Disclaimer: I don't own these characters
Summary: Pre-series fic.
A/N Come on people. Get those reviews rolling in.
That night Zack couldn't sleep. He could never sleep whenever any of his brothers or sisters were taken away, but this was different. First of all it was Maxie. Second, she had had tests done on her very recently and third, she had not come back yet.
It had been 3 days. Three long days. Zack would always stay up at night, waiting for her small figure to come back and climb in her bed. When there was about 2 hours before they had to wake up, he went to sleep for an hour or so. Then he'd go to training and at night the cycle would start all over again.
He was starting to drift off when he heard a sound. The door to the barracks slowly opened and a small girl came in, stumbling and walking with her head down. Zack knew immediately who it was.
"Maxie? Are you alright? What did they do to you? Come here."
Max limped over to Zack's bunk but tripped right before she got there. Luckily Zack caught her but their eyes met and for a second neither of them moved. They just stood staring into each others eyes.
'They're so dark,' Zack thought. 'Like an endless tunnel. But beautiful.'
'Zack's eyes are so blue,' Max thought. 'How come I never noticed that?' So she voiced her thoughts out loud. "Your eyes look like the sky, Zack."
He just smiled at her. 'Funny,' she thought. 'He almost never smiles. He should do it more often.'
Zack pulled her onto his bunk and looked her over worriedly. "Max," he said slowly. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you bad?"
Although she was shaking, she managed to say, "I'm fine, Zack, really."
Zack wasn't stupid. He saw how badly hurt she was. He was infuriated when he saw the cuts on her arms, legs, stomach and just about everywhere else. He touched the side of her face and cupped her cheek. Unconsciously, Max moved her face into the palm of his hand and nuzzled it slightly. "Maxie, really. Don't hide from me. Please."
Zack raised her face so she wouldn't be able to avoid his eyes.
"It hurts," she whispered. "It hurts, Zack, it hurts real bad. Make the pain go away. Help me, please?"
Once more the anger filled Zack. 'How could they do this to her?' he thought. 'I know they don't really care about us but this surgery was really unnecessary. They probably just hurt her because they were bored and needed something to do.'
"Lie down," he said. She lay down on his bunk slowly, every movement she made hurting her even more. She put her head on his pillow and watched him as he moved to lie down beside her. He gently wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. "It's gonna be alright Maxie, you just rest now. Don't worry baby sister, I'll never let them hurt you."
'Why do I feel weird calling her sister?' Zack thought, but Max snuggled closer to him and they both fell asleep, content in each other's arms.
A/N Awwwwwwwwww! Isn't that sweet. Ya, I know. I'm sappy and a hopeless romantic writer. I just wanted to show how Max made Zack act differently, softer I guess you could say. Anyways, REVIEW!
Thanks to:
kiwifruit03 – Thanks for your review
shygirl1 – Thnx for always reviewing my stories. It's greatly appreciated. I haven't yet figured out how to review other people's stories so I'll just review yours in my author's notes until someone can tell me how. Keep up your great work, I love it:)
Review people, let's go! LOL