DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that you recognise. What's the point of these things anyway? Everyone knows who does own Dark Angel and it certainly ain't me.

CHAPTER 5

The old wooden door of Joshua's house burst open as the other transgenics piled through the frame. Various voices said "Max, you're safe," or "She's alright," but the confused and relieved babble faded away as they saw the blood all over their leader. Finally, one loud voice filled the oppressive silence, Mole's, "What the fuck happened Max?"

Everyone's eyes were trained on Max to see how she would reply, Alec's included. He resented Mole's question and felt strangely protective of Max, knowing instinctively how vulnerable she was right now. Max looked up at the 6'6 lizard man and grinned, "You know, the usual. Torture followed by boredom followed by weirdoes who kept asking questions. Why did you guys interrupt my vacation anyway?"

Mole just looked at her, the corners of his mouth turning upwards in a wry smile. "Kids these days. No respect and you can't leave them by themselves for a minute."

Max stared up at him and suddenly started to giggle, breaking the tense atmosphere. Everyone else started laughing to, relieved to know that their leader was safe and Alec was glad that no one realised what had actually happened. They came up to Max, slapping her on the back in welcome. The scene looked happy and friendly – only Alec saw how Max flinched when any other males came near her or the tense set to her shoulders as she was surrounded by her friends. The other transgenics were oblivious, just happy that she was back.

They finally set out back to TC and reached there without any major trouble. Max hitched a ride on Alec's bike, as hers was still at the warehouse where she had been captured. Alec suggested that Max ride with him and she agreed, happy to be with someone who understood what she was feeling. They had zoomed through the deserted streets of Seattle in silence, each caught up in their own thoughts.

Back at TC, the amount of transgenics who had turned up to await news of Max was unbelievable. Nearly all of TC's inhabitants had turned up, crowded together, desperate for news of Max. It was amazing how many had found out that Max had gone missing, despite Alec trying to keep it quiet so that the population wouldn't get alarmed. He caught a sight of Max's face as she got off the bike and saw the alarm and tension etched on it. Alec made a quick decision. "She's back folks! Don't worry, we got Max back and she's safe, I'm just going to take her to Medical to get treatment." At this a murmur went through the crowd, she needed treatment? Max saw what Alec was trying to do and decided to help, she needed to get away before her control cracked. "Just had the usual welcoming treatment from the government guys, I'm fine. After all, we were made indestructible, weren't we?" At that, the transgenics started to laugh, relieved. It had been Max who had kept them all together so far, especially because of her inspiring speech after the siege at Jam Pony. Many in the crowd had been afraid that with Max'' disappearance, their struggling nation would fall apart. As the jubilant crowd started to celebrate, Alec took Max's arm and guided her towards the basic medical bay that had quickly been established.

Max realised where they were going and quickly looked around to see if they were being followed. Seeing that the coast was clear Max spoke up, "Alec, I'm not going to medical."

He turned around and looked at her. "Max, I saw how much blood you've lost and your body's worn out from the torture. You need to get some treatment, even if we're genetically enhanced killing machines."

"Alec I can't go!" Max's voice was going higher and there was tinges of panic despite the fact that she was trying to sound normal. "If I go to medical, they'll realise what has happened and no one can know!"

Alec stared at the brunette before him, who was trembling in fear, a fact that he didn't think that she was conscious of. Once again, he felt protective of her, determined to protect her from her fears. "Alright, I give up. Come on, lets go to your apartment."

They started walking again and shortly arrived at Max's apartment, chosen for its location as it was quite close to HQ. Max walked in, with Alec right behind her. She sank down onto the patchy couch that they had scavenged from the ruins in TC as Alec looked at her. "I'm going to go and ..." Alec didn't get any further as Max's head had shot up at his words and she interrupted him, "Don't leave me alone please Alec, I need someone right now." Her eyes bored into his, pleading with him to stay. Alec sat gently down on the couch beside her, "Let me finish Max," he said softly "I'm going to go and steal some medical supplies – if you're not going there then I'll have to do it. You need a transfusion and other things. I'll come right back, I promise and I'll stay here if you want me to."

Max looked at him and then hung her head. "Sorry," she whispered softly. "S'okay. Now lock the door behind me and don't open it to anyone unless you're sure its me, okay?" Max nodded her acquiesce and Alec slipped out the door.

It took him roughly quarter of an hour to get to medical, ransack it for the supplies he needed and get back to Max's apartment. While on his errand, he shook his head at how easy it was to get around the hub of TC without being noticed. 'Mental note to self,' he thought, 'tell everyone off for sitting around on their asses. The Familiars have the same capabilities as we do.'

He got to the door of Max's apartment and knocked. "Max, it's me. Open the door." After a few moments the door opened and Max stood there, looking more fragile than ever before in the medical gown that Alec had swiped from the base for her. She stood back and allowed Alec in, locking the door behind him again. Alec unloaded his supplies and medical equipment onto the wooden crate that served as a table and Max settled down on the sofa again, curling her legs underneath her and wrapping her arms around herself. Alec organised everything until it suited him and then looked over at Max. "Are you sure you want me to do this? It'd be easier if you went over to Medical."

"No," Max whispered softly "I'd rather you do it. You won't ask awkward questions – you already know what's happened."

"Okay" Alec took a deep breath and went to work on the broken body of his friend. It was a lot more different than it had been at Manticore, tending to his unit's wounds or as practice in Field Med – as he saw the wounds on Max's body, he realised how much she had been tortured before the rape and anger began to build up once more in his soul. But he didn't say a thing as he stitched up the larger wounds and gave Max some of his blood to make up for how much she had lost, thankful that Manticore had seen fit to make all their experiments universal donors. He worked silently, his hands gentle on Max's battered body, avoiding the one part of her body that would cause the most problems and embarrassment for the both of them. Finally, he had tended everywhere apart from there and Alec sat back, not sure what to say to Max.

Max looked at Alec, knowing what he was thinking. She was grateful for his silence and understanding, amazed at how gentle he was being. "Here," she whispered, breaking the silence and lifted up the end of the medical gown.

Hesitantly, Alec moved forward and looked at the internal damage that White had done to Max with that brutal rape. Rage built up in him and he clenched his fists as he saw the testimony to White's crime. Max was still bleeding, with bruises on the inside of her thighs and blood slowly trickling down them. It had been brutal – Max was torn and among the blood was a shiny white substance. Alec swallowed, forcing down his rage and gently tended Max, trying to be as unobtrusive as he possibly could.

Max felt Alec at work, after his initial hesitancy. She closed her eyes and tried to think of anything else. Alec's touch was totally different to White's touch, but it still unnerved her and made her tense. At that moment, she wasn't embarrassed – Alec had already seen everything that day and she was too tired from the emotional and physical rollercoaster that she had been on since her kidnapping. Max just wanted to go to sleep and leave the world behind; she was at her limit and couldn't take much more. She knew that she would be embarrassed later at what Alec had seen, but now she just wanted to curl up into a little ball and never wake up. Finally she felt Alec's hands move off her and she opened her eyes to see him leaning back on his heels. As he began to speak, she let go off the hem of the gown, allowing it to fall back down and cover her. "I've done the best that I can Max, but you really should go and see a doctor. I'm sure OC can hook you up with someone you don't know if you'd prefer that."

"Thanks Alec," Max replied. "I'll think about it but all I want at the moment is a hot shower and then bed."

"Well you're in luck," Alec replied, wanting to comfort Max but knowing that she didn't want to get emotional. "While you were away on your... hmm 'vacation', Luke and his team managed to get the electricity going so we do actually have hot showers now."

"Really?" Max perked up. She was so sick of cold showers, and they had only had them for about a week. Before that, water had been rationed until Luke and his engineers had been able to connect a water pipe to TC.

"Really really," Alec replied, remembering an old pre-Pulse cartoon film had had seen about an ogre and a donkey.

"I'm definitely having a shower then," Max said and quickly got off the sofa and started to move around the room grabbing her robe and some other articles of clothing. She entered the cramped cubicle that was her 'luxury' en-suite bathroom, but hesitated before closing the door behind her. "Will you stay here with me Alec?" she asked softly. "I really need someone to stay with me tonight."

Alec smiled at her, "Whenever you need me Maxie, I'll be here."

"Thanks" she whispered with a small smile and closed the door. Within a minute, Alec heard the shower start and was glad that Max was feeling better. He sat down on the sofa, waiting for Max to come out and lost in his own thoughts. Ater a while, he realised that Max had not come out the bathroom yet, in fact, the shower was still on. Quickly he glanced down at his watch, realising that Max had been in there for about half an hour. He walked over and knocked on the door. "I know you're glad that we've actually got running hot water now Max, but leave some for the rest of TC will ya?"

He received no supply but the shower was switched off. Five minutes later, Max came out of the bathroom with a puff of steam. Alec just stared. Her skin that the robe showed was very red and sore looking, as though it had constantly been rubbed. "What did you do?" he asked in a hushed voice. Max looked at him with tears in her eyes, "I feel really dirty." She whispered and began to cry, an action that immediately brought Alec off his seat and over to her. He wrapped his arms around her, whispering to her, comforting her. He had no idea what he was saying, but he was trying desperately to comfort her. After a while, Max stopped crying and just stood in Alec's arms, her head resting on his chest. Alec picked her up and carried her into her bedroom, before laying her down on the bed. Her arms had snaked around his neck while he was carrying her, and as he made to pull away, her arms tightened, not allowing him to leave her. "Okay Maxie," he whispered, lying down on the bed beside her and wrapping his arms around her. "Don't worry, you're safe here, I'll protect you," he continued, gently stroking her hair. Max suddenly felt so safe, she didn't want to move. "I know you will," she whispered back, slowly falling asleep as Alec stroked her back.

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Sorry, that the update's a bit later than I promised, but I had problems with Internet access for the last week – namely that some one hacked into our account while we were surfing and ran up an £100 phone bill. Needless to say my parents were not pleased and took away the internet. But I'm working on them, I promise. I'll keep going with the story, though it may be harder for me to put them on the computer. Guess I'm going to have to rely on my friends who have the Internet until I bully my parents into getting it again.

One question: what are betas? Do they read fics to check for errors or what? Can someone please tell me what they do and if anyone wants to be my beta, drop me a line please. Thanks.

REPLIES TO REVIEWS:

Eden: Wow. I loved your review. It made me feel so happy and loved. You really think that I'm that good a writer? I'm going to have a big over inflated head and ego for days now. I'll try and make it a long one – I know what I want to cover in the story but I'm not sure of all the little details yet but I am aiming for a long fic.

willow98002: Don't worry, White will get his ass kicked. Any suggestions on exactly what should happen? It will be very, very nasty though.

acb: Thank you so much for your review. I love it when people say I rock. You are rather bloodthirsty though aren't you? Lol. I know what you mean and I totally understand. Do you have any ideas about revenge either? I'll try and incorporate people's ideas in the story.

TV Angel: Thanks for pushing the button! Here's the next update anyway, hope you liked it.

honey00: Here's the update but you're gonna have to keep reading to find out what happens to White, I'm not including that for a while. Don't worry it is an M/A fic so they will get together, at least, eventually.

X5-467: Thanks for the review. At least this update's quicker than the last one.

TikigirlK16: Here we go. Hope u like it!

Black Rose9: More compliments. I'm blushing and my head is getting bigger as we speak? Type? Aah well, you know what I mean. Thanks for the review.

little me: Update here. Sorry it's later than promised though. I'll get to work on the next update straight away.

flash: Sorry for the disappointment. Is this too late for next week? It's not in the UK, but I'm not sure about elsewhere. See note above for excuse. I'll try better next time though.

You know what I want. Reviews, pretty please.