A/N: acb: thanks for the feedback, and thank you for reviewing every chapter, I don't consider a chapter to be any good until you review it!...that sounds kind of weird, but don't worry: I'm not stalking you, or anything like that. I just value your opinion. I've always thought I didn't use enough dialogue. You think that's a good thing, huh? Maybe so. Sorry, but this one has a lot of dialogue. BTW, everyone: I'm sorry if I come off as disliking Alec, I love Alec, but he's not the focus of this story. Sorry to everyone that wanted White to be calling, that was my original intention, but, like I said, the last chapter ran away from me, so I couldn't make it work logistically.
In the CIC, there's a man on the other end of the line.
"You don't know me," he says when Max picks up; "My name is Richard Sullivan. I am a Familiar."
For a brief moment, Max sees red. Almost a month without a word of Familiars, and suddenly, just when she really, really doesn't want to think about them, they call her on the fucking telephone!
"What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want?" Max forces the words out past the rage tightening her throat. About this point Alec notices that, from her reaction, the call probably isn't personal, so he picks up the other receiver, putting his hand over the mouthpiece to listen.
The Familiar on the line sighs, "I don't like this any more than you do, commander. I was ordered to contact you."
Max closes her eyes for a moment, trying to cling to the last vestiges of her patience.
"I'll repeat myself since it seems that 5000 years of inbreeding has, sadly, produced a profound lack of brain cells. What do you want?"
"We want," Richard Sullivan growls, "to facilitate an exchange of information about a common enemy."
Alec shoots her a look, Max blinks at the phone, too tired to be surprised.
"You want to talk?"
"About the Holy Brotherhood for the Defense of the Meek, yes."
"The Meekers."
Sullivan sighs, "If you prefer."
Max smiles, "Little Holy War got you guys worried? Would have thought you'd be prepared for this." She's grinning all out now, and not really sure why this is so amusing, "I mean, religious discrimination is hardly anything new, especially when you're a freaky snake cult a couple of thousand years old."
She can hear Sullivan gritting his teeth.
"Will you accept our offer of parley, or not?"
Max raises her eyebrows at Alec, asking for his opinion. He hesitates, and then nods.
"We'll accept," she tells Sullivan, "How do you want to do this?"
"I'll have the highest ranking Familiar in the area contact you," Sullivan says, sounded a little relieved, "Please leave this line open and have someone waiting."
Alec makes a flurry of hand signals at her, and Max nods, asking, "Who's the local chief?"
Sullivan pauses, and Max and Alec can hear him shuffling papers, "Ames White," he says, apologetically, "That should be interesting, shouldn't it?"
Max holds back a burst of hysterical laughter.
This can't be happening to her.
Alec seems to sense her impending hysteria because he tells Sullivan they'll monitor the line, and puts his receiver down.
"Max," he says gently, "are you okay? You look a little…strange."
Max has a maniacal grin on her face; she can feel it, but can't seem to do anything about it, maybe she's in shock.
"Put someone on the line," she orders distractedly, "and send for me when he calls."
When White calls.
Ames White.
Max turns and hurries from CIC: she can't handle any questions right now; she needs to go slam her head against something hard for a while. She needs to get ahold of herself.
She makes it back to her quarters in record time, without any memory of the journey. The phone call wasn't that surprising: she was almost expecting it. The identity of the contact wasn't a huge shock either. It's just the culmination of all the events of today.
She just can't take it any more.
She's forgotten that Original Cindy is staying with her. The moment she walks in her friend can tell something's wrong.
"Boo? Hey, Max!"
Max looks up quickly, surprised at her presence.
"Girl, what the hell happened to you? You look like…I don't even have a comparison for what you look like, what happened?
Max shakes her off. "I'm fine. It's nothing."
She isn't buying it. "Girl, Original Cindy wasn't born yesterday. I know when my boo's got something nasty on her mind." She puts her hands on Max's shoulders, her expression suddenly kind. "I am always here for you, you know that. Now, straight up, what's the dealio?"
Max looks at her in desperation. She knows that Original Cindy would let her brush it off this time, but she also knows that the woman won't give it up. Eventually, she's going to have to level with her best friend.
She takes a slow, shaky breath. "You remember how I said the Meekers pinned me and I had to lay low for a while."
Original Cindy nods. "You were gone for, like, seven hours, boo, 'course I remember."
Max swallows hard, looking at the floor, the kitchen table they're sitting at, anything but her friend's face.
Original Cindy frowns. "There more to the story than that?"
It's so damn hard to open up. OC is probably the only person who could possibly understand even a little, but it's still so damn hard.
"They were able to pin me because I was distracted."
She takes another deep breath.
"I was running from White and four of his evil minions."
Original Cindy smiles. "That man needs a new hobby."
Max still isn't looking at her.
"Anyway," she continues, "You know how the Meekers hate Familiars too?" Off Original Cindy's nod she says, "Well, White and I ended up helping each other out." She hears the slight intake of breath that is the only outward indication that OC is surprised, but doesn't stop. "And then we sorta ended up hiding…together."
OC nods, slowly. "That isn't what's bothering you, though." Max shoots her a surprised look, and she says, "Original Cindy just knows these things."
"We, umm. We made a deal."
She tells OC about the runes, and the translations. She doesn't mention her reaction.
"My side of the deal," she continues, slowly, "was telling him whether Ray was alive or not."
OC raises her eyebrows. "That was it."
Max nods. "That was it. Thing is, I kinda let him think that maybe he was dead. Which he isn't."
"So, in other words, you lied to the man."
Max squirms, guiltily. "Well, yeah. I mean, I was trained to. But, OC he…he really took it hard and…"she stops, still struggling with her reaction too much to explain it.
"Yeah, boo? And what?"
"Promise you won't…tease me?"
"Absolutely girl. You got Original Cindy's word on that."
"And I…I feel bad about it, OC. I feel like a horrible person. Which makes no sense because he is, like, ten million times worse as a person…at least, from my experience he is."
Original Cindy puts an arm around her best friend as she starts to cry. "Sugar, you done nothing wrong. That man deserves a little anguish, and besides which, it ain't like his kid is actually dead! You just given him something to think on."
"That doesn't help!" Max swipes a hand across her face, still mildly disgusted at the thought of crying over Ames White. "I've been running through all the practical reasons for doing it, hell, that's why I lied to him in the first place! It isn't helping."
She pulls away and walks toward the window.
"I still feel like I did wrong."
Original Cindy joins her at the window. "Sometimes doing the right thing hurts. It's a fact of life, boo. Ain't nothing you can do but come correct with yourself, and live with what comes from it."
Her words don't help, but the way she lays her head on Max's shoulder and stands with her does. Max still feels guilty, but she's beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, she can live with it for a while.
Of course, whether she'll still think that when she's face to face with White, is another thing entirely.
A/N: Okay, yeah, I know, no White in this chapter…sorry! Next time, I promise. BTW, I've kinda got another Dark Angel (Max/White) story in mind…I will finish this one, I mean, I have a PLAN! But, you guys would forgive me if I posted another story on Thursday instead of chapter 9, right? Let me know.