Chapter 8

Alec spent the rest of the night in HQ. At around seven, he figured that Max and Biggs would be up and around and maybe he could get a little bit of sleep. He was going to need his rest for the mission tonight. He had volunteered to go out on one of the scouting missions for the possible new location. He could probably sleep on the way if they had a van or a car, but if they took motorcycles, then he was going to have to be awake.

He got up stretching his back and neck thoroughly before he headed out of HQ. He reached the door, pulled on the handle, and found himself face to face with Axel.

Axel immediately took two steps back. "Hey man."

Confused by his behavior, but too tired to care Alec answered "Hey." And moved to go around him.

Shit thought Axel. "Alec wait. Don't be like that."

Alec looked up at him. "Like what? I'm tired."

"Come on Alec. Look, I'm sorry, man. I just couldn't say no. She looked so tense. I thought it would be good for her to get out. You know, clear her head a little. I had no idea that the intell was old. I had no idea that there would be that much extra security.."

Axel was talking a mile a minute and Alec was having a hard time following him.

"Axel! Stop. Who?"

"Come on, Alec. I'm admitting that it was my fault. And I'm apologizing. And it's not like she was hurt all that bad. I mean, what's a stab wound between friends, right?" he forced out a short laugh. "Max has had worse."

Alec's senses perked up at the mention of Max's name. The conversation slowly came into focus for Alec. He grabbed Axel by the front of his shirt with both hands and slammed him into the nearest wall before Axel could even blink.

Through gritted teeth Alec punctuated every word. "What. About. Max.?"

Axel swallowed seeing the assassin in Alec's eyes for the first time in over a year.

"I took her on the mission last night. She and Biggs got into some trouble. He took a bullet in the leg. She got stabbed in the stomach and knocked out."

"And nobody thought to tell me this?"

"You were with Brin. We patched them up and sent them off to bed. I thought you had heard by now. Didn't you go home last night?"

Alec's brain finished putting all of the pieces together. He released Axel, and walked off in the direction of their apartment.

"Alec?" he called after him.

"Yeah?" he answered not stopping or turning back.

"We good?"

Alec looked back, directly into his eyes. "Always."

Max had been awake for hours. She was currently curled up in a dilapidated chair by the window. Her stomach hurt. Her back was sore, and she just wasn't tired.

She was restless. She had thought about going and finding something to do, but what could she do when she could barely sit up straight? She had been waiting for Alec to come home, but he never had. He was probably with Brin.

Biggs knew differently. He had been awake when Alec had been there earlier. He heard Alec's footsteps coming up to the door, heard him enter. Heard him stop breathing. And heard him leave. He wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not. He finished brushing his teeth and headed towards the door.

"Ya need anything Max?"

"No. Thanks Biggs."

"Alright. See ya." He opened the door to leave but his plans changed when a fist appeared out of nowhere and connected with his face.

Biggs took the punch surprisingly well considering that it came out of nowhere, but it still landed him on his ass. His hand flew to his nose to find blood was already covering the lower half of his face. He looked up into the furious eyes of Alec.

All of this had happened in under three seconds.

When she heard the flesh of the fist hitting the flesh of Biggs face, Max had leapt off of her bed and landed in a fighting stance. Her reaction had been so instinctual that she had forgotten about her stitches, and she grunted in pain.

"What the hell Alec?" Biggs asked from the floor.

"'What the hell'? Are you kidding me? What were you thinking?" He reached down to help his friend up off of the floor. It was a gesture completely in contrast to the fight they were currently having, but that was nothing new. As CO Alec had often had to deal with the mistakes of those under his command, and the one way to get an X-5's attention was to throw a punch at them. It was the language they spoke.

Biggs took the offered hand and stood. "I was thinking that Axel invited her to come even though I said no."

"And you let Axel overrule you?"

"No. I let Max overrule me. Have you ever tried to tell her she couldn't do something after she's already made up her mind to do it?"

Alec smirked. "Are you telling me you're afraid of Max?"

"Are you telling me that Max didn't kick you in the balls the last time you told her she couldn't do something?"

Alec unconsciously reached down and adjusted himself as that memory rose to the forefront of his mind. "I see your point."

"And you know how Axel is. Pretty girl, looking sad…He couldn't say no."

"Yeah, that's him alright. How's the leg?"

"Healing. How's Brin?"

"HELLO!" Max hollered from across the room. "Are you guys done fighting over who gets to be in charge of babysitting me?"

Both men smiled sheepishly at her.

"I can take care of myself. I don't need you three idiots watching me like I'm a child."

"Max-" Alec tried to get her attention.

But she was having none of that. "Shut it! I was on my own for ten years before you started following me around causing me more trouble than I ever caused myself. We are supposed to have each other's backs. Not take turns watching mine." She was angry. It was evident in every aspect of her being. How dare they treat her like a child. She was the most mature person in the apartment, for Christ's sake.

She turned her full wrath onto Alec. "Was it or was it not ME who called in and organized YOUR rescue yesterday Alec? Or was that more of you having my back yesterday when you were chained up in the trunk of the Familiar's car?"

"Max-" he tried to interrupt again.

"I'm not finished!" she cut him off, but he would not be deterred this time. He closed the distance between them and reached out to lift the corner of her shirt. Stunned, she stopped talking and followed his hand with her gaze noticing for the first time that she was bleeding again. She knew she had pulled a stitch or two, but she hadn't realized how bad it was.

"Oh." She said.

"I'll get the first aid kit." Biggs said and headed into the bathroom.

Max sat on her bed and Alec pushed her shoulders back gently so she was laying down.

He pulled her shirt up further to expose the entire wound. "Damn. What did you do, sew this up yourself?"

Max looked down at the zig-zag across her belly. "No. Cece and Clint did it while I was knocked out."

Biggs reappeared with some supplies and the two men repaired the damage.

"I don't suppose that you could be persuaded to spend the day in bed?" Biggs asked her when they were done.

"I will if you will pull yourself off tonight's mission mister nine-hour-old-gunshot-wound-to-the-leg." She countered.

"That's a negative."

"Then I think you just answered your own question." She said smiling up at him.

He looked over at Alec. "She's all yours then. I got places to be." He headed out dodging the pillow Max threw at him.

"Alone at last." Alec smirked at her.

"Don't joke. It hurts to laugh."

"Fine. Uncomfortable heart-to-heart it is." He said.

"Brin?" she asked.

"Brin. We had a long talk last night. She didn't say much, but she made me tell her every detail of this past year."

"Every detail? Please tell me that you didn't give her details of all your conquests."

"Why? Jealous because I don't give you any details?"

"Ew. Don't be gross."

"Fine. No I didn't give her details about that. But we did talk a lot about you."

"And?"

"And she listened intently to everything I said. She seemed happy that you and I got so close. I don't think it will be hard to help her remember that you are one of the good guys—um—girls."

"Can I see her?"

"Yeah. She asked me to bring you by today."

"She did?" Max asked hopefully.

"She did. So pretty yourself up already. She's expecting us any time now. And I don't think we will be well received with you covered in blood."

Max looked down and fiddled with her hands for a minute.

Alec tilted her face up with his index finger until she was looking into his eyes.

"What's wrong, Max?"

She blushed. "Um. I need help getting ready. I can't do it by myself. I can't even stand up straight."

That wasn't what he was expecting her to say, but he recovered quickly.

"Ok then. I'll just go get Cece." He said hurrying toward the door.

"Thanks." Max said watching him leave.

An hour later, Max was cleaned up and ready to go. And Alec was sleeping soundly on her bed.

She watched him sleeping for a minute. Although they now lived together, she didn't often get the chance to see him sleep. He looked so young and innocent when he slept.

Truthfully, he looked like Ben when he slept. She didn't often look at Alec and see Ben. Alec looked different to her. He looked happier. He smirked. Ben smiled. Alec's eyes had more green in them too. Alec had little crows feet around his eyes when he smiled. Ben didn't. It was like his smile had never reached his eyes when he smiled, like he had never truly been happy. But when Alec slept, she couldn't see his eyes or his laugh lines and he looked like a sleeping Ben. She sighed and shook herself out of her reverie.

Knowing better than to wake an assassin by touching him, she leaned close and whispered in her sexiest voice, "Hey hotboy. Wanna wake up and play?"

Alec groaned and pulled the pillow over his head. "Nope. Don't want it. Sleep is better."

"Hey!" she swatted his shoulder and heard his laughing response.

"I could smell your shampoo long before you spoke, Maxie. Can't expect to surprise an X-5 when a cloud of strawberry's precedes you by two feet."

"Whatever. Get up. I want to see Brin."

"Alright. Give me two minutes. I gotta look pretty too."

"Oh. Well them take ten minutes. You're looking rough." She dodged the smack he aimed at her ass and he disappeared into the bathroom.

Ten minutes later they were standing outside Brin's door. Max was wringing her hands.

Alec leaned in close "Relax. This is your sister." He whispered into her hair.

She looked up at him and gave him a half smile as he knocked on the door.

In typical X-5 fashion they didn't wait for her to answer, they just walked in.

She was sitting by the window looking out at the main street of Terminal City. Not that it was anything to look at, but she didn't have a t.v.

She looked up as they entered. A smile blossomed across her face and she crossed the room.

"Morning Alec." She hugged him briefly before turning to Max. "Hi Max." she said quietly looking down.

"Hi." Max responded equally nervous. She looked up at Alec who gave her an encouraging nod. Max straightened her shoulders and reached out to her sister.

She put a hand on her shoulder and Brin looked up. They smiled at each other and hugged each other tightly. It was a beautiful moment. The kind of moment that should have music playing in the background like it was a pivotal scene in a movie.

A moment that was interrupted by the sound of Alec's cell phone.

"Hell-lo" he said obnoxiously as the two girls pulled back to give him a dirty look before they looked back at each other.

"No problem. Be right there." Alec hung up his phone. "Ok ladies, I am needed elsewhere. You two have fun. And if you're gone fight, please take it outside. This building is old and not up to the kind of damage the two of you would do." He winked at them and was gone.

His exit was followed by an awkward moment of silence.

"So, ummm, how have you been?" Max asked.

"Good. Alec tells me you are doing good."

"Yeah."

More silence.

"Ok. This is stupid. I'm so happy to see you. I have waited over ten years to have you back."

Brin smiled. "You're right. Can we start over?"

"Yeah."

Brin turned in a circle and looked up at Max acting surprised to see her. "Max! Oh my God! You look great!"

Smiling, Max reached out to hug her and replied, "Me? You look wonderful!"

The two women giggled and the tension was over.

They settled into a long afternoon of sharing stories and dreaming about the future.

Alec had headed down to a meeting about the mission that night.

There were three teams heading out to scout three different locations.

Logan had made good on his offer to check out possible locations, and two of those were on the roster for tonight.

It had been a long afternoon and it was going to be an even longer night. He would kill for a nap. But that was going to have to wait. He headed over to check on Max and Brin. He found them where he left them, at Brin's.

"Did you guys eat?" He asked holding up two bags of Chinese food.

"Hey Alec. Thanks. Come in." Brin said from her seat on the floor.

"Did you two have a good afternoon?"

"Absolutely. How was your meeting?"

"No big deal. Did I miss anything?"

"Brin was just about to tell me what she's been doing since she's been out."

"Really? Good. I'm just in time."

The three transgenics dug into the food for a few minutes before Max asked Brin about the past eight months.

"Well, I've done a lot of things. I moved around a lot. I was careful to avoid anyplace I had lived in after we escaped in '09. I knew that I had given them all of those locations and I knew that they were trying to cover up our existence. I had narrowly avoided being killed when I reported to the coordinates provided by the signal following the attack. I showed up in time to watch them gun down three kids. So I retreated and fell back into old habits." She paused to take a few bites.

"Did you regroup with any others? Or have you been on your own?"

"Oh, no. I haven't been alone."

"Really? Who were you with? Anyone I know?" Alec asked with interest.

"Um, well you know of him."

"Huh?" he asked confused.

"I've been with Ben." She announced with a smile.

Max choked.

Not just a little bit. She really was choking. Stunned by Brin's revelation, but driven into action by the fact that Max was turning blue, he put down his container of food, stood, and pulled Max to her feet. He turned her around so that her back was flush against his front. He wrapped his arms around her and performed the Heimlich maneuver. Max choked up the bit of eggroll and caught it with her left hand. She looked up at Alec and quietly thanked him.

Still standing, they looked down at a smiling Brin. They looked at each other. Neither of them knew how to respond to her admission.

Did they tell her Ben was dead?

Did they point out that she was crazy?

What if she didn't believe them?

Would it be too much for her weakened mind?

And what if she asked them how they knew for sure that Ben was dead?

Surely, she wouldn't take it very well when they told her that Max had killed Ben. Max had only been on her good list for a couple of hours. It was too soon to get into that. Especially when Alec was leaving on a two-day mission in a couple of hours.

Alec was the first to access his ability to respond.

"Well, that's nice for you." He said awkwardly.

"It was. He's been great." Brin said smiling genuinely.

Max was pale. Very pale.

"You okay Max?" she asked.

"Oh she's fine, Brin. She is just worried about the mission tonight. Look, we're gonna head out. We've got things to do. If you get bored head down to HQ and they'll give you something to do."

"Ok. See you later. And Max, I had a great day with you."

When she didn't respond Alec nudged her. "Me too."

"We'll see you later." Alec called over his shoulder as he steered Max out the door.

They didn't speak until they got back to their apartment.

Axel was sitting on the floor reading some printouts about the mission that night. The printouts contained things that they were looking for in a new location: already existing buildings, nearby wooded area, power lines that could be rigged to work again…that sort of thing.

He looked up when they entered. "What's wrong?" he asked reading their expressions.

Alec sighed as he sat down on the floor. He leaned back against the wall and stretched his legs out in front of him. "It's Brin."

"Is she alright?"

"Depends on your definition of alright. She's healthy, happy and, " he paused and looked lazily at Axel "Crazy."

"Define crazy?"

"She claims to have spent the last eight months in the company of my dead psycho killer twin." He deadpanned.

"How do you know she hasn't? You know how Manitcore was, they told us shit that wasn't true all of the time. Maybe he wasn't dead."

Max spoke up for the first time since they'd left Brin's. "He was dead. I killed him."

"You killed him?" Axel asked.

"Snapped his neck. Killed him. Murdered him. Whacked him. Snuffed him out!" She was getting louder with every word. Alec stood and hugged her silencing her.

He looked down at Axel. "We're sure."

"So, then Brin is worse off than you thought?"

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do?" Axel asked.

"I don't know. I haven't had time to think. And I don't have time to think. We're due to head out in an hour.."

Max pushed away from Alec. "I need some air. Good luck tonight." She grabbed her jacket and slipped out of the apartment.

Both man helplessly watched her go.

Alec sat back down beside Axel.

"Shit." Was all he said.

Axel nodded but didn't speak.

Max was dying to head to the needle, but between the Familiars and her stab wound, she knew she was in no shape to leave T.C. So she found a tall building with a decent staircase and headed up to the roof. She hugged her knees to her chest, careful not to disturb her stitches, and let her mind wander.

She let her mind travel back into the woods on that autumn day with Ben.

She had tortured herself with this memory endlessly.

She had analyzed it from every angle.

Why the hell had they not gotten out of there first and fought about Ben's 'hobby' later?

She could've helped him. Logan would've known someone who could've helped. Yeah doctors were expensive, but she would've found the money. Hell, she would've sold her Ninja if she'd had to.

A tear slipped down her cheek and she closed her eyes.

She could almost smell the trees. She could almost feel Ben's weight across her legs. She could hear his voice. She could feel the ends of his hair graze her fingertips as she reached her hand up to the back of his neck. Her fingers brushed the slightly raised skin of his barcode. And she flinched as her memory recalled the sound of his neck snapping. She heard the sound of her tears hitting the rough fabric of his jacket. And then the sobs overcame her.

From her spot on the roof, she tipped over and laid her cheek on the cold ground. She laid there sobbing quietly until she fell asleep. Exhausted.

Alec had fallen asleep sitting up on the floor.

Axel had let him sleep. They had a long night ahead of them and he was pretty sure that Alec hadn't slept the night before.

He occupied himself by packing a small bag for himself and a small bag for Alec. That way Alec could sleep longer.

He stifled a laugh as he looked at the small number of belongings Alec had. At least he and the others had managed to get out of their apartments with some of their stuff. Alec had had to settle for whatever he had forgotten over at Joshua's old place.

Axel pulled a green shirt out of his pile and tossed it in with Alec's stuff. It would look better on Alec anyway.

Done with packing, he straightened up the room. Max had been a trooper about sharing with three guys, but he was pretty sure she would not be so understanding if they left on a two day mission leaving their shit lying around for her to clean up.

It's not that they liked being messy, it's just that they had spent their lives having everything around them spotless to a military precision. It was an expression of their freedom to leave their stuff all over the place. But, he had to admit, it was getting a little out of control.

He heard a vibrating noise coming from Alec's jacket and he searched the pockets finding Alec's phone. Seeing Biggs number on the caller I.D. he flipped it open and stepped silently out into the hall to take the call.

"Hello."

"Alec?"

"Axel."

"Alec with you?"

"Yeah. He's asleep. What do you need."

"I need Alec."

"I figured that dumbass, but do you need him now?"

"I wouldn't have called him if I didn't need him stupid."

"It can't wait?"

"What do you think?"

"I think he needs to sleep."

"Once he sees what I've got down here, he may never sleep again."

"That bad, huh?"

"Depends on your point of view."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Nothing. Just bring him down to HQ. It's important."

"No problem Biggs." Axel folded the phone closed and re-entered the apartment.

Alec opened one eye and looked up at him. "I take it play time's over?"

"Yep. Get your ass up. Biggs has something."

"Super!" Alec said with sarcastic enthusiasm.

He stood up and looked over at his bag sitting next to Axel's by the door.

"You packed my bag?"

"I was bored."

"Aww. Thanks mom." Alec picked his towel up off the chair, snapped it towards Axel who dodged it at the last second and disappeared into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later the two men walked into HQ carrying their bags.

"What's the emergency, Biggsy?"

"Uh, Alec. I don't really know how to tell you this…"

"Try using words." Alec kidded.

"Well…"

"Or sign language, or Morse code, or any other form of communication. Come on Biggs, I don't got all day. We're due to head out in" he paused to look down at his watch, "seventeen minutes."

"Alec-" Biggs started again

But there was no need to finish. Across the room a man stood up and turned to face Alec.

Alec's mouth dropped open and Axel dropped the bag he was holding.

"Holy shit." Axel whispered beside him.

"Uh.. Yeah.." Biggs spoke uncertainly. "That's what I thought too."

Alec stood shocked as the other man crossed the room. Alec still hadn't moved, or blinked or even drawn a breath.

When they were standing face to face, he reached out his hand and addressed Alec. "I hear your name is Alec."

Alec looked at the offered hand and hesitated two more seconds before he regained his composure and remembered where he was and how many people were watching.

He clasped the offered hand in an almost painful handshake.

"Hi Ben." He said in the most casual voice he could manage.