A/N Ok need help here. Like a dumbass I erased my comp history so I can't tell what pages I went to, to get my characters pictures and I know all but two of them by name. Can anyone tell me who Drew and Tara are in RL? If anyone knows and emails me their names they could get a sneak preview of the next chapter of which ever fic they like!
A/N2- I know its been only a few days since my last update but feel really bad today so I updated in the hopes of getting lots of nice reviews to cheer me up and in the hopes that I'll feel better- cheaper alternative to therapy. Let's see if it works.
Seizing the day.
Max had been feeling restless all day; her head ached like an entire squad was frog marching through her brain in formation and someone was playing TAPS at stupid levels.
She'd been ratty and irritable, ending up snapping at Sunny reducing her to tears. They had recovered from Sunny's heat a few months ago with Sunny coming to her in tears, apologising for calling her names and hitting her. Max had forgiven her and said she understood and although Sunny had a few other apologies to make and some teasing to endure, the whole thing was forgotten. Max had even thanked her, saying that her heat had forced her to come to terms with a few things. Like Alec's behaviour and her own. They had indeed reached a tentative truce, fought like cat and dog of course, but the barbs weren't sharp and even rarely ended in violence…at least on Alec's part. In light of this it was understandable why Sunny was upset when her best friend yelled at her for no reason.
In a fit of remorse Max had walked away from the unit and out of the barracks, ignoring the curious glances from everyone and stormed to the other end of the complex.
In Wyoming, her favourite place had been the lab with Bill to talk things through and have a friend. Here she didn't have that, what she did have was the biggest indoor gym and that was where she went when she needed to unwind.
It was way after lights out and she was still there, swinging on the ropes and doing somersaults all over the place, dispelling energy and tension.
She swung through the air and was coming to catch the next rope when her body jerked in mid air and she missed her grip on the rope. She fell down in surprise her hand grasping air for a hold. Her fingers brushed the rope and she grabbed, yanking her arm almost out of its socket as she slammed against it. Her fingers burned as they slid slightly. She was eight feet above ground and her eyes were wide at her near miss.
What the hell was that? She thought with panic. She flexed her arms and prepared to climb down but another spasm racked her body causing her to let go of the rope and she hurtled to the floor landing on her foot which crumpled underneath her with a nasty twist.
She curled into a ball as tremors sent shockwaves through her body.
It had been years since she had a seizure. Bill had given her enough Tryptophan to help her out while she was at Wyoming and had given her a supply to help her here, but she had been running low and was rationing herself- hence the seizure.
She climbed to her knees berating herself as she felt a bit better and got to her feet.
As she put pressure on her ankle, pain exploded in her foot and she gasped out loud and almost fell again.
She took a deep breath; she had to make it back to her room…on the other side of the compound, with seizures and a sprained ankle… without being seen by anyone. Not impossible.
She hobbled out of the room, holding onto the walls for support and listening out for anyone who was walking along.
Her shaking began to come back and she clung to the wall as they passed through her.
Memories assaulted her.
Flashback
Jack shook next to her in line.
"Stop it Jack." Zack hissed "You want them to take you away?"
"They'll put you with the nomlies." Ben added and Zack turned furiously to him as Jack paled.
"Stop scaring him! The nomlies aren't gonna get him, they can't get in here."
"The blue lady will protect you." Ben smiled at Jack but Zack scoffed.
"She doesn't exist."
"Don't say that! Don't ever say that." Ben replied heatedly.
"The guards are gonna see you fighting and take you all to Psy-Ops." Syl fumed.
"Take it back." Ben argued "She exists."
"Will you two stop it!" Max clutched at Jack who shook harder. "They'll be here any minute."
"Tell him to take it back Maxie, she won't help us if we don't believe in her." Ben asked desperately.
"Zack!" Max glanced frantically from shaking Jack to anxious Ben and furious Zack.
"But Max-"
"Please?" her eyes widened and he gave in, never able to deny her anything.
"Sorry Ben. I believe in the blue lady."
Ben touched Jack "You'll be okay Jack."
Jack nodded, hiding his shaking hands behind his back and smiled gratefully at Max.
"We'll get you through this." She promised.
End flashback.
Max slammed back against the wall, her head knocking painfully as another shock ran over her. It hurt like hell. She gasped almost ashamed at her weakness as tears fell. She waited for the worst of it to pass.
"We'll get you through this."
She was only two blocks away, thinking she could make it when another seizure hit. This one so powerful she was knocked to the floor in spasms of pain, her ankle slammed against the floor and she bit back cries gritting her teeth so hard her brain hurt.
Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse she heard a door open from the outskirts of her senses, she tried to scramble to her feet to get away but all she could do was lie there with her body wracked in pain.
"What's all the- 452?!"
The last person she wanted to see her peered out of his room.
Alec bolted put the door and knelt by her side.
"452? Are you okay?"
"F-f-fine, t-taking a w-w-walk." She bit out as the tremor slammed her body against the wall.
She felt a soft cool palm on her forehead and glanced up into scared eyes.
"No fever."
"N-no s-shit." She gasped. He swept his arms under her legs and behind her head and got to his feet cradling her in his arms.
"Let's get you to med bay."
"NO!" she yelled "Put me down."
"452, you can ask for help occasionally. Makes a good leader." He informed her cheekily, noting the look of panic on her face.
"P-please, just take me to my room."
He frowned "You need medical attention."
"Please?"
"No 452, you're in a fit, seizing and frankly you look like crap, you need a doctor."
"Alec! I have medication in my room. I just need that. I don't want a doctor, please!"
He looked down at her scared eyes and his resolve wavered.
"Please."
"I'm not carrying you all the way to you room 452." He bit his lip and came to a decision, turning back the way he had come and taking her into his room.
He put her on the bed.
"Where are your meds?" he asked as he draped his cover over her.
"Under the sink in my room, third brick up from the floor moves away and it's in there."
He raised an eyebrow at her hiding place for her contraband and nodded.
"Okay I'll be right back."
Max barely heard him as she was in the grip of another seizure and by the time she was conscious of anything again he was back.
"Did you blur?" she accused and he shrugged charmingly.
"How many do you need?" he shook the bottle that he had acquired.
"Four to start with." She said and he moved to brace her back as she sat up. She stared at him oddly, a little bewildered by his sudden need to play Florence Nightingale.
He handed several of the pills to her.
"Don't suppose you got any milk to go with these?"
He patted himself down "All out."
She grinned as she downed them "Sokay." She fixed her glance on her hands watching them shake.
"You gonna clue me in here?" Alec sat on the edge of the bed "What's wrong with you?"
"None of your business." She replied almost instinctively.
He raised an eyebrow "Excuse me, You're in my bed- which, granted is more for my benefit than yours and does involve bragging rights- but can you explain to me why I am not fetching the doctor right now?"
She deliberated whether to tell him, whether he could be trusted.
"When one of my bro-unit got seizures, they took him away and dissected him. I won't let that happen to me."
"Dissected?" he shook his head "452, he probably died from a grand mal seizure when they couldn't stop his seizures. It was an autopsy not a dissection."
"You weren't there."
He edged closer to her grabbing her hands intently "Manticore aren't monsters 452. We aren't the enemy. You've got it all wrong."
"I don't need to hear propaganda." She stated firmly.
He ran his fingers through his hair.
"These seizures, they started to give us injections to combat the serotonin deficiency. Why haven't you had it?"
Max wondered at that herself. She never recalled them.
"I always hid my shakes and then Bi- I got hold of the Tryptophan."
"Why did you hide your seizures? The doctors would have helped you, or the trainers."
Flashback
"Eyes front!"
Bulli smiled in triumph as Max got yelled at again.
"Why are you shaking 452?"
"I'm not SIR!"
Max hid her trembling hands and wished she had taken one more tablet this morning they would have helped her so much. Still she didn't know that Bulli and his cronies would have tried to attack her in the middle of the exercise and cause her to run aground.
Trainer McCarthy looked her up and down in disgust.
"Is it fear?"
"No sir!" she barked.
"You should be afraid prissy little bitch. You 09ers are only good for one thing and do you know what that is?"
Silence.
"I can't hear you!"
"No sir!"
"Filth." He spat "Report to Solitary and the pit."
End Flashback
"Don't be too sure." She laughed derisively trembling at the thought.
"452-"
"Drop it."
He nodded and patted her foot. The pain of her sprained ankle shot through her and she released a hiss.
Alec jumped back "Now what?"
"It's nothing."
He sighed at her bravado "Let me see." He pulled the blanket away from her leg and glanced over the purple swelling.
He took hold of it gently in his hands and felt it softly. His hands were soft and felt great against the angry hot skin and bruised flesh.
"Looks like a sprain. Wanna tell me how this happened."
"I was in the gym when I got my first seizure. Fell from the ropes." She explained and he whistled.
"Must have been some fall."
"Eight feet give or take." She shrugged "Could have been worse, at least I caught it on my way down, I was at the top."
"Well I get to play nursemaid again. I'll have to find a nurses outfit…then you can wear it."
"As if." She scoffed. "It'll be better by tomorrow."
"Not if it's not treated." He got up and left the room. This time when he got back, her jaw dropped and she chuckled.
"How the hell did you score milk this late at night?"
"I have my ways." He answered mysteriously and gestured for her to lie down as he bandaged her ankle up.
"You better?" he asked as her shaking continued.
"Peachy, just need to rest for a while before I go back to my room."
He nodded and helped her under the covers again.
Then he glanced from the bed to the rest of the room and back.
"I don't suppose you want to share the bed? Keep me warm?"
Her eyes shot open.
"Not a chance pretty boy."
He held up his hands with a grin "Fine, fine."
494 threw himself into his chair and tried to get comfortable. He watched her breathing evened out and her face soften as sleep took over. She was beautiful especially when asleep, all of the ghosts left her and she looked innocent and sweet. He leaned back; he'd just rest for a minute. Just a minute.
When he opened his eyes again it was to the stream of sunlight coming in through the window and to the sounds of the early morning bugle corps waking them up.
He looked towards the bed finding it empty and the covers placed back neatly. Well one of them anyway, the other was currently covering him over.
In the middle of the bed lay a single crisp sheet of white paper. He got to his feet and walked over to it, dropping his cover on the floor. He stretched the kinks out of his back and picked up the paper.
There were just two words.
Thanks
452.
He grinned, lifting the paper to his nose and inhaling the scent that lingered on the page and his smile grew as he knew that they had turned a corner in their relationship.
He was whistling when he entered the breakfast hall and greeted his unit with a sunny "Morning all!" he then bypassed them and sat with Special Ops and 510 who had been talking to Sunny.
"Hey." 510 did a double take "What's got you in such a great mood?"
"Life, it's all good." He dug into his porridge with gusto.
"Uh huh." 510 exchanged glances with Sunny and others at the table.
494 ignored them, lost in his own world until, like radar, his head snapped up just as 452 made her way to their table.
"Well the mood was nice while it lasted." 510 said sadly knowing that 452 had the unique ability to kill 494's good mood. 494 glanced at him and grinned again.
"Morning." 494 greeted as Max, Zan and Pix sat down together.
"Hey." Max smiled at him.
"Sleep well?" Alec asked cordially.
"Fine thanks, you?" Max crunched her toast as ten jaws hit the table.
"Feeling great actually. Although I do have a little crick in my neck." He shrugged "Maybe I slept on it funny."
"Hmm, I didn't do too badly at field med and relaxation techniques, maybe I could help?" she offered.
"That'd be great thanks." His eyes twinkled as they shared the same conspiratorial grin.
510 slammed his mug on the table, startling them all.
"Alright who are you and what have you done with 454 and 494?"
They exchanged a look and burst out laughing at the shocked faces of their friends at them actually getting along.
"I know! Renfro swapped them for their clones in the night. Check their barcodes." Zan ordered and pulled Max's collar down.
"Off fool!" she batted his hand away "Cut it out Za-219." she bit off his name.
"What's with you two then?" 510 demanded.
Alec shook his head "I have no idea what you're talking about, you 452?"
"None." Max held back a laugh as they teased the group.
"Oh c'mon everyone knows you can't stand each other."
"I wouldn't say that." Alec said "In fact we have a lot in common right 452?"
She nodded "Oh yeah, heaps."
"Like?" 510 asked incredulously.
"Oh suspicious friends." Max elbowed Zan who chuckled. "We just decided to be more open with each other and get along…slightly better. Right smart ass?"
"Right." He thought for a second "On that vein 452, perhaps you can help me, I've been racking my brains all night but I can't seem to solve it."
"What's that?"
"Who's Alec?"
Five people froze.
"Wha-?" Max swallowed "Where did you hear that?"
"Last night."
Max thought back and blanched
"Alec! I have medication in my room. I just need that. I don't want a doctor, please!"
"Uh that…that was…uh…" she glanced around for inspiration but found none.
"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow and the rest of the table stared at her in curiosity.
She evaluated them all and decided to let them in on her secret.
"When my unit-- the 09ers-- were young we were like family and my brother used to tell these fantastic stories and in one he said that names helped to make people. Trainers had names and guards had names, even staff and civilians had names. It made them feel important- after all it's the first thing anyone asks about you, so he said that we should have names. Names held power and gave you identity more than a designation. My C.O agreed and so we gave each other names." She sighed.
"Then when they left I was alone and I had this desire to have some part of them around." She left out the part about rebellion and hating Manticore "So I started to call everyone names."
"Like me. I'm named Zan." He patted her shoulder.
"She called me Sunny. That's my name." Sunny said softly.
"I'm Pix."
"Carrot." He pointed to his hair and everyone laughed.
"Names mean something, it's who you are."
"So you named us all?" 494 asked hesitantly "Dare I ask?"
"You I named Alec. As in Smart Aleck."
He nodded and chuckled "Alec, I can live with that."
"Great because you would have hated her second choice." Zan added with a shudder.
"Did I get one?" 510 asked curiously.
Max shrugged "I couldn't find one to suit you. You need something as big as your heart."
"As big as-" he grinned "You think I have a big heart?"
"Big head." Alec added in.
"Big ego." 511 chuckled
"I'm just big s'all over." He joked.
"Biggs?" Sunny misheard.
He put his head on one side "Biggs? I like it."
"What about me?" 511 asked
"I called you Chance."
"As in accident…or accident prone." Biggs filled in with a twinkle in his eye.
Chance blushed as she remembered meeting Max by running into her.
"It's cute." Sunny offered.
"Aiden thinks so anyway." Max gestured to 344 who started.
"Aiden?"
"Because you always get to be Aide." Max shrugged "Hey I never said I was any good at the name thing. It was more Zack's deal."
"Zack?"
"599, my C.O." she explained. The rest of the Special Ops unit clambered around asking for names and she sat back with relief at finally being so at home here with them.
Alec watched her with a soft look on his face "So 452, what do I call you?"
A broad grin slid across her face as everyone looked at her.
"I'm Max."
Alec rolled it around his mouth testing it "Max." he nodded "It's you."
A swell of pride ran over her.
"It's me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
SGOU- thanks pet glad you like
Sockbrain- I like UST and I don't really think its true to character for them to immediately jump into bed together. She was with Logan for a YEAR! Plus she has some issues with men.
Messymissy- Yeah she kept pretty much to herself so she's still a mystery to everyone.
Nat452- It's a start anyway!
Raven- I adore the bickering and it is so much fun to write. Different people find out at different times…some are more curious than others and go to strange lengths to find out.
GivenAlias- Never a complete truce it too much fun to banter.
Lyndsay- I know but I think they do well to be read together. I really need the reviews to spur me on though so please keep them up.
Feenian- Thanks darling. Glad you enjoy it. I'm feeling a bit lacklustre today so reviews cheer me up.
Ganko- I know, he's just adorable like that in the? Updated quick.
Acb- A deeper heart to heart? I think that can be arranged, they do share several intimate chats over the next few chapters so look forward to those.
Ev- Thanks its time they got along better.
Freedom Angel- Thanks for reviewing both- means a lot. Love ya!
JG- Too short? Ok I'll make them longer. Alec always wants Max naked!
Kim- LOL, aww aren't you sweet! As for Ben- you have to wait and see he is a surprise development.
Et- This is the last Number instead of named chapter. I got confused too!
Nat1- Don't help yourself- read them both!! Enjoy and tell me so.
Ting- She must have been graphic for Alec to blush!
Bibbiddy_boo- Thank you for your review. What sort of story did you have in mind. I'm always open to requests and although not a M/L shipper am open to a challenge. As for deck- he's back soon!
Athena80- How do I do it? not sure myself pet!
Brynnmissy- Max in heat with Lydecker- now theres a story waiting to happen!
Anna Kristina- Thank you for the advice- I've used the tactical thing later on thanks again. If there is anything military that I do get wrong I would like to know. Obviously don't have military education (unless you could public school!) so I have very little idea of what to do. I agree with the Chance needing confidence and Max helping out.
Bittersweet bitch- Yeah I get the designations confused too! So glad names are here now! I'm not sure I'd like to go into heat although they do say that halfway through women's cycle when they are more fertile they get hornier as they are ready to mate and procreate. So I guess that would be heat although not as bad.
Marielle- It took so long to update because I was working on Moving alongside and trying to work too. Still it wasn't that long, I know some authors who update once and month! Imagine that. shudders still its been like three days so enjoy!
Angel21- It was kinda fun to watch Sunny in heat!
Darkangel562- Like nowish?