Dark Angel Revised
Summary: Max comes to Seattle in search of her brother Seth. Alec has also just arrived in Seattle on the Berrisford mission. They cross paths and stuff happens. M/A
Disclaimer: I don't own or have anything to do with the creation of the show or its characters.
Spoilers: Anything is subject to altering from both seasons as well as Max Collins' book Before the Dawn
Chapter 2: The Blaming
"Let me go." She enunciated every word carefully and vehemently. No more longing and desperation or fear in those eyes now. Nope, only one way to describe how she was feeling. She was pissed. Suddenly the saying "having a tiger caught by the tail" floated through his head.
"Only if you promise not to run."
"I don't have to promise you anything." She jerked her arm free of him only to find that he reattached himself to her other arm with his other hand a nanosecond later. He then grabbed her other arm sensing she was about to strike.
"Uh uh uh. I really don't think you want to draw attention to yourself."
Max fumed but stopped struggling, knowing full well that drawing attention to herself was precisely what she did not want to do.
He couldn't help but smirk at the incensed woman in his grip.
"Relax, I'm not gonna call in the storm troopers if that's what you're worried about."
"Then what the hell do you want?" She hissed.
He looked her up and down leeringly before settling on her eyes which looked as if they were going to boil out of her sockets from rage, clearly not appreciative of the amount of time it took to get from her breasts to them.
"To talk." He said innocently.
"Pfft, somehow I doubt idle chit chat with rogue X5s during deep cover missions is standard procedure."
"Deep cover? How do you know I'm not an escapee just like you?"
"You were not in my unit."
"How do you know I'd didn't escape later from my unit or earlier for that matter?"
Max raised one eyebrow in disbelief.
"Okay, fine. I'm on a DCM for Manticore." He caved.
"Now that the BS is out of the way, you can tell me why you want to talk with me instead of, you can let go of my hands by the way, following orders like a good little soldier."
He looked down, for the first time noticing that his large hands had migrated down from her forearms to clasp her smaller ones. Standing so close, him looking down at her and her having no choice but to look up at him, his hands over hers, anyone watching would think they were a young couple in the midst of a very intense conversation which in a way was exactly what they were—two young people having an intense conversation but they weren't a couple. Sure she was hot and he certainly wouldn't mind coupling with her but they hadn't…yet…because no doubt about it, he was definitely open to the i—"
"Hello!" Max nearly shouted at him. He had just been staring at her without saying anything for over a minute. "Care to include me in on whatever conversation you got going on in your head and for the last time would you let go of my hands."
Startled he let go just as she jerked away from him causing her to stumble back. A slight stumble was all it might have been if the man sitting on the other side of 494 didn't have his briefcase sticking out slightly from the line of bar stools. Max stumbled into said briefcase and completely lost her balance, pin wheeling her arms for a moment before crashing to the floor. Falling on the floor might have been the end of it if during her descent Max hadn't grabbed onto the business man's arm for purchase causing him to stumble from his stool and douse her with the drink that had been in the hand she had grabbed.
494 opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, but all that came out was the sound of laughter. Finally he managed to choke it out but only received a glare for his trouble as the man with the briefcase had already asked while helping her up from the floor.
494 was still chuckling when he heard the businessman say. "I hope you're alright."
"Sorry about your drink." She muttered.
"How about we forget about it and I buy you a new one?"
For some reason the man's words sobered him and in instant later 494 found himself in the small space between the businessman and the rogue.
"Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is so you can get cleaned up." He said gently.
Max blinked at the softness of both the voice and the eyes of the man who was suddenly in front of her. She barely caught herself from smiling dreamily and uttering a breathy "okay." Instead she nodded curtly and turned, not trusting herself to speak and completely forgetting about the chivalrous businessman.
By the time she came out of the bathroom, Max's anger at 494 was back. He was leaning against the wall opposite the bathrooms waiting for her. Initially she ignored him and began heading back towards the main bar but before leaving the narrow hallway where the bathrooms were located, she spun on him and hissed. "I can't believe you pushed me down in the middle of a crowded bar."
"Pushed you." He said incredulously. "Not my fault all the years on the outside weakened your feline reflexes."
"My reflexes are fine except when some smart ass from Manticore's idea of talking is pushing me down on the ground in front of a room full of people."
"First off, I did not push you. Secondly it's 1500 hours, there are like 5 people here. He gestured towards the main bar area. He turned back to her but then whipped his head back to the main bar area hoping beyond hope he did not just see what he thought he saw.
"Shit." 494 cursed knowing that's all he could do as he watched the cab pull away from the front of the bar…the cab with only two passengers, one of which was Simon Lehane.
How long was she in the freaking bathroom? Why the hell did I wait for her back here instead of in the main area? Why the hell did I wait for her at all? In that span of time, Lehane had come in, met his friend, they probably decided to go some place else cause, face it, this place was dead and now he was too because his job was to follow Lehane from the bar in order to eventually find out where he was staying. Great. Just fucking great, he had until tomorrow morning (when Lehane would first meet the Berrisfords) to search the entire city of Seattle.
He clenched his fists and resisted the urge to stomp his foot feeling frustrated and completely unprepared for this unforeseen circumstance. Sure his training told him he had to re deploy and fast because time was of the essence, but short of drawing inexcusable attention to himself by blurring through the bar, out the door, and down the street in a most likely failed attempt to chase after the cab, he was screwed. Now he would have to go back to Manticore. They'd have to come up with another plan. He'd be severely reprimanded but even worse any shot of getting another opportunity for an outside mission would be hopeless. All because of that traitor!
He turned to her. "This is all your fault!"
"Whoa. Where the hell do you get off flipping the script like that? I'm the one doing the blaming here, remember." She yelled back curious as to where this sudden change came from but not so much that she would let it go that he had just yelled at her.
He made a noise of frustration before turning away.
She instinctively ran after him (had to be her instincts because her mind was saying 'good let him walk away and leave you alone so you can get back to your own problems'), and grabbed hold of his arm.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"I gotta try and find him before its too late." He let out a cross between a shout and a whine.
"Find who and why?"
"My target that's who." He whispered harshly. "As for why because Mant—"
He stopped. It felt as if he had a premonition. In it, he heard himself explain to her the reason and realized he didn't like it all. Why was he stressing himself out over failing to do Manticore's dirty work for them? He turned back to her and stared down into her huge, confused eyes.
"You hungry? Can I buy you lunch?" He asked softly.
Max blinked, utterly baffled by the instantaneous change in 494's demeanor. But never one to turn down free food. "Sure, let's get a table."