, old training dies hard. After a quick inspection, he found out that it was empty, which means they'd relocated. He was about to follow suit before he saw something. Drops of blood staining the back seat. If he was desperate to find her a couple of minutes ago, then right this moment it had escalated to extremely frantic to locate her all in one piece. And breathing of course. His eyes swept the area as he tried to find the path they had taken and he saw mangled plants, broken branches and trampled grass. A clear sign someone had walked clumsily across, someone who didn't cover tracks very well or didn't know how to do it.

Someone like Logan.

Bingo.

He walked quickly but quietly, eyes on the ground as he searched for Logan's track for guidance. After some time, he saw what he correctly assumed would be the hideout. A small wooden cabin, almost invisible behind tall towering trees. He approached it on silent feet, all of his senses on full alert. He stood with his back against the door as his eyes swept the stretch of land in front of him while his ears listened hard, trying to gauge if he had the right occupant.

Quietly he pushed the door opened. He instantly found Logan, drawn by the soft snores as he curled up in a corner fast asleep. But Max was nowhere near him. His eyes flicked frantically around the almost empty room, searching for any signs of her. Then he found what he had been looking for. Even in near darkness he could see how pale she was. Pale and very still. He rushed towards her as his heart dropped and lay throbbing by his feet thinking the worst had happened. His trembling hand framed her pale face and he almost flinched as he felt her burning skin.

'Oh god, this isn't good,' he muttered as his hands started roving around her body, checking for any wounds or broken bones. The only thing he could find was a bandaged shoulder, possibly a gun shot wound. Before he could check the extent of her wound, Max moved slightly underneath his hands. Relief shot through his body, leaving him almost shaken with joy and gratitude.

'Max, open your eyes please. Come on sweetheart, you can do it. Please, please Max, open your eyes please,' he pleaded desperately as his hands tenderly cup her burning face, his thumb slowly stroking her soft cheek. His worried face broke into a smile as he saw her eyelids flutter softly and then he was looking into her dark eyes.

Max forced her eyes to part, fighting to push the dark clouds that were hovering over her. Then she saw a pair of glittering green eyes, gazing intently into hers. Pleasure and joy flooded through her body, successfully shoving the dark clouds further away.

'Alec,' she whispered slowly, feeling safe and secure with him near, 'what took you so long?'

Then the heavy clouds were back, slowly wrapping themselves around her, but Max didn't have the energy to fight them off. God, she was too tired. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. Now that Alec was here, he'd take good care of her. He wouldn't let anything bad happened. She almost smiled at the last thought before she was pushed deeper into the waiting darkness.

Alec stiffened in shock as he saw Max slowly losing consciousness. The feelings he had only moments before rushed out rapidly, leaving him very much afraid of what was happening. Quickly he started to unwrap the bandage.

'What's wrong with her?' he thought frantically, 'It's just one shot, she shouldn't be like this,' as his hands busy unwrapping her shoulder. He lifted a blood soaked shirt and gasped in shock. Her wounded shoulder was flaming red. The bullet wound was gaping open and it wasn't cauterized.

Furious, he turned and yelled.

'Logan, wake up. LOGAN!!' and he watched without a word, holding his anger at hold, for now at least as he saw the older man, startled out of his sleep was looking around, a bit disoriented.

Logan shook the remains of sleep away as he looked around, trying to find what had woken him up. When his bleary eyes had become accustomed to the dark, he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Alec who was kneeling over Max, glaring at him with murder in his eyes.

'What happened, Logan?' Alec asked softly but Logan cowered when he heard the cold commanding tone. He refused the urge to turn and run for his life as he saw that Alec's eyes had turn from the 'easy going, happy go lucky yapping sociopath' to a cold calculating super soldier who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. But just barely as he did shuffled a few feet backwards.

'It was White,' he whimpered and realizing that he had, he tried to straighten his shoulders, 'he was waiting for us.'

'I know that. But what happened to Max?' he pronounced each word slowly, coldly but his eyes were burning with fury.

'How do you about White?' Logan asked, foolishly ignoring the question.

'I did my research. I read between the lines. That's what you're supposed to do before dragging her into this. Now, what the hell happened to Max?' Alec shouted, his anger had gotten the best of him.

'She.. she was shot,' noticing his burning anger, Logan continued, 'but it's a clean shot. The bullet had passed through.'

'I can see that, Logan. And yet, you left her like this? She was shot and you went to sleep?' he asked, clenching his teeth in murderous rage, 'ever heard of first aid? How to cauterize wounds before it became infected? In fact, do you understand the meaning of back up?' he turned in disgust as Logan sputtered indignantly, and started to examine her wound. He fervently hoped that he wasn't too late and the wound hadn't been infected. His hand stilled in shock as he saw something that wasn't there earlier. Just beyond her gaping wound, he could see… hives. Suddenly her small body started shaking, slowly at first.

He stopped breathing as he had a flash of memory.

*

It was in Crash. Logan was burning up and convulsing on the floor. Then later breaking into hives after he touched Max.

*

'No,' he whispered, 'that's impossible.'

In shock and denial he turned but his gaze stumbled upon the blood soaked shirt.

A man's shirt soaking in blood.

Logan's shirt soaked with Max's blood.

His mind raced furiously, trying to calculate the possibility. It was virtually impossible, he thought, that somehow Logan's dead skin cell had gotten into her bloodstream. Then what happened? Out of the blue, something hit him.

'Logan, were you sweating hard when you gave her this shirt?' he asked, afraid to hear the answer.

'What? Of course not. I never sweat. Well, not much anyway,' he shrugged, not understanding the meaning behind the question. Had Alec finally lost it? But something chose that exact time to parade across his mind.

*

Quickly he removed his outer shirt and with hands that were dripping with sweat threw it towards her. 'Max, use it for your wound,' he barked and took the next turn.

*

'But I think my hands were sweating when I gave her the shirt,' he said hesitantly, frowning with uncertainty.

Alec felt as if his whole world had crumbled apart, scattered brokenly by his feet. His eyes wide and unfocused stared unblinkingly ahead as his mind started processing what Logan had announced.

Sweats.

They're liquids. Much easier to be absorbed into her bloodstream. Into her blood where a virus targeted to a specific DNA strand was cruising around. The sweat molecule with Logan's DNA would have come into contact with her blood and that would activate the virus. Once activated, there's no holding back. Somehow, her own antibodies failed to kick in, hurtling them into bigger, messier problems. That means blood transfusion from another transgenic won't work. And right now, there's no known cure available. Fear and terror sent him to his senses. She needed to be at a hospital right away. Quickly he grabbed his keys and threw them at Logan.

'Go and start my car. It's next to yours. Go!' he ordered then stopped Logan's torrential question with a freezing look.

Logan took the not so subtle hint and ran as fast as he could.

Alec didn't even notice when Logan had left, he was too focused on the still girl in front of him. He may have looked calm and composed on the outside but truthfully he was almost paralyzed with fear and what the future held. Briskly he shrugged out of his leather jacket and securely wrapped her in it. Then, with gentle firmness he took her into his arms and his heart contracted painfully as he could feel her burning body, even through layers of clothing and also the way her small frame was shaking. He ran as fast as he could without jolting her, almost scared out of his mind with fear and worry. He gathered her closer to him instinctively as his torturous mind started whispering that he was too late. It was too late to save her.

He threw these nagging thoughts away, burrowing his nose into her soft silky hair as his heart shouted that they will make it. Max will be fine. He chanted it like a mantra in his head, trying to drown the negative thoughts as he raced towards his car. But he couldn't entirely push the feeling he had that at this very moment Max was slowly dying in his arms.

Above them the wind started to wail mournfully and even further away a lone wolf howled. As if saying something very bad was going to happen.

to be continued..

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