Chapter Two: And the Truth Comes Out


Alec quickened his pace and sidled up next to Max to ensure he'd be next to her in formation. He gave her a small smile like the one Ben would've given her before the unit lined up in the training room. She returned the smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. It's a start, Alec thought.

The squad snapped to attention when their TAC leader strode out in front of them, clipboard in hand.

"You know the drill, soldiers. Push-ups, curls, pair off for sparring,' the officer orderd with an air of importance gained from never being disobeyed.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" The unit responded in unison as they had been trained to do since birth. They all immediately fell to the floor to begin the exercises. Alec and Max were the first to finish, so they paired off and went to a mat to being sparring.

Max was hesitant to make the first move. She rarely paired up with Ben when she could avoid it because she wouldn't fight dirty with him, which was how she fought. He went strictly by the book and it left him with a disadvantage. Luckily, he came at her first with a hard right that she quickly blocked. She easily ducked a second attempt, using the opportunity to deliver a blow to his ribs. He stumbled back and Max dropped to her hands and kicked her foot out, sweeping his legs out from under him. He hit the mat...hard.

Damn. When did she get so good at this? Alec thought.

He kicked himself up off the mat, using the momentum to power a kick to Max's side. It took everything he had not to utter a smart-ass comment when she went down, but that would've been a dead giveaway.

Max allowed the kick to throw her to the floor and somersaulted to her feet, immediately adopting her fighting stance. She feigned left and went right, delivering a hard hit to Alec's face. He stumbled backwards and looked like he was going to fall. Suddenly, Max heard a yell and turned to investigate. Alec took this chance to swipe at Max's leg, bringing her to the ground.

Max landed on the mat, closing her eyes in shock. Ben had never attacked her when she wasn't focused. Maybe he learned some of my tricks. Well, that's fine. He wants to play dirty, I'll give him dirty, she thought.

She groaned loudly and put a hand to her head, wincing in pain. Well, that's what Alec saw anyway. he quickly rushed to her side. Shit, what did I do? he mentally chastized himself.

"Max, are you alright?" he said quietly, not daring to speak any louder for fear of the TAC officer hearing him address Max by something other than her designation.

He was surprised when Max's eyes snapped open and she smirked. She grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled, flipping him over her. He landed hard on his back, Max landing on top of him, pinning him to the mat.

Her eyes twinkled and Alec couldn't stop the rush of emotion that flooded up inside him at seeing that familiar sparkle having returned.

"That was dirty, Maxie," he grinned, trying his beest to keep other Alec-like comments from issuing forth from his mouth. Things that had nothing to do with Max's dirty fighting and everything to do with the way she was stradling him right then.

"Oh, like hitting me when I wasn't looking wasn't dirty?" She dismounted, much to Alec's chagrin and relief, and offered him a hand up.

"It's a good tactic," he responded, taking her hand and letting her pull him up. He dusted off the back of his fatigues and then turned to her.

"One you never use on me when we fight." Alec cursed in his mind. Of course Ben would never take advantage of his distracted sister.

Oops.

"I guess I'm picking up your habits. Anyway, no way is what I did worse than what you did. I thought you were really hurt!" He remembered the panic he'd felt then and frowned.

"It's a good tactic," she said, grinning.

Their conversation was interrupted by their barking superior. "Good work, soldiers. Dismissed! Report to your designated leisure areas."

The unit of X5s broke up into groups and Alec panicked momentarily. Where was Ben's rec group? Thankfully Max pulled on his arm, leading him in the direction Tinga and Zack had gone. Apparently he was assigned to Rec Room 3.

Good, he thought, following Maxie. There's a pool table there. The Manticore higher ups had decided to put a few outside games in the rec rooms to allow their soldiers some semblance of normalcy. It of course had nothing to do with teaching them a few things that would be helpful when they had to blend in on away missions.

Max and Alec had been known for hogging the pool table. That is, when she had actually been talking to him.

Tinga and Zack went over to the couch as they argued over who had one their match. It had been a stale-mate but both were claiming victory, as usual.

"You wanna play?" Alec asked Max, pointing to the pool table. Max stared at it for what seemed like forever, and when she looked back at Alec, the twinkle in her eye had disappeared. The distant and withdrawn Max had returned. She shook her head and went to sit on a stool in the corner of the room. Alec sighed. This was going to be harder than he'd thought.

He walked over and sat down on a neighboring stool. "Maxie, what's wrong?" Tact was something in which Alec had always found himself lacking. Blunt was more his approach.

"Nothing, Ben. I'm fine. Always am, right?" Her words were icy cold and she kept her gaze on the floor.

"No, you're not. You never turn down pool. Not once since they brought in the table." Max had taken quickly to the game and could beat anyone who dared to play her. Everyone except for Alec, that is.

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now, that's all."

"I'm here if you wanna talk. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, Ben. I know. I just wish I could talk to you about this. It's...complicated..." she trailed off. Alec began to wonder if his ingenious plan had been a waste. It seemed it may have been if Max couldn't even talk to Ben. He shook his head. He was not one to ever admit defeat.

"Why couldn't you tell me? There's obviously something wrong here Maxie, and you need to talk about it before you drive yourself crazy. I care about you Max, and I'm worried." Alec wasn't acting anymore and Max looked up at the note of genuine concern in his voice.

"I didn't realize anyone cared that much."

"Are you kidding? Alec has been keeping me up every night trying to get me to tell him what he did wrong. He's going nuts because you won't talk to him and he thinks it's all his fault," Alec said, actually telling her the truth. Max turned her gaze to her hands which were playing nervously with the hem of her shirt. Not the response I was looking for, Alec thought. Had he done something wrong?

"It's kind of...well it is about him. Sort of." Alec fought hard to keep his face void of emotion.

"How so?" he asked, hoping his voice didn't shake. If it had, she didn't notice.

"During...those three days," Max began. She couldn't bring herself to talk about her heat with the guys in her unit and this was awkward for her. "I went to the infirmary as soon as I realized what was going on with me. Right after I almost hit on the TAC officer for unit 5." She shivered involuntarily at the memory. Unit 5's TAC was an overwieght bearded redneck with rotten teeth and worse BO. Yuck, she thought.

For a moment Alec thought that was all he was going to get out of her, but then she continued.

"I was about to check myself into isolation in the infirmary when Renfro came in and told me I had to do a mission for her. She took me into one of the labs and told me that my mission...was to copulate with X5-634." Max spat the last few words out as if they left a sour taste in her mouth. Alec gulped. He didn't really want to hear this, but he couldnt' leave now.

"My..heat wasn't far enough along yet that I had lost control, so I refused."

"Max, it was a direct order," Alec stated in surprise and relief.

"I know, Renfro reminded me of this...right before she left and locked the door, trapping me in the lab with 634. She left us there for the night. After..." Max was near to tears and so was Alec. He knew that what Renfro had done was as near to rape as you could get and it wasn't long before his pain turned to a mixture of jealousy, anger, and concern.

"Oh Maxie, it wasn't your fault. It's okay..." he tried to reassure her. He was still wondering what he had to do with all of this.

"I know, but what happened after was. As soon as I sobered up and realized that I could be...pregnant. I grabbed the nearest medication that I could find and downed it." Alec's eyes widened in shock. "If I was pregnant, Manticore would take the baby and I would never see it. It would be just another test subject. I couldn't let that happen." She mused thoughtfully. "I got sick and had to stay in the infirmary for the rest of that day and the next. They knocked me out with some sedatives and threw me into solitary for a week. No food, water, or clothes. They turned up the AC until I nearly got hypothermia. I found out that I'd succeeded. Any chance I'd had of being pregnant was ruined." There was slight sadness amongst the waves of relief in her voice. "Then..Renfro told me...that...I was going to...our unit..." She almost couldn't choke back the sob that built in her throat. "They're instituting a breeding program starting with our unit."

"They're what? That's sick!" Alec nearly shouted.

"That's why I've been so...out of it. They told me who everyone was going to be paired with and everything."

"Max, hate to be blunt here, but what does any of this have to do with Alec?"

Max cast her eyes to the floor and her bottom lip trembled. She put her head in her hands and sobbed. "He's not paired with me and I couldn't understand why I cared."

Alec just looked at Max like she'd sprouted a second head. "Wh-why do you care? I mean...I thought you hated him."

Max shook her head. "No, Ben. I don't hate Alec. It killed me that my..first time doing that was with 634. And I couldn't understand why. It was an order. I figured it out eventually. I was upset that...that it wasn't Alec. I felt like I'd betrayed him. I don't hate him Ben...I think I love him."

"What?"

Please R&R