Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks so much for the support! I can't believe I have 58 reviews. Anyway, the reason why I'm addressing the virus situation when it has been dealt with time and time again is threefold. First, I was completely unsatisfied that Max and Logan weren't together in "Borrowed Time" and so it's a personal annoyance that I must address. Secondly, I'm trying to deepen Kris' character and uncover her past, including other men in it, since up till now her whole guy-life has been Alec. And lastly, I needed a vehicle to reveal Alec's past.

The Kris/Alec story will ALWAYS be my main concern, but I felt like I needed to write in the virus as well. Alright, well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And please review!

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"Hey, got your message, is everything okay?" Kris asked anxiously, entering the apartment later that day.

"Um, how was your day with Jacob?" Max asked nervously, leading her over to Logan's couch.

"Nice, we caught up and went to the art museum," Kris said.

"Has nice impressionist paintings," Logan commented, feigning casualness.

"Yeah," Kris said uncomfortably. Logan and Max both seemed extremely pensive. Something was wrong. "Guys, what is it?"

Logan and Max looked at each other nervously.

"I never told you the reason why Logan and I aren't really together," Max said bluntly, as she sat down on Logan's oversized chair.

"No," Kris replied, sitting on the couch. She wondered where this conversation was going.

"Well, it's because Manticore infected me with this virus that would kill Logan if I touched him in anyway. It's specifically targeted to his DNA and we haven't been able to find a cure," Max explained.

Kris absorbed this information. Now that she thought about it, Logan and Max never hugged, never held hands, nothing. Wow, that must have been terribly hard, especially when she could see the look in their eyes when they saw each other. It was of...yearning, she now realized.

"Kris?" Logan asked.

"So...what can I do?"

"We were wondering if you thought Jacob could help," Max said.

Kris was silent for a while. "I don't know guys. I mean, Jacob's brilliant but something as specialized as this might take a while and he's only going to be here for a week..."

"If you think it's a bad idea then..." Max started.

"I didn't say that," Kris said, cutting her off. "It's just...complicated."

"Is there a problem? Jacob looked really clean." Logan asked Kris suspiciously. "Oh you checked on him? There's no problem. Jacob's just a brilliant guy who's life revolves around his research," Kris explained.

Logan sighed, his previous fears of Jacob subsided.

"Have you asked anyone else to research this virus before?" Kris asked, curious.

"There was this Manticore lab tech who made the virus. We paid him to find a cure but..." Logan trailed off.

"But?"

"But Alec screwed up," Max blurted out angrily. Although she had forgiven Alec, she didn't forget.

"What?" Kris asked, confused.

"It was about a year ago. This tech guy wanted to skip town and that's why he needed the money. He said he'd find a cure to the virus for a fee before he left, but part of the money had to go towards saving Alec's ass. There was a mini-explosive in the back of his neck and it would have blown his brains out if the tech didn't remove it," Max explained.

Kris looked at Max quizzically. "And how did Alec get that bomb thing in him to begin with?"

"White threatened to kill Alec and so Alec volunteered to hunt some transgenetics for White to save his own life. White put the microexplosive in him and said he would only take it out if Alec killed three of us. Alec tried to kill me and Joshua but he couldn't go through with it," Max explained.

"What?!? Alec worked for White and tried to kill you?" Kris asked angrily, unable to believe any of this information.

Max paled. She had temporarily forgotten Kris' involvement with White. To her, Alec must have looked just as bad a Familiar, just as bad as Sean.

"Well, you hafta understand that Alec was a major jerk before he met you. He pulled a lot of shit and got into a lot of trouble and I save his ass a ton of times. But, he's different now, really," Max insisted. This was one of those few times she had said too much.

Kris looked hurt. "Whatever, let's not talk about Alec anymore. What info did this Manticore tech give you?" she asked, brushing the issue aside for the time being.

Logan grabbed some papers from his computer area and handed them to Kris. She studied them for a long time while Logan and Max looked at her curiously. When they looked at the information, it looked like gibberish.

"He was trying to kill the virus inside Max by creating an antibody, but since Max already had the antibodies in her system, it didn't work. Transgenetics apparently have antibodies to all know viruses in their bodies when they are created. It seems like that's as far as he got," she explained.

"How...how did you understand that?" Logan asked, amazed.

Kris blushed. "I was good in bio and chem in high school and I studied everything Jacob brought back to the house during the period I was with his family. It kept my mind off Sean. So basically, I breathed this stuff for three months," Kris said. "I can't perform any of the experiments, but I understand the ideas."

Max nodded. "But you're telling me that the information we have is useless?" After all that, we don't even have a starting point, she thought dejectedly.

"Well, we know what not to do," Kris said encouragingly.

Logan and Max chuckled.

"Look," Kris started seriously, "there are no guarantees. He's only here for a week. And his specialty is vaccines not..." Kris stopped talking as she had a realization.

"Kris?" Logan asked.

"Vaccine!" She looked directly at Logan. "The tech was focusing on Max, but maybe he should have been focusing on you," she said excitedly. Her head was spinning with her idea. "If a sort of vaccine could be generated from the virus in Max and injected into you, your body could create antibodies for it. That way, you'd be immune to the virus!"

Max looked at Kris, astonished. It sounded too easy. "Are you sure?"

Kris shook her head. "No, but it's a start. Anyway, I'll talk to Jacob about this all later today. Can I keep this copy of the work?"

"Yeah, take it," Logan said. "We made lots."

"Alright," Kris said. "What should the cover story be?"

"Tell him there was an experiment done on me cuz some radical right-wing group wanted to kill Logan since he works for Eyes Only," Max said.

"Alright. I gotta go now, but I'll talk with him and I'm sure he'd want to help," Kris said.

"Thank you," Max said gratefully.

Kris shook her head. "It's the least I can do after how you helped me," she replied.

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She banged on the door violently. No answer. She knew he was in there. She should have brought the key to his place.

"What?" Alec asked annoyed as he opened the door. "Oh, Kris, hey," he said softer, letting her in. "Why didn't you use the key?"

"Didn't have it," she retorted as she walked in, stopping at the other end of living room. She looked at him.

He just got out of the shower, a towel around his waist and another one draping his shoulders for his hair. Water dripped off his hair and onto his wonderfully toned body. This was the worse way she could have seen him when she was about to give him a piece of her mind, so she looked everywhere but at him.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked from across the room. Kris looked pissed.

"You could have told me you worked for White! That you tried to kill Max and Josh!" she yelled.

"What?" Alec exclaimed angrily, clearly shocked.

"Don't try to deny it! Max told me. How could you keep this from me? I thought all that crap was behind me and now..." she didn't know what else to say. When Max mentioned White, memories of Sean and deception and hurt came flooding back.

"I thought it was all behind me too!" Alec yelled back defensively.

"Shit, I don't believe how selfish you are!" Kris attacked. Deep down, she felt deceived by Alec.

"It wasn't like I went out and searched for White to join him and his crazy cult or something like that! He trapped me in a cage, threatened to kill me, and so it was either help him out or die. Well, I didn't wanna die! But it's not like I killed them anyway!" he shouted back.

"Thank you, Great Alec, for sparing their lives," Kris replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Alec wanted to flinch back at her tone, but he wasn't about to show weakness now. "It was for survival! I didn't think it was a big deal!" he snapped back.

"Yeah, well, obviously," she said, crossing her arms. "I can't believe you never bothered to think that you should tell me! After you knew what he and the Familiars did to me!"

Part of Alec knew she was right. But when would it have been a convenient time to say, Oh, by the way, Kris, I was willing to kill fellow transgenetics for White because he was going to kill me if I didn't. Yeah, I was a real big shithead back then, and hell, I probably still am. Hey, wanna eat some sorbet now?

"You know, there are a lot of things in my past that I'm not proud of. Stuff I did when I didn't know you, stuff I did even after I knew you. I've gained people's trust so when it was time for me to kill them, they wouldn't fight much; I've screwed women to get information or just for the hell of it; I've had dealings with convicted murderers, rapists, you name it...the list goes on and on. They're all parts of me," he said, trying to scare her.

"Unbelievable..." she said, shaking her head. He was avoiding giving her a decent reason why he never told her about White by painting a upsetting picture of himself.

"Believe it because it's true. And if you think that I'm bullshitting you, you better really think about who you're dealing with," he warned condescendingly.

"I know the basic ideas of what you had done and what you are capable of doing, but when I was given a specific scenario, it just freaked me out, especially because it was White..." she trailed off, unable to mask the hurt inside.

But she knew Alec.

"Hey, that's just who I am," Alec replied arrogantly. Half of him was screaming inside for just not apologizing and ending the argument. But the other half that was acting like a jerk wanted to test her, see how much she would take of his game before walking out on him for good.

In truth he never meant to hurt her, that was why he never told her about White in the first place. He had not wanted her opinion of him to diminish, especially when she was most likely comparing him to other men in her life. And, quite frankly, he didn't think he could measure up to the character Sean had devised, the super-rich Jacob, or the caped-crusader Logan. It was best now to act like the asshole so she wouldn't even bother comparing him to them.

Kris turned away from him to think. Why was he acting like this? Just to show that he could be a jackass? She thought their relationship had moved well beyond the charades, but apparently not.

She didn't respond.

"Look, I never expected you to stick around this long. And I'm obviously not the person you think I am," he said casually, reverting back to his previous, walled-up self.

She looked at him with disbelief. "So you think that just cuz I freaked out momentarily that I'm walking out of your life?" she asked him directly. She finally understood what he was doing.

His walls crumbled. "Well, I just thought..." he started, clearly surprised. She cut right through his defense mechanism and hit him where he was vulnerable.

She walked over to him determinedly and placed her hand on his chest over his heart. It was the same heartbeat she felt that night four months ago when he held her after that hideous dream. He had comforted her then, and now it was her turn to reassure him. Her opinion of him might have been jarred but not changed, even with his game-playing. He was still Alec.

"I'm sorry that I got all pissed. I just wish I had heard it from you instead of Max because I didn't think you'd keep something like that from me. But I do know who you are, so don't push me away with that crap," she stated quietly, looking straight at him.

Alec was taken off guard and couldn't find anything to really say. She just...accepted all that stuff he said to frighten her. He had been a complete jerk and she was still there? Somehow he felt more emotionally than physically naked at that moment. He inadvertently had showed her a weakness by trying to hide himself. She didn't exploit it, like Manticore would have done, but rather, acknowledged it as part of him.

"I have to go," Kris said uncomfortably when Alec didn't reply. She removed her hand from his chest and started for the door.

She was at the door when he finally said, "I'm sorry." He searched for more things to say, "I should have told you about White. I just, I didn't want you to know that part of me. And sorry about acting like an ass just now. I just, I..."

"It's alright, Alec," Kris said understandingly. "I'm sorry I was really mean about it all."

"You had a right to be. You know, we just had our first fight," he realized, a hint of pride in his voice. He never bothered to know a girl long enough to get into a fight with her...other than Max.

Kris thought about it. "After what? Ten months? I'm surprised we lasted this long without one," she joked.

"Must be my alluring nature..." Alec started cockily.

"Of course," Kris teased. They smiled at each other and she left.

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"I think the story's bullshit," Jacob said.

Kris was silent.

"Look, if you can't tell me why Max has this virus that can kill Logan, then don't. But you're a terrible liar," Jacob said, placing his hand over Kris'.

"I can't tell you," she replied honestly. "But will you help?"

"Yeah."

Kris was so happy. She hugged him tight, "Thank you so much! This will mean so much to them!" she exclaimed.

Jacob smiled as he held her, remembering all the times they stayed up studying his work. It had always amazed him how Kris could understand his research when she had never even gone to college. But she was incredibly intelligent and Jacob loved that about her, along with many other of her characteristics.

"Here's the research a lab tech did," she said after they pulled apart, handing him the stack of papers Logan had given her.

He studied them for quite a while.

"What do you think about a vaccination for Logan?" she asked him.

"Huh. That's a possibility. It looks like the virus is a strain of Zycinor," Jacob mumbled to himself.

"Zycinor?" Kris asked. She had never heard of it.

"It's a biowarfare agent. Kills by resembling a massive allergic reaction. Hives, breathing problems, incredibly weakened immune system...people die in a matter of hours," he replied, still studying the papers.

"Oh," Kris said, thinking. She figured something like this must have happened to Logan in order for Max and him to know they couldn't touch. She frowned.

"But Medex just created the vaccine for it," Jacob added, a small smile on his lips.

Kris started laughing with happiness. "Oh, I was so right!" she said.

"Yup," Jacob replied. "Assuming this virus is Zycinor."

"Aw, don't burst my ego bubble," Kris replied.

"Anyway, I'll need blood samples from Max and Logan."

"What about a lab?"

"There's a Medex research facility here in Seattle and I have access to all of it. We can use that and there are vaccine there as well," Jacob said.

"Will it be safe? I mean, no other person can know about this," Kris warned Jacob.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand. Don't worry about it. We'll start tomorrow," Jacob assured.

"We?"

"Well, aren't you going to help me?" he asked.

"I actually hadn't thought about it," she replied honestly. What could she do? She wasn't experienced in lab work.

"I need you," Jacob insisted.

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Author's Note: Sorry it took a while to update, but I was trying to get the Alec/Kris fight just right. I must have rewritten that section literally seven times. Please let me know what you think! Thanks!