A/N: All right, I actually planned this one out during class, so if it sounds too stiff let me know. Ciao!
Chapter 11
Max walked into the console room and found what he had expected; Berto hunched over his keyboard typing furiously. Max walked over to his friend and looked over his shoulder to see what the younger agent was working on. Berto, engaged in what he was doing, didn't look up, so Max made a motion to turn off the monitor. An alarm sounded, and Berto smiled. "A new defense system," Berto explained. "Now, no one but me can touch my console without the alarm going off."
Max raised his eyebrows at his friend. "Berto, you don't have to worry about that anymore. No one's going to mess with your console."
Berto looked tired. "I just want to be sure."
The two shared a silent moment, but were then interrupted by Dr. Yevshenko's voice yelling in the hallway. "Ms. Ryan! You're not ready to leave the medlab!"
This was answered by a more familiar voice. "Like hell I'm not!"
Max smirked and Berto rolled his eyes. They hadn't seen Kat or Rachel for months, but from what they were hearing, their partners hadn't changed that much.
A few seconds later, Kat strode into the room, and stood there, staring at both of them. Unsure of what to do, Max and Berto stared back at her until she broke the silence. "IF YOU TWO EVER DO THAT AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU BOTH BEFORE DREAD HAS THE CHANCE!"
The two cowered, expecting Kat to continue to vent her rage, and Max was surprised when instead, she ran up to him and hugged him. As soon as his mind registered that he wasn't going to be seriously maimed, she had stopped hugging him and moved onto Berto.
Max looked on in shock as she held Berto tight for a full ten seconds, and then strode out of the room.
Berto looked just as amazed as Max was, and both were silent again as they listened to their teammate's footsteps fade until they were audible only to Max's ultra-sensitive hearing.
Berto continued to look puzzled. "Um, what was that?"
"I think she just…hugged us."
"That's what I thought," Berto said slowly, not ceasing to look bewildered.
"Well, I do know one thing," Max said, as an evil grin surfaced on his face.
Berto narrowed his eyes. "What's that?"
"She hugged you for a full five seconds more than she hugged me."
"No she-"
"Yep. She did. Come on, let's go visit her."
Berto hugged his console. "What're you crazy? Forget it."
Max shrugged. "Your choice."
Ignoring his friend's protests, Max picked Berto up in a fireman's carry and walked out the door. Knowing what Max had in mind, Berto pounded Max's back with his fists, and started yelling in Spanish. Max ignored the younger agent; he could hardly feel the impact of Berto's fists, and he did not speak a word of Spanish, so he had no way of knowing what, exactly, his friend was yelling at him.
It was a long walk through the hall to Kat's on-base quarters, and after a few minutes, Berto stopped struggling, but continued to mutter in Spanish. Finally, Max caught a single phrase of English that he only heard because of his enhanced hearing. "I never should've recharged you when we got back."
Three or four minutes after that, Max started to get tired. True he had just been recharged, and true Berto did not weigh a lot, but the scientist did weigh something. Berto was aware of this change in his friend, and took the opportunity to try to escape. Letting himself go limp, he slid from his friend's shoulder, and took off running down the hallway. Max, however, was still faster, and dove towards the younger agent, catching him by the ankle. Berto yelled in frustration, but Max ignored him once again and continued down the hallway.
Jake Nez was walking down the hallway and saw Max turning the corner. Glad to see his fellow agent back, he began to say hello to Max. However, Jake was stopped as he saw Berto being dragged behind the nano-powered agent. Nez saw that Berto had his arms crossed against his chest, was keeping his head lifted off the floor as he was dragged down the hallway, and was still insulting Max in Spanish. Unlike Max, Nez could speak Spanish, and chose not to ever repeat what Martinez was muttering in polite company.
Max waved at Nez, but continued down the hallway, not stopping to have a conversation. Jake Nez stood where he was, attempting to process what he had just seen, but then decided he did not want to know, and left it at that.
After encountering Nez, it was only one minute more before Max and Berto arrived outside of Kat's room. Max opened the door, pushed Berto into the room, and quickly closed the door again and held it shut. Realizing that when Kat and Berto finally got out, he would be in serious trouble, Max tore the doorknob off the door. Deciding to leave the two alone, Max ran back down the hallway the way he had come and decided to go see Rachel in the medlab.
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Just as Max arrived at the door of the medlab, Rachel was walking out of it.
Max looked at his former partner, surprised. "What are you doing out here? I thought-"
"Good to see you too." the blond agent said, rolling her eyes, "Now let's get out of here. Yevshenko's distracted with one of her experiments going wrong."
"Um…sure," Max said, as he allowed himself to be pulled away from the door. "Won't she be-"
Rachel turned and stared at him sternly.
Max shut up. "Never mind," he said quickly.
"That's better."
The two walked silently down the hallway together, neither knowing exactly what to say. After what seemed an eternity, Rachel broke the silence. "I missed you," she said quietly.
The two continued walking, Max staying quiet. After a few minutes, he responded. "I missed you too."
The awkward silence after his response was almost painful. Finally, Rachel couldn't take any more of it. She had been worrying about him for six months, and now she had nothing to say to him? She cleared her throat, again not knowing what to say, but also knowing that she had to say something. "We should really start up your training again soon. You've probably lost a step while you were gone."
Max refused to take his eyes off his feet. "Maybe we should talk about that over dinner tonight."
Rachel winced.
Max felt like hitting himself in the head with something heavy. Of course, Rachel didn't believe in the whole co-worker relationship thing. "Uh…sorry. That was out of line."
Rachel looked surprised. "No, that's not it at all, trust me. I would really like to…" she hesitated. "It's just that I already have an appointment that I can't break."
Just to her luck, Jake Nez took that opportunity to walk by and wave to her, who waved back awkwardly.
As Nez continued on down the hallway, Max looked from him to Rachel, then back again, and gave Rachel a suspicious look.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, Max, I don't have plans with Jake tonight." Max visibly relaxed, and Rachel laughed. "Now, if you're done being paranoid, I'm not busy tomorrow night." Rachel smiled as Max's face brightened.
The two had stopped in front of the door to Rachel's office, and Rachel knew it was time to say goodbye for the time being. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." With that, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and let herself into her office, leaving the younger agent standing frozen to the spot in the hallway.
What the ever-so-vigilant Rachel had not realized, however, was that someone had been watching her from inside her own office.
"How…sweet," a voice came from the shadows near her desk.
Rachel sighed. "You're in my chair."
John Dread immediately got up and moved to another chair on the other side of the desk. "My apologies."
She sat down in her chair. "Now, let's get down to business."
