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 deadly virus. Now, it's up to Alec to stop her from plunging into the bottomless crater of death. And he would do anything.. and everything to make sure of that.
*
thank you so much to Evonness and Mel for betaing this chapter :)
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Chapter 6- The Plan.
~Hope is the thing with feathers-
that perches in the soul-
and sings the tune without words-
and never stops-at all.. Emily Dickinson
*
It was dark and freezing which suited Alec just fine. The chilly wind whipped by, racing straight to his bones, but he noticed none of it. He was too deeply immersed in his dark, turbulent thoughts, which as usual centered on one person.
Max.
Except back then, he tortured himself with thoughts of how her full lips would feel against his, or the feel of running his hand through her long silky hair, or the way her smile made his heart beat faster or how her melodious laugh seemed to caress him. But now, the torture was thinking that he wouldn't be able to do any of those things, ever again. His shattered world was temporarily held together by nothing but sheer will and the fierce hope that somehow the cure would bring the end to this traumatic nightmare.
He still remembered his feelings as he stood in front of the door separating her from him. With shaking hands he pushed the door slowly open and with equal hesitation stepped inside.
His broken heart wept silent tears as he saw the way she was almost buried under all those blankets and tubes. Lines ran all over her body, feeding her with the much needed air, fluids and blood he'd given earlier. He was right, his blood couldn't stop the virus - it could only replace what she had lost earlier.
The gap between the door and her bed took an eternity to cross. He was struck by the silence; the only sounds in the room were the humming and beeping of the machines as they kept her alive.
He gazed at her, the pain of seeing her like this reflected clearly in his hazel eyes. He noticed the way her dark long eyelashes made such stark contrast against her pale face as they rested on her smooth cheek. He stared for a while, drinking in her features but at the same time denying that he was memorizing everything, absorbing every detail about her, to stock up memories for bleak days ahead where he might have to live without her. With practiced ease, he pushed those thoughts away and concentrated on the one thing that truly mattered.
Saving her.
As he stood staring at her, one thing crossed Alec's mind: Dear God, he loved her. For the first time in his life, he had fallen deeply and completely in love. He had no idea when this feeling snuck in and claimed his heart.
And this woman he loved was fighting desperately just to live.
He drug in a shaky breath as he took another step until he was standing right beside her bed. With great care he sat on the edge of her bed, taking her hot sweaty hand in both of his. He brought it slowly to his lips and couldn't resist the urge to kiss her fingers. So he did, slowly and tenderly, before transferring them to his cheek.
He closed his eyes as he tried to imagine that she was just asleep and would wake soon. But when he opened them, the green orbs were glimmering with unshed tears. Reality was a harsh pill to take. He swallowed painfully.
'Oh Max, why did this happen to you?' he whispered softly as he leaned against her warm hand, slowly rubbing his cheek against her palm.
'I don't know if you could hear this,' he said as he gently put her hand back on the blanket, his hand placed loosely over hers, 'but it's ok. I just needed to say this to you.'
He sighed, 'I didn't know if I could live with myself if I didn't. Live with the regret because I didn't tell you this,' he whispered. He lightly pushed stray strands of hair away from her face and ran his fingers slowly through the silky tresses.
'I love you Max. I love you with all my heart and soul,' he smiled sadly as he continued. 'It's ok if you didn't feel the same way. I didn't expect you to. I respect what you had with Logan, I truly do Max. But I want you to hang in there. I'm gonna do everything I can to help you beat this virus. Just hang in there Max.'
He leaned and softly kissed her fevered brow. Then he turned and quickly left the room with only one purpose in mind: to find the cure.
In her bed, Max's finger twitched slightly, as if seeking lost comfort. Tears leaked from her closed eyes, slowly running down her cheek.
*
Max looked around, bewildered. Where am I, she thought to herself as her eyes took in the unfamiliar surroundings. She tried to move but her legs seemed weighted down and wouldn't budge.
Dark heavy clouds swirled around her, suffocating and almost choking her with their presence. She tried to push it away, but she found with horror that she couldn't move her arm either.
She panicked and started struggling but it was hopeless. She couldn't move her entire body.
She forced herself to calm down as she wracked her brain, trying to find the reason for her paralysis. All that she remembered was the botched mission when she had been shot, fleeing from White and his pesky Familiars, running out of gas and crashing into a shed. That was it.
But there was something else. She remembered for a moment that Alec was there.
Alec. A warm feeling started spreading all over her body, making her a bit light headed. Suddenly the stagnant air around her started to crackle. She had no idea how she knew this but the thought just came instantly. 'Someone's coming.'
She couldn't see her visitor yet but, but somehow she could sense him. Pain and suffering cloaked dark confusion. But beneath all those dark emotions and tortured thoughts she saw a bright light trying to shine through. But the weight of desperation and agony she felt coming from him in huge waves had dimmed the bright light of his heart.
He's suffering, she thought sadly, but for whom? She was thinking so hard she didn't realize he'd taken her hand in his warm ones. She turned with surprise and saw Alec smiling sadly down at her.
Alec's here, she almost cried out in pleasure, she was that happy to see him.
'Alec,' she called but he didn't seemed to hear her as slowly he picked up her hand and tenderly kissed her fingers, sending heat streaming through her body. Max closed her eyes, trying to absorb this new sensation fully, a satisfied smile lurking over her lips.
The sound of his voice startled her; it was filled with too much anguish. 'Oh Max, why did this happen to you?'
Then she realized that he was holding her hand to his cheek. She sighed with pleasure as he held her hand closer to his face. She didn't know why she felt this good but at this moment she didn't care. She just didn't want it to stop.
But a second later he put her hand down. She didn't have time to recognize her fleeting disappointment as he said, 'I don't know if you can hear this, but it's ok. I just needed to say this to you.'
She turned towards him and saw his emotions shining through his glittering eyes as he sighed, 'I don't know if I could live with myself if I didn't. Live with the regret because I didn't tell you this.'
Max smiled contently as his hand lightly brushed her hair away from her face. His other hand clasped hers warmly.
'I love you Max.'
Her eyes snapped opened as her breath stuck in her throat, her huge eyes staring at him in shock.
'I love you with all my heart and soul.'
Her heart stopped beating and then raced frantically in her chest as she gazed into his candid green eyes. The furious beating of her heart skipped as she marveled at the naked truth in his eyes.
'It's ok if you don't feel the same way. I didn't expect you to. I respect what you had with Logan, I truly do Max.'
She swallowed painfully, battered by the sadness and pain in his voice.
'But I want you to hang in there. I'm gonna do everything I can to help you beat this virus. Just hang in there Max.'
Her eyes welled up with tears as he whispered the last words. Then she felt him lean closer as slowly he kissed her forehead.
The sweetness of that kiss broke her heart, and the tears that had been threatening slipped slowly down her cheeks as Alec moved and started to leave the room.
'Alec, no.. wait!' Wildly she tried to grab his arm, but he was gone, swallowed by the darkness around her, leaving her alone to wait for him in her dark prison - alone with her confusion.
*
Two simple words echoed in Alec's chaotic mind.
The cure.
Those two words 12 hours ago were the means of happiness and contentment for Max. But right now, they made the difference between life and death – her life or death. Despite what Dr Carr had said, Alec still harbored the hope that the cure was the key to her survival. But he didn't know how to get it.
One name crept into his desperate thoughts.
White.
Maybe he knew about the cure. If Alec could have been certain, he would have turned himself in without hesitation. A life for a life – his for Max's. It wasn't like his life was worth anything. He used to be an assassin for god sake. Maybe he wouldn't even be missed.
Probably Normal would miss him – Alec suppressed a shudder at that – and even Sketchy, who would finally found himself with more money. That was about it.
But the thing was, White had wanted Max much, much more than he wanted Alec. He knew one of the reasons White was so stubborn to have Max alive was to pry from her any information she had on the whereabouts of his son, Ray.
If Alec knew where Ray was, he could trade that piece of information for the cure. So, with that thought in mind, he cornered Logan and demanded his cooperation.
Logan was anxious to help all right. He didn't want a repeat performance from Alec like he had from O.C. His body was still screaming with pain from those punches Cindy had bestowed upon him, and that was done by an ordinary girl. He didn't want to think what an angry X5 would've done.
So he tried his best to help. But when he heard the question, he blanched.
'Ray? You want to know where Ray White is?' he asked, as beads of sweat started appearing on his face.
'Yes, and that is a problem because..?' Alec left the unsaid question hanging in the air.
'Because.. I don't know where he is.'
'What's that suppose to mean?' Alec asked tightly, a sense of foreboding already running up and down his spine.
'After I handed Ray to his aunt, I instructed her to leave the place at once. Quickly and quietly. Never mention their plan to anyone else. So, the only one who knows Ray's current location other than his aunt… is Ray himself. I thought it would be safer that way.'
Alec groaned with frustration as he recalled the incident. Why was it that Logan had chosen the worst possible time to do something right? With Ray gone, the only chance he had to barter with White evaporated like water left in the hot sun.
With great reluctance he had to let the option go.
The obvious next step was find someone else who knew how to cure the virus. His brain whirled rapidly, trying to find something, anything to keep his head above water. Because right now, he was sinking fast in his despair.
And then he hit the jackpot. His obsession with television had finally paid off. He smiled as he recalled seeing something on the news a couple of weeks ago about a well known scientist, Dr Anthony Fowler, who was awarded the Nobel prize for his medical research. Dr. Fowler had successfully created an enzyme that could independently isolate fragments of DNA from various types of bacteria and virus that caused diseases, resulting in complete breakdown of the affected virus.
Of course, his research had only revolved around the usual ailments, not a DNA targeted virus. But it was close enough. Alec wondered briefly why Logan hadn't looked into this before.
He lifted his head towards the starry sky and heaved a sigh of relief. He now had a lead, and Max would be fine. She had to be.
*
Cautiously, Alec walked down the brightly lit hallway. His eyes darted around, unconsciously checking for guards, but his hastily acquired Intel seemed to be accurate and the place was empty.
He moved silently, the layout of the entire floor etched into his brain. Again his eyes flicked, assessing the corridors of the CDC research facility. He ignored the thought that since these people at CDC were very interested in Max after the Harbor Lights incident they would probably be interested in studying him too.
But then again, maybe not. He didn't have a Manticore-made virus in his bloodstream and neither had every single strand of his DNA been encoded with something. But he didn't know how much these people knew about transgenics or genetically-engineered super soldiers. It was a chance he just had to take.
From his Intel, he knew the good doctor had the entire floor to himself for his lab. Ahh, the power of success. Alec plastered himself against the wall as he came to a corner. Finding out it was empty, he walked ahead, meticulously avoiding the surveillance cameras.
He thanked the powers above that Dr Fowler, as most geniuses were, had a few noticeable eccentricities. One of them was that he wanted to be left alone. Completely alone. He didn't even want a personal assistant, heck he even refused to have lab technicians anywhere near him or his beloved lab, claiming that other people distracted him, so he barred other people from setting foot on this entire floor. Only a couple of guards made their rounds occasionally.
Turning left, Alec found himself in a large empty waiting room. It was sparsely decorated with a few potted plants scattered around. A place reserved for a receptionist stood unoccupied.
He knew he was getting really close now. He opened the door to another passage that lead directly to the lab.
Quickly he surveyed his new surroundings. In the vast lab, the doctor was hidden among his state of the art equipment. But Alec detected some movement to his left and saw that the doctor was peering into his electron microscope, while his hands were busy typing his observations.
Alec let out his pent-up breath as he opened the door and walked in towards the one person he hoped would free Max from the clutches of death.
to be continued..