DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Angel, ergo I own none of the characters in this fic. Not even Ling Ling who is the stripper from Red.

Embarrassing

"Uh, hi Maxie," Alec grunted. "I'm kinda busy at the moment."

Max stared at him. Her eyes flicked to his pretty blonde…date. He just hoped the girl didn't say anything. This had the potential to be very embarrassing, but girls could be discreet, right?

"Hello, Alec," Max said politely, a broad grin spreading across her face. Alec tried not to panic. There was no way she could know—and it wasn't like he'd done anything wrong. So what if after a long day Alec was feeling a little lazy and had wanted a sure thing? He was participating in a free market economy. In fact, the stripper would probably get more from their encounter than he would. Alec wasn't selfish. If you looked at it one way, he was practically paying the girl to orgasm—hell, he wanted that job. There was no way Max could have a problem with it. "Hi Ling Ling." Alec wanted to die.

Ling Ling cocked her head to one side and looked at Max, obviously trying to place her. Alec doubted she would, after all, X5 memory was unequalled. In fact, maybe the stripper would take a clue from Alec and just pretend that she wasn't being paid to be here. This could still work out. After all, bagging a stripper wasn't necessarily a bad thing and Max didn't need to know that she was being paid.

"The kinky, kinky lady!" Ling Ling realized cheerfully. "I love what you've done to your hair."

Max grinned. Alec couldn't believe that she wasn't embarrassed. After all, here she was looking smugger than a kitten at a dairy farm and she'd hired exactly the same girl. Please, Alec begged whatever deity helped men caught mostly naked with working girls, please let Max have hired her.

"Thanks! I'm sorry to say I won't be kicking you out before you're done, but can I borrow Alec for just two seconds?"

"Of course, take your time."

"Getting paid by the hour?"

Ling Ling had the audacity to giggle. She couldn't help a customer out just once? "No, but you gave all of Bruno's girls something to laugh about for a long time. We'd never met a girlfriend that middle of the road before. Not that you weren't mad, but not many women would have actually paid us."

"I know how hard it is for a girl to make a living," Max said equitably. She then let disgusted eyes rake over Alec and he felt like he was wearing far less than his jeans. "I gotta say, though, you must be desperate."

Alec was not embarrassed. Alec didn't care what Max thought of him. Max's disapproval was immaterial. If he said that a few more times, maybe he could convince himself. Max grabbed his ear and pulled him over to the doorway. He heard Ling Ling murmur something about kinky women again.

"So," Alec tried for nonchalance, "this Bruno guy was another old boyfriend?"

Max's hand went to his neck and his back hit the wall hard. "If you ever say that again, I'll kill you." Okay, so it had ended badly.

Alec shoved Max away, trying not to show how much she'd gotten to him. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Max, but since I doubt you came to reenact whatever you and Ling Ling did with Bruno, why don't you just tell me what you want?"

Max smirked, "I was going to ask for your help on a job, but I don't want to spoil your evening, I know she ain't cheap."

"What's the job?" he growled.

"Just a normal heist, bad guys are going to ship a couple a paintings overseas and Logan wants us to pick them up. We've got a few hours, though, they don't ship until morning. You can swing by my place around three." Alec nodded. Anything to get Max the hell out of his apartment before he lost control. "Enjoy your date," Max purred.

The door was almost shut when Alec managed to vocalize his response. "Don't worry, Maxie, my date will be doing plenty of her own enjoying." It was lame. A last ditch assault that bounced against his door. It was also pointless. Alec spared a glance back at the girl. Five hours until his second date of the evening, what was a boy to do?