Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, which belongs to its creators and such. I gain no real profit
from this use of characters and situations. My design is my own, but I built the house with
borrowed wood. I don't own the song "Break Stuff" either, that belongs to Limp Bizkit. And
"Real World" belongs to Matchbox 20.
BTW, just thought I'd let you know that Alec wasn't wearing his leather jacket. Just a thin-ish
autumn thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~It's just one of those days when you don't wanna wake up
~~~Everything is f***ed, everybody sucks
~~~You don't really know why, but you wanna justify
~~~Ripping someone's head off
~~~No human contact, and if you interact
~~~Your life is on contract
~~~Your best bet is to stay away, mother f***er
~~~It's just one of those days
-Limp Bizkit: Break Stuff
~~~Straight up, what did you hope to learn about here?
~~~If I were someone else, would this all fall apart?
~~~Strange, where were you when we started this gig?
~~~I wish the real world would just stop hassling me.
-Matchbox 20: Real World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Well, this is sure interesting,- Alec mused. He was lying flat on his back, freezing and numb as
the cold rain poured down on him. He stared blankly into the sky. He was using what rational
brain power he had left to ponder what the hell he had done that was so horrible, that he had been
forced to spend this day in hell.
Alec wondered whether or not this was a round trip. He sure hoped it was, and he would come
back in one sane piece. So far, the odds were against him. 9000 bezillion to one.
Alec sighed and raised a hand to brush through his bloodied and rain soaked hair. A sharp pain
alerted him to a rather large piece of broken glass digging into his shoulder. He reached over with
his other arm and yanked it out, tossing it away.
He wiped the new found blood off of his fingers and onto his jacket, very surprised that he hadn't
cut his fingers. It was only when a tear in his jacket caught on his finger, that he realized that he
had, his fingers had just gone numb from the cold, that was all.
Alec sighed. He supposed he might as well get up, before he caught hypothermia and died right
there. He sat up slowly and painfully, and carefully rose from among the broken glass.
He looked down and kicked a piece with the toe of his shoe. He slowly began to walk towards
home, towards his bed.
***
Tired from a long day of bowing to the Porcelain Queen, Original Cindy finally managed to nod
off, on the couch, with Max stroking her hair lightly.
Tired both physically and mentally from her day's events so far, of taking care of Original Cindy,
putting up with the girl's bitching and moaning, and trying not to think of what had happened
between her and Alec the past two nights, Max was more than happy for the break.
It was raining cats and dogs outside, and Max stared longingly out the window. Despite the feline
DNA, Max had always enjoyed the rain. Not necessarily going out into it and freezing her butt
off, but watching it pour from grey skies, cleansing and almost . . . purifying the land below the
clouds. It was so peaceful, she almost wished she could *be* rain. Rain probably didn't have half
as much stress and trouble.
Max really needed something to calm her frayed nerves, so she decided to go take a nice,
luxurious, short walk. She couldn't necessarily leave Original Cindy for long, she had been
running a fever all day, and there was no telling when she'd be waking up.
But Max went anyway. She felt she deserved that much.
She set out, with no hood or umbrella, simply letting the water wash over her. Cold aside, it felt
good. Calming.
Max had no worries about how long it would take her to get back, she could just walk as far as
she wanted, within reason, and she could run home and get there within minutes. So she just
walked, not knowing, or even caring to look where she was.
She didn't even look where she was going.
***
Alec was too preoccupied with how warm and soft his bed would feel once he got to it, to pay
attention to where he was going. Once again, it was gonna cost him.
*SMACK!*
*THUD!*
"DAMMIT!" Alec screamed from the ground. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM
ME?!?!?"
Max was about to reply with, "Nothing, and hello to you too," when she looked at Alec from her
vantage point on the ground opposite to him. He looked worse than shit. "Alec! What happened
to you? Are you alright?"
"Peachy, Max, just peachy," Alec muttered.
"What happened?" Max asked, crawling to his side. "Was it White?"
"No, I haven't had the pleasure of running into him today," Alec replied, truly thankful. "And I
don't think you even wanna know what happened."
"Of course I do!" Max said, assessing the damage he had taken so far. "Was it a mob or
something?"
Alec chuckled bitterly. "I wish." He held up his bloody hand and began to list off his injuries,
pulling back fingers. "I went to a salsa club and got in a fight, what two days ago? Then I got
shot, spent the night in a hospital, hardly getting any sleep, then I got kicked in the stomach by a
transgenic, and split my head open on the pavement, didn't get to bed until six in the morning,
woke up at seven, fell out of bed, tripped up, slipped in the water-less shower, got knocked over
by a bunch of packages, flipped my bike and got ran over, got pried out from under a car, met up
with British Eddie and got shot at again, grazed, delivered a package to Robert Berrisford, and
fell over onto three bottles of unfinished alcohol, after getting caught in the rain, got up and fell
over again, stayed there in the broken glass until I couldn't feel my fingers, still can't, smacked
into you and fell over again. That enough information for you?"
Max winced. "Uh, yeah."
"And I haven't had a bite to eat all goddamn day."
Max stood and reached out a hand to help him up. "Come on, lets head back to my place, get
you cleaned up."
Alec looked up at her, looking defeated. "You know what Max? I think it'll be much better if I
just stay here and watch the rest of this day go by from a safe distance."
"A good soldier never admits defeat," Max encouraged.
Alec growled. "Don't even start, Max. And besides, a good soldier knows when to quit. Now
just leave me al-"
Max cut him off abruptly by grabbing his hands off the ground and yanking him to his feet. Alec
grunted, a sound that came out oddly like a whimper. "Come on," Max whispered softly and
comfortingly.
As Max half-dragged Alec into her apartment, she began to feel sort of like a charity worker of
some kind, accepting the injured and sick into her home and offering to take care of them. "Sit,"
she ordered Alec, directing him to a chair.
He plopped down hard and then jumped back up with a yelp. Apparently, his back hadn't been
willing to part with all the broken glass on the ground, he realized as he arched his back in pain.
Max turned quickly towards him, momentarily halting on her way to the bathroom to get the first
aid kit. She looked at Alec quizzically.
"Broken glass," Alec told her.
She nodded, and resumed her trip to the bathroom, moving more quickly this time. Frankly, it
hurt her to see Alec like this, almost as much as it might have hurt him.
She snatched up the first aid kit hastily, rushing back out to Alec. She looked him over quickly.
"We're gonna need to get those clothes off of you," she told him.
She expected him to joke about her wanting to see him naked or something, but he just stared at
her, looking sick to his stomach. He braced himself and began to peel off his bloody coat. Max
set the first aid kit down on the coffee table, and helped him to remove it with minimal damage.
As the coat moved from his back, several pieces of glass fell to the floor. Max winced, as did
Alec, as the coat had pulled them from his flesh. "Christ, Alec, how hard did you fall to have
them cut right through your coat?!?"
Alec just looked at her.
Max sighed. She carefully took him by the arm and turned him so that his back was to her. She
grimaced. His tight black sweater was torn and bloodied, and there were still pieces of glass
sticking into it. "We'd better get these out before we take this off."
She opened the first aid kit and took out a pair of tweezers. "You ready?" she asked, standing
behind him, poised to begin plucking the glass from his flesh. Alec simply nodded and braced
himself. Max set to work, eyes welling up with tears with each piece she pulled; each time Alec
hissed in pain. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, Max pulled out the last piece. The
tweezers, her hands, and the table where she had dropped the glass, were coated lightly in blood.
"Okay," Max said fighting back tears. "They're out, lets get this shirt off you." Max tentatively
began to raise his shirt. Her fingers brushed against his skin gently. "Shit Alec, you're freezing!"
she exclaimed as she peeled the shirt off of his raised arms.
As the cool air hit his skin, Alec shivered, as if to verify her statement.
His skin. Max shuddered seeing his skin. It was bloody, cut, torn, and bruised. And so cold. If
Alec had been sleeping, she would've thought him dead. Max could barely stand to look at it.
As Max turned to grab some supplies, Alec swayed on his feet, the cold and the blood loss
beginning to get to him. Max's arms shot toward him and held him steady. "Can you sit now?"
she asked worriedly. At her question, Alec slowly lowered himself back to the chair, trembling
sightly. His silence was really beginning to bother Max. Alec was never quiet. "I'll get you some
water," Max whispered softly.
She rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass, pouring water quickly into it. Alec watched her
quietly. She returned with the glass of water and handed it to him, watching as he slowly raised it
to his lips, then gulped it down eagerly. It was then that Max noticed the wound where the bullet
had grazed him. Dried blood was caked around it. She took the glass from him and set it on the
table.
She picked up a cloth and some disinfectant. She wet the cloth. "This is gonna hurt," she
whispered. Alec nodded and closed his eyes. She touched the cloth gently to the wound. Alec
grinded his teeth together from the pain. He exhaled with a long, loud hiss. Max worked as
quickly as she could and bandaged up the wound.
There were many long scratches trailing down his muscular chest, just above the dirty bandage
that covered his bullet wound. Max had to pluck out a few splinters before she carefully removed
the bandage to change it. The skin around the wound was bruised in an unusual manner. "Did
something else happen . . ." she trailed off, searching for words.
Alec nodded. "I was in Terminal City last night, and Mole was not happy to see me. His boot
was."
"That Mole is a rather bitter individual," Max commented. Alec nodded in agreement. Max
quickly replaced the bandage with a new one. She took a deep breath. "We'd better get a second
look at that back of yours."
Alec turned sideways in the chair. Max took a deep breath and stepped behind him. "What were
you doing in TC after being shot?" she asked to distract herself as she reassessed the damage.
"I ended up there after I left . . . I, uh, visiting Joshua," Alec stammered, mentally slapping himself
for referring to the uncomfortable night at Crash.
"Oh," Max said, suddenly feeling guilty about what she had done at the hospital. "These are
gonna need stitches," she said, changing the subject and coming back to the task at hand.
"Figures," Alec replied.
Max picked a needle and surgical thread out of the kit. She moved to sew him up, but paused.
"Oh yeah, gotta disinfect first."
"To hell with it," Alec told her as she put down the needle and thread. "I was lying in alcohol,
that should be good enough."
Max ignored him and picked up the disinfectant. "It's sickening enough to look at," she told him.
"We don't want it to get infected."
"Fine."
The word wasn't even out of his mouth before the cloth touched his shredded back. "Fuck!" Alec
hissed, grabbing the chair and squeezing hard.
Original Cindy stirred on the couch. "Boo, what the hell?" she moaned. She opened her eyes
slowly to see Alec, looking like hell, squeezing the chair in pain, his eyes clamped tightly closed.
"Alec?" she said, sitting up groggily, not seeing Max behind him yet.
Max finished disinfecting and stuck her head out from behind Alec, looking at Original Cindy.
"Hey, girl," she said amiably.
Alec slowly relaxed and opened his eyes. "That hurt," he said.
"What's going on?" Original Cindy asked.
"Our boy has had a horrible and painful day," Max replied.
"That's an understatement," Alec said.
"Oh," said Original Cindy. "I think I'm gonna go throw up now." With that, she dragged herself
off of the couch and staggered to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Alec winced as his headache returned, full force. He groaned.
"Almost done," Max whispered reassuringly. She stitched him up as quickly as possible,
considering the sheer number of cuts that needed stitching.
"Is that all of it?" Max asked, circling back in front of Alec. He shook his head slowly. He lifted
his left pant leg. Max grimaced. About a tire's width of his lower leg was bruised. An ugly
yellow bruise that looked like it *really* must have hurt. "What happened?!?" Max asked.
"Cars," Alec told her.
"Christ, is it broken?" Max asked, eyes wide, kneeling in front of him to look at it.
"I don't think so," Alec replied. "Hurts like hell though."
"Well, I'm not surprised," Max said, satisfied that it wasn't broken and standing back up.
The bathroom door slammed open and Original Cindy emerged.
Alec grimaced at the sudden, loud noise, cutting through his skull.
"Okay, you two. I spilled, now you spill," Original Cindy said.
It sounded to Alec like she was screaming in his ear. "What?!?!?" Max asked, screwing up her
face at the rather disgusting image OC's words presented to her.
"Tell me what happened," Original Cindy elaborated, plopping down on the couch.
"I think it's gonna be a *really* long story," Max told her.
"Could you keep it down?" Alec asked, raising his hands to his head.
The tone of his voice was enough to frighten Max into silence. He sounded so . . . helpless. Like
he was in unimaginable pain. Max studied him. "Alec, your hands!" she said, careful to keep her
voice down. His knuckles were battered and bruised and bleeding. Several of his finger tips were
oozing blood. Max took his hands in hers and inspected them carefully. "How could you not
mention these? Look at them!"
"Well they're so damn cold I can barely feel them," Alec told her, studying his hands himself. "I
guess you tend to forget about the self inflicted wounds."
"Self inflicted?!? What's the matter with you? You just go around punching shit until you're
bleeding all over the place? And just how long were you lying in the cold and rain? What, do you
have a death wish? Or do you just like pain? How the hell do you expect me to feel bad for you
when you do this to yourself?" Max screamed at him.
Alec winced. "Oh," he said quietly. "I get it now."
"Get what Alec?" Max asked, angry and frustrated.
"That's what this whole damn day was about, right?" Alec screamed, but not at Max. He was
staring out the window, radiating pain. "My goddamn punishment for being such a screw up?
For wanting what I can't have? For making people feel sorry for me, when they've got enough
problems of their own? I may have been created to be perfect, but I'm not, you know! I'm only
human, no matter how I was born or enhanced! People make mistakes!"
"Alec . . ." Max said softly, trying to get his attention.
"You know what?" Alec screamed at no one, and yet everyone. "They weren't even my
mistakes! It was always 493, or his brothers and sisters, Manticore, White . . . hell the rain is
more to blame than me!"
"Alec!" Max yelled.
Alec's head snapped toward her, tears streaming down his face, breathing deeply. Max grabbed
him, ignoring his wounds, and pulled him into her arms. Original Cindy got up from the couch
and came towards them, placing her hand on Alec's shoulder as he sobbed in Max's arms. Alec
sank to the floor, Max sinking down with him. "I'm sorry," Max whispered in his ear. "I'm so
sorry, Alec. It's not your fault. It never was."
Alec pulled back slightly to look at her, quieting down. "I . . . you . . ." Max began, trying to find
words to tell him the truth.
Original Cindy sat down beside them. "My Boo don't like to see people hurting. She don't like
to hurt. And things always seem like they'll hurt less if it's someone else's fault. And it's easier
to hide from the pain when you're yelling than when you're quiet."
Max continued from there, thankful for Original Cindy's wonderful help and friendship. "It's
easier for me to be mad at you than it is to feel sorry for myself. I don't know, I guess I always
thought you could take it, but it wasn't fair to you. I don't mean to make you feel bad just to get
myself to feel better. It's wrong, and it's cruel." She reached up her hand to stroke the side of
Alec's tear streaked face. "Alec, most of the stuff I blame you for, it's really my fault, and I'm so
sorry. Before I met you, I spent all of my time moping and feeling sorry for myself. Then you
came along, and I . . . I *used* you . . . as a scapegoat, someone to blame, and someone to take
my pain out on. Someone to hate, no matter how I really felt. And the truth is, it really tears me
up to see anything bad happen to you. You feel pain, I feel pain. And it is easier to yell than to
feel. Anger is easier to handle than pain, frustration, even love."
"You don't even know what pain is," Alec told her. He took her hand from his cheek, but rather
than throw it down like Max was expecting, he kissed it gently. "And I hope you never do. You
know why I put up with it most of the time, Max?"
Max shook her head.
"I put up with it, because I don't *want* you to feel the pain. But there's only so much I can
take, Max."
Max looked into Alec's eyes, and she saw the something in them. Something unfamiliar, yet
comforting. The same thing she had seen in the hospital just after Alec had woken up. She
recognized it now. Love. She saw love in his eyes. "Alec, I . . . I'm sorry. I'm sorry I blamed
you for the virus. I'm sorry I kicked you. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm
sorry I got you shot. I'm sorry I used you to push Logan away. I'm sorry I pushed you away.
I'm sorry I ignored you, but most of all, Alec, I'm sorry I never told you how I really felt."
Alec's heart filled with hope. "What do you mean-"
"I love you Alec."
Alec froze. -Did she just . . .-
"Alec?" Max asked. He appeared to be in shock. "Are you alright?"
Alec finally unfroze and smiled at her. "Truthfully? I never was. But I am now."
Max stared at him, unsure of his meaning, but hoping. . . .
"I love you too, Max. You don't know how much-"
Max cut him off by seizing his lips with her own. Alec wrapped his arms around her and kissed
her back, showing her just how much he had longed for this moment.
Original Cindy watched them, barely able to contain her joy at her two best friends' (she used her
suddenly selective memory to conveniently forget about Sketchy) professed love for one another.
"Aww," she sighed. "I love you guys!"
Max and Alec pulled apart and stared at her with looks of confusion. Then all three of them burst
our laughing.
After a few minutes, Alec leaned over with his hands over his stomach. "Owww," he moaned.
Original Cindy brought her hands to her stomach as well. "I think I'm gonna go throw up again."
As Original Cindy got up and ran to the bathroom, Max unsuccessfully tried to suppress the urge
to start laughing all over again.
"Hey," Alec said in mock sadness. "Guy in pain over here."
Max straightened up and managed to stop laughing. "Come on, let's get those hands cleaned up."
She smiled softly at Alec, and got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next chapter will probably be Asha's dinner with Mac.
So, what did y'all think? I wasn't being too abrupt again, was I? I have a tendency to do that. In
agreement with Khassa, take the latest chapter of "Ain't It Funny" for example, if you're reading
it. I really don't like that I do it, and I try not to, but do you think I did it here? I mean, I was
building up on the M/A through the whole story. . . . And Alec was bound to blow up sometime.
I think I'm adding that to my definition of a "Break Stuff" theme. Must involve a 'blow up' on
the part of the 'break stuff' ing person.
Please review, and let me know your opinions.
from this use of characters and situations. My design is my own, but I built the house with
borrowed wood. I don't own the song "Break Stuff" either, that belongs to Limp Bizkit. And
"Real World" belongs to Matchbox 20.
BTW, just thought I'd let you know that Alec wasn't wearing his leather jacket. Just a thin-ish
autumn thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~It's just one of those days when you don't wanna wake up
~~~Everything is f***ed, everybody sucks
~~~You don't really know why, but you wanna justify
~~~Ripping someone's head off
~~~No human contact, and if you interact
~~~Your life is on contract
~~~Your best bet is to stay away, mother f***er
~~~It's just one of those days
-Limp Bizkit: Break Stuff
~~~Straight up, what did you hope to learn about here?
~~~If I were someone else, would this all fall apart?
~~~Strange, where were you when we started this gig?
~~~I wish the real world would just stop hassling me.
-Matchbox 20: Real World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Well, this is sure interesting,- Alec mused. He was lying flat on his back, freezing and numb as
the cold rain poured down on him. He stared blankly into the sky. He was using what rational
brain power he had left to ponder what the hell he had done that was so horrible, that he had been
forced to spend this day in hell.
Alec wondered whether or not this was a round trip. He sure hoped it was, and he would come
back in one sane piece. So far, the odds were against him. 9000 bezillion to one.
Alec sighed and raised a hand to brush through his bloodied and rain soaked hair. A sharp pain
alerted him to a rather large piece of broken glass digging into his shoulder. He reached over with
his other arm and yanked it out, tossing it away.
He wiped the new found blood off of his fingers and onto his jacket, very surprised that he hadn't
cut his fingers. It was only when a tear in his jacket caught on his finger, that he realized that he
had, his fingers had just gone numb from the cold, that was all.
Alec sighed. He supposed he might as well get up, before he caught hypothermia and died right
there. He sat up slowly and painfully, and carefully rose from among the broken glass.
He looked down and kicked a piece with the toe of his shoe. He slowly began to walk towards
home, towards his bed.
***
Tired from a long day of bowing to the Porcelain Queen, Original Cindy finally managed to nod
off, on the couch, with Max stroking her hair lightly.
Tired both physically and mentally from her day's events so far, of taking care of Original Cindy,
putting up with the girl's bitching and moaning, and trying not to think of what had happened
between her and Alec the past two nights, Max was more than happy for the break.
It was raining cats and dogs outside, and Max stared longingly out the window. Despite the feline
DNA, Max had always enjoyed the rain. Not necessarily going out into it and freezing her butt
off, but watching it pour from grey skies, cleansing and almost . . . purifying the land below the
clouds. It was so peaceful, she almost wished she could *be* rain. Rain probably didn't have half
as much stress and trouble.
Max really needed something to calm her frayed nerves, so she decided to go take a nice,
luxurious, short walk. She couldn't necessarily leave Original Cindy for long, she had been
running a fever all day, and there was no telling when she'd be waking up.
But Max went anyway. She felt she deserved that much.
She set out, with no hood or umbrella, simply letting the water wash over her. Cold aside, it felt
good. Calming.
Max had no worries about how long it would take her to get back, she could just walk as far as
she wanted, within reason, and she could run home and get there within minutes. So she just
walked, not knowing, or even caring to look where she was.
She didn't even look where she was going.
***
Alec was too preoccupied with how warm and soft his bed would feel once he got to it, to pay
attention to where he was going. Once again, it was gonna cost him.
*SMACK!*
*THUD!*
"DAMMIT!" Alec screamed from the ground. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM
ME?!?!?"
Max was about to reply with, "Nothing, and hello to you too," when she looked at Alec from her
vantage point on the ground opposite to him. He looked worse than shit. "Alec! What happened
to you? Are you alright?"
"Peachy, Max, just peachy," Alec muttered.
"What happened?" Max asked, crawling to his side. "Was it White?"
"No, I haven't had the pleasure of running into him today," Alec replied, truly thankful. "And I
don't think you even wanna know what happened."
"Of course I do!" Max said, assessing the damage he had taken so far. "Was it a mob or
something?"
Alec chuckled bitterly. "I wish." He held up his bloody hand and began to list off his injuries,
pulling back fingers. "I went to a salsa club and got in a fight, what two days ago? Then I got
shot, spent the night in a hospital, hardly getting any sleep, then I got kicked in the stomach by a
transgenic, and split my head open on the pavement, didn't get to bed until six in the morning,
woke up at seven, fell out of bed, tripped up, slipped in the water-less shower, got knocked over
by a bunch of packages, flipped my bike and got ran over, got pried out from under a car, met up
with British Eddie and got shot at again, grazed, delivered a package to Robert Berrisford, and
fell over onto three bottles of unfinished alcohol, after getting caught in the rain, got up and fell
over again, stayed there in the broken glass until I couldn't feel my fingers, still can't, smacked
into you and fell over again. That enough information for you?"
Max winced. "Uh, yeah."
"And I haven't had a bite to eat all goddamn day."
Max stood and reached out a hand to help him up. "Come on, lets head back to my place, get
you cleaned up."
Alec looked up at her, looking defeated. "You know what Max? I think it'll be much better if I
just stay here and watch the rest of this day go by from a safe distance."
"A good soldier never admits defeat," Max encouraged.
Alec growled. "Don't even start, Max. And besides, a good soldier knows when to quit. Now
just leave me al-"
Max cut him off abruptly by grabbing his hands off the ground and yanking him to his feet. Alec
grunted, a sound that came out oddly like a whimper. "Come on," Max whispered softly and
comfortingly.
As Max half-dragged Alec into her apartment, she began to feel sort of like a charity worker of
some kind, accepting the injured and sick into her home and offering to take care of them. "Sit,"
she ordered Alec, directing him to a chair.
He plopped down hard and then jumped back up with a yelp. Apparently, his back hadn't been
willing to part with all the broken glass on the ground, he realized as he arched his back in pain.
Max turned quickly towards him, momentarily halting on her way to the bathroom to get the first
aid kit. She looked at Alec quizzically.
"Broken glass," Alec told her.
She nodded, and resumed her trip to the bathroom, moving more quickly this time. Frankly, it
hurt her to see Alec like this, almost as much as it might have hurt him.
She snatched up the first aid kit hastily, rushing back out to Alec. She looked him over quickly.
"We're gonna need to get those clothes off of you," she told him.
She expected him to joke about her wanting to see him naked or something, but he just stared at
her, looking sick to his stomach. He braced himself and began to peel off his bloody coat. Max
set the first aid kit down on the coffee table, and helped him to remove it with minimal damage.
As the coat moved from his back, several pieces of glass fell to the floor. Max winced, as did
Alec, as the coat had pulled them from his flesh. "Christ, Alec, how hard did you fall to have
them cut right through your coat?!?"
Alec just looked at her.
Max sighed. She carefully took him by the arm and turned him so that his back was to her. She
grimaced. His tight black sweater was torn and bloodied, and there were still pieces of glass
sticking into it. "We'd better get these out before we take this off."
She opened the first aid kit and took out a pair of tweezers. "You ready?" she asked, standing
behind him, poised to begin plucking the glass from his flesh. Alec simply nodded and braced
himself. Max set to work, eyes welling up with tears with each piece she pulled; each time Alec
hissed in pain. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, Max pulled out the last piece. The
tweezers, her hands, and the table where she had dropped the glass, were coated lightly in blood.
"Okay," Max said fighting back tears. "They're out, lets get this shirt off you." Max tentatively
began to raise his shirt. Her fingers brushed against his skin gently. "Shit Alec, you're freezing!"
she exclaimed as she peeled the shirt off of his raised arms.
As the cool air hit his skin, Alec shivered, as if to verify her statement.
His skin. Max shuddered seeing his skin. It was bloody, cut, torn, and bruised. And so cold. If
Alec had been sleeping, she would've thought him dead. Max could barely stand to look at it.
As Max turned to grab some supplies, Alec swayed on his feet, the cold and the blood loss
beginning to get to him. Max's arms shot toward him and held him steady. "Can you sit now?"
she asked worriedly. At her question, Alec slowly lowered himself back to the chair, trembling
sightly. His silence was really beginning to bother Max. Alec was never quiet. "I'll get you some
water," Max whispered softly.
She rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass, pouring water quickly into it. Alec watched her
quietly. She returned with the glass of water and handed it to him, watching as he slowly raised it
to his lips, then gulped it down eagerly. It was then that Max noticed the wound where the bullet
had grazed him. Dried blood was caked around it. She took the glass from him and set it on the
table.
She picked up a cloth and some disinfectant. She wet the cloth. "This is gonna hurt," she
whispered. Alec nodded and closed his eyes. She touched the cloth gently to the wound. Alec
grinded his teeth together from the pain. He exhaled with a long, loud hiss. Max worked as
quickly as she could and bandaged up the wound.
There were many long scratches trailing down his muscular chest, just above the dirty bandage
that covered his bullet wound. Max had to pluck out a few splinters before she carefully removed
the bandage to change it. The skin around the wound was bruised in an unusual manner. "Did
something else happen . . ." she trailed off, searching for words.
Alec nodded. "I was in Terminal City last night, and Mole was not happy to see me. His boot
was."
"That Mole is a rather bitter individual," Max commented. Alec nodded in agreement. Max
quickly replaced the bandage with a new one. She took a deep breath. "We'd better get a second
look at that back of yours."
Alec turned sideways in the chair. Max took a deep breath and stepped behind him. "What were
you doing in TC after being shot?" she asked to distract herself as she reassessed the damage.
"I ended up there after I left . . . I, uh, visiting Joshua," Alec stammered, mentally slapping himself
for referring to the uncomfortable night at Crash.
"Oh," Max said, suddenly feeling guilty about what she had done at the hospital. "These are
gonna need stitches," she said, changing the subject and coming back to the task at hand.
"Figures," Alec replied.
Max picked a needle and surgical thread out of the kit. She moved to sew him up, but paused.
"Oh yeah, gotta disinfect first."
"To hell with it," Alec told her as she put down the needle and thread. "I was lying in alcohol,
that should be good enough."
Max ignored him and picked up the disinfectant. "It's sickening enough to look at," she told him.
"We don't want it to get infected."
"Fine."
The word wasn't even out of his mouth before the cloth touched his shredded back. "Fuck!" Alec
hissed, grabbing the chair and squeezing hard.
Original Cindy stirred on the couch. "Boo, what the hell?" she moaned. She opened her eyes
slowly to see Alec, looking like hell, squeezing the chair in pain, his eyes clamped tightly closed.
"Alec?" she said, sitting up groggily, not seeing Max behind him yet.
Max finished disinfecting and stuck her head out from behind Alec, looking at Original Cindy.
"Hey, girl," she said amiably.
Alec slowly relaxed and opened his eyes. "That hurt," he said.
"What's going on?" Original Cindy asked.
"Our boy has had a horrible and painful day," Max replied.
"That's an understatement," Alec said.
"Oh," said Original Cindy. "I think I'm gonna go throw up now." With that, she dragged herself
off of the couch and staggered to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Alec winced as his headache returned, full force. He groaned.
"Almost done," Max whispered reassuringly. She stitched him up as quickly as possible,
considering the sheer number of cuts that needed stitching.
"Is that all of it?" Max asked, circling back in front of Alec. He shook his head slowly. He lifted
his left pant leg. Max grimaced. About a tire's width of his lower leg was bruised. An ugly
yellow bruise that looked like it *really* must have hurt. "What happened?!?" Max asked.
"Cars," Alec told her.
"Christ, is it broken?" Max asked, eyes wide, kneeling in front of him to look at it.
"I don't think so," Alec replied. "Hurts like hell though."
"Well, I'm not surprised," Max said, satisfied that it wasn't broken and standing back up.
The bathroom door slammed open and Original Cindy emerged.
Alec grimaced at the sudden, loud noise, cutting through his skull.
"Okay, you two. I spilled, now you spill," Original Cindy said.
It sounded to Alec like she was screaming in his ear. "What?!?!?" Max asked, screwing up her
face at the rather disgusting image OC's words presented to her.
"Tell me what happened," Original Cindy elaborated, plopping down on the couch.
"I think it's gonna be a *really* long story," Max told her.
"Could you keep it down?" Alec asked, raising his hands to his head.
The tone of his voice was enough to frighten Max into silence. He sounded so . . . helpless. Like
he was in unimaginable pain. Max studied him. "Alec, your hands!" she said, careful to keep her
voice down. His knuckles were battered and bruised and bleeding. Several of his finger tips were
oozing blood. Max took his hands in hers and inspected them carefully. "How could you not
mention these? Look at them!"
"Well they're so damn cold I can barely feel them," Alec told her, studying his hands himself. "I
guess you tend to forget about the self inflicted wounds."
"Self inflicted?!? What's the matter with you? You just go around punching shit until you're
bleeding all over the place? And just how long were you lying in the cold and rain? What, do you
have a death wish? Or do you just like pain? How the hell do you expect me to feel bad for you
when you do this to yourself?" Max screamed at him.
Alec winced. "Oh," he said quietly. "I get it now."
"Get what Alec?" Max asked, angry and frustrated.
"That's what this whole damn day was about, right?" Alec screamed, but not at Max. He was
staring out the window, radiating pain. "My goddamn punishment for being such a screw up?
For wanting what I can't have? For making people feel sorry for me, when they've got enough
problems of their own? I may have been created to be perfect, but I'm not, you know! I'm only
human, no matter how I was born or enhanced! People make mistakes!"
"Alec . . ." Max said softly, trying to get his attention.
"You know what?" Alec screamed at no one, and yet everyone. "They weren't even my
mistakes! It was always 493, or his brothers and sisters, Manticore, White . . . hell the rain is
more to blame than me!"
"Alec!" Max yelled.
Alec's head snapped toward her, tears streaming down his face, breathing deeply. Max grabbed
him, ignoring his wounds, and pulled him into her arms. Original Cindy got up from the couch
and came towards them, placing her hand on Alec's shoulder as he sobbed in Max's arms. Alec
sank to the floor, Max sinking down with him. "I'm sorry," Max whispered in his ear. "I'm so
sorry, Alec. It's not your fault. It never was."
Alec pulled back slightly to look at her, quieting down. "I . . . you . . ." Max began, trying to find
words to tell him the truth.
Original Cindy sat down beside them. "My Boo don't like to see people hurting. She don't like
to hurt. And things always seem like they'll hurt less if it's someone else's fault. And it's easier
to hide from the pain when you're yelling than when you're quiet."
Max continued from there, thankful for Original Cindy's wonderful help and friendship. "It's
easier for me to be mad at you than it is to feel sorry for myself. I don't know, I guess I always
thought you could take it, but it wasn't fair to you. I don't mean to make you feel bad just to get
myself to feel better. It's wrong, and it's cruel." She reached up her hand to stroke the side of
Alec's tear streaked face. "Alec, most of the stuff I blame you for, it's really my fault, and I'm so
sorry. Before I met you, I spent all of my time moping and feeling sorry for myself. Then you
came along, and I . . . I *used* you . . . as a scapegoat, someone to blame, and someone to take
my pain out on. Someone to hate, no matter how I really felt. And the truth is, it really tears me
up to see anything bad happen to you. You feel pain, I feel pain. And it is easier to yell than to
feel. Anger is easier to handle than pain, frustration, even love."
"You don't even know what pain is," Alec told her. He took her hand from his cheek, but rather
than throw it down like Max was expecting, he kissed it gently. "And I hope you never do. You
know why I put up with it most of the time, Max?"
Max shook her head.
"I put up with it, because I don't *want* you to feel the pain. But there's only so much I can
take, Max."
Max looked into Alec's eyes, and she saw the something in them. Something unfamiliar, yet
comforting. The same thing she had seen in the hospital just after Alec had woken up. She
recognized it now. Love. She saw love in his eyes. "Alec, I . . . I'm sorry. I'm sorry I blamed
you for the virus. I'm sorry I kicked you. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm
sorry I got you shot. I'm sorry I used you to push Logan away. I'm sorry I pushed you away.
I'm sorry I ignored you, but most of all, Alec, I'm sorry I never told you how I really felt."
Alec's heart filled with hope. "What do you mean-"
"I love you Alec."
Alec froze. -Did she just . . .-
"Alec?" Max asked. He appeared to be in shock. "Are you alright?"
Alec finally unfroze and smiled at her. "Truthfully? I never was. But I am now."
Max stared at him, unsure of his meaning, but hoping. . . .
"I love you too, Max. You don't know how much-"
Max cut him off by seizing his lips with her own. Alec wrapped his arms around her and kissed
her back, showing her just how much he had longed for this moment.
Original Cindy watched them, barely able to contain her joy at her two best friends' (she used her
suddenly selective memory to conveniently forget about Sketchy) professed love for one another.
"Aww," she sighed. "I love you guys!"
Max and Alec pulled apart and stared at her with looks of confusion. Then all three of them burst
our laughing.
After a few minutes, Alec leaned over with his hands over his stomach. "Owww," he moaned.
Original Cindy brought her hands to her stomach as well. "I think I'm gonna go throw up again."
As Original Cindy got up and ran to the bathroom, Max unsuccessfully tried to suppress the urge
to start laughing all over again.
"Hey," Alec said in mock sadness. "Guy in pain over here."
Max straightened up and managed to stop laughing. "Come on, let's get those hands cleaned up."
She smiled softly at Alec, and got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next chapter will probably be Asha's dinner with Mac.
So, what did y'all think? I wasn't being too abrupt again, was I? I have a tendency to do that. In
agreement with Khassa, take the latest chapter of "Ain't It Funny" for example, if you're reading
it. I really don't like that I do it, and I try not to, but do you think I did it here? I mean, I was
building up on the M/A through the whole story. . . . And Alec was bound to blow up sometime.
I think I'm adding that to my definition of a "Break Stuff" theme. Must involve a 'blow up' on
the part of the 'break stuff' ing person.
Please review, and let me know your opinions.