Just Wondering

A/N: I'm really sorry that I only seem to update this fic like once a year but I'm getting my act together, honestly I am! I just hope that somebody out there somewhere in fanfic land still cares.(inserts hopeful smilie)

77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

Chapter 5: Hot in Here

The next morning Alec walked into Jam Pony with the usual twinkle in his eye and smug grin on his face firmly in place. He greeted Normal at the dispatch desk and then headed for his locker. Suddenly, a strong arm shot out from the storage closet he was passing and dragged him in as he yelled, "What the . . .?" and the door was quickly slammed shut behind him. He spun around to see Max standing in front of him, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Oh, I see, you want an early morning treat," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't be such a pig," she said, wacking him on the shoulder. "That isn't what this is about."

"Oh really?" asked Alec, disbelieving. "Then why else are you in work before your shift starts, for the first time ever I might add, and why did you drag me into a dark cupboard, where there is little space between us, if it isn't to have your wicked way with me?"

"We need to talk about last night," she said, clearly uncomfortable with the discussion topic.

"Ugh what is with you chicks needing to talk every damn thing through?" said Alec. "We kissed, simple as that. It wasn't the first time we did it and we're both grown-ups here so I really don't see what there is to analyse."

"Yeah but why did we kiss? I mean I barely like you!"

"Excuse me?" said Alec. "You barely like me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Now who's trying to over analyse?" said Max, rolling her eyes. "Look all I'm saying is that for two people that supposedly 'just kissed' it got pretty intense last night."

"That's cause I'm a damn good kisser," said Alec. "It's really a good thing that I pulled away when I did before you took things too far."

"Who are you trying to kid there, stud? I pulled away from you."

"Oh please Maxie, you were so far gone last night you wouldn't have pulled away if White came around the corner and started shooting at us!"

"You really need to get over yourself, do you know that?" said Max, angrily. "Cause contrary to popular belief, you Alec, are not irresistible to women, especially not this one. I feel sorry for you really. You're just so deluded, it's actually quite sad. I mean newsflash Alec, I am not half as attracted to you as you seem to think!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," said Max, gaining confidence, "Really."

"Then either you have really low standards for yourself or you're a pretty good actress," said Alec. "I mean I'd like to say it was the latter, but then again, look at Logan."

Max was taken back and the cheshire grin on Alec's face only grew wider. "Well I'll admit that kissing you was stooping pretty low, I honestly don't know what I was thinking so I'll just have to plead temporary insanity, but then again there was some acting involved, cause you couldn't turn me on if I had a switch!"

"I've never heard such shit in my life Max! And I lived at Manticore for 22 years or so!" he said, stepping towards her. "Are you really going to pretend that it doesn't get you going when I kiss your neck like this," he said, his voice now low and husky as he bent down and placed tender, feather light kisses along the side of Max's neck. "Or do this," he murmered as he moved up to her ear, soothingly kneading her lobe with his teeth and massaging it with his lips.

Max knew she should have stopped him, after all the sensuous whimpers that were escaping from her mouth were only proving his point, and her knees were once again beginning to weaken, but it just felt so good . . .

"Dammit Alec!" she said, pushing her off him and into the wall opposite them before rushing after him and kissing him fiercely, her hands roaming under his shirt and up his back. If she was going to be proved wrong it might as well be on her terms.

77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

What was that?" asked Rose, one of the Jam Pony messengers upon hearing a loud bang coming from the near by storage cupboard.

"Sounds like two of our work buddies skipped breakfast this morning and went straight to desert," said Original Cindy, with a coy smile.

"Really?" said Sketchy. "Sounds to me like there're two people humping in the closet."

"Fool!" said O.C. as she slapped him round the back of the head.

"What's going on here?" said Normal, when he noticed the large crowd thathad gathered around the door.

"Looks like the storage closet is finally being put to good use," said a messenger.

"Huh?" asked Normal, heading for closet when he heard a bump followed my a female groan. "Oh for God's sake!" yelled Normal. "That's it, show's over!" he said, ushering them all away. "Back to work!" He turned back to the closet and began knocking loudly on the door. "Excuse me! That's enough! Get out here now whoever is in there!" he demaned while continuing to hammer on the door with his fist. "That's it, I'm coming in!" he said reaching for the handle . . .

77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

Max could feel the world slipping away from her as Alec turned his attention back to her neck, and she just didn't care anymore. Alec was right, she was very attracted to him and on the offchance he didn't know before she sure as hell did now. Her arms snaked round the back of his neck, her fingers tugging at the hair at the nape of his neck, trying to pull him closer to her as she kissed him hungrily. She once again reversed their positions and slammed him into a wall. Well what she thought was a wall, in fact turned out to be a door. A door that was. . .opening?

"Oh shit!" she yelled, but her words were muffled by Alec's lips against her own as she came tumbling out of the cupboard and landed on top of Alec.

All of Jam Pony turned round to see who it had been in the cupboard keeping them so amused and when they recognised them, every jaw in the place hit the floor.

"Golden Boy? With. . . with... Missy Miss?" said Normal, in shock.

"Sweet baby Jesus," said O.C. "Don't tell me OC's eyesight has finally up and left her!"

"Yeah yours and everybody else's in here," said Rose.

It was only when Max looked up at all the shocked faces staring down at her that she realised she was still straddling Alec. She quickly got up, "Alec, how many times? I'm not going to help you clear out the damn closet just so you can score some extra cash!" She went over to the dispatch desk and lifted a parcel before heading straight to the door. In the mean time, Alec had also picked himself up and was currently brushing himself off. "Well a guy had to try," he said. "Man in was dusty in there. Gotta go, hot run to sector three!" he said also heading for the door, with Sketchy at his side. "When did that happen?" asked Sketchy when they got outside.

"I've no idea what you are talking about man," said Alec, getting on his bike.

"But just there now when you and Max . . ."

"So'd you see the game last night?" asked Alec quickly, taking advantage of Sketchy's short attention span.

"Man it was awesome! Completely off the hook!" said Sketchy, completely unaware of the glaring inconsistency of their conversation.

77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

'Oh my God!' thought a panic striken Max as she made her rounds. 'Oh my God! I can never set foot in Jam Pony again! Hell Normal will probably fire my ass for messing around with his Golden Boy,' she thought as she got off her bike and knocked on the door. 'Ugh get it together Max. I mean you are going to have to come up with a valid reason for kissing Alec for O.C. She's not going to accept the temporary insanity thing. She'll just want to analyse it, (wow Alec's right that is annoying) and take it as I have feelings for Alec.'

"Jam Pony messenger," she said when an elderly woman answered the door. "I need a Mrs. K. Walthrom's signiture here please," she said, handing over the clipboard.

"Yes that's me. Hold on a sec while I get my glasses dear," she said, heading back into the house.

' What a crock of shit. I don't have feelings for him . . . well other than total loathing. And that warm feeling I get in the pit of my stomach when my smiles at me. Or that whole knee wobbling thing that goes on if he even touches me. But he's just such a dick. . . I knew not naming him that would come to bite me in the ass. I wonder what it would be like to actually have Alec bite me in the ass? That, is enough! Stop that right now. He's just a selfish, egotistical prat!' "A complete and utter prat."

"I beg your pardon!"

Max suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and was faced with a rather angry looking woman. "Huh?" she asked confused.

"I was just asking if there was anywhere else I needed to sign, there was no need to be rude young lady!"

"Oh no no no no no," said Max, quickly when she realised that last thought hadn't in fact been a thought at all.

"And I especially did not appreciate the foul mouthed language! That was particularly uncalled for! I shall be ringing your superior to complain. Now good day!"

"But I . . ."

"I said good day!" said the woman as she closed the door on an embarassed Max, having thrust the clipboard into her hand.

'Oh shit," she thought. 'Well at least now Normal will fire me and I won't have to face any of them ever again. Well, apart from OC.' Max groaned as she banged her head off the wall. 'This is all Alec's fault.'

7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

Alec crawled into bed in the early hours of the morning, slightly worse for the wear. He'd worked hard all day, going on pretty much every run Normal had to offer, he didn't even take a lunch break. He knew that if he stayed in the one place for too long that OC would track him down and that so wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. Not now. Not ever. Then he'd went to Crash for a quick beer, praying to God that OC wouldn't be there. Clearly God had forsaken him, as he practically had to blur outta the bar when OC spotted him and made a beeline for him. Instead he had ended up going to a bar where they had served him actual liquor. 'Man that was some strong stuff,' he thought as he kicked off his shoes. After all it had temporarily beat his metabolism and as a result he was slighty tipsy. 'That must have been some serious black market pre-pulse shit.' He finally collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. 'Peace at last.'

His eyes flashed open five seconds later when he heard someone move in the room. Then there was silence. He heard another noise and reached out to flick the lamp back on but someone else beat him to it. "We need to do damage control," said Max, arms folded, scowl in place as per usual.

"Max it's 2am!" said Alec, sitting up in bed. "Nobody does damage control at 2am, not even you. If someone calls to your house at 2am they only want one thing, and I'm really not in the mood. Plus I'm slightly tipsy and so you would be taking advantage of me, which we really couldn't have so bye Max."

"Why is it every time I talk to you, you think I'm after sex?" Max demanded to know, getting on to the bed and slowly crawling towards him.

"Because you are?" said Alec, as if it were obvious. "I mean if you didn't why on earth would you be purring right now? You could really give a guy the wrong impression."

"And you could really make a girl think she's feeling ill, it's like 100 degrees in here," she said, now perched over him, slowly leaning down to kiss him.

Alec pulled her down onto the bed with him. "Well if it's hot in here it just must be you causeI think it's rather temperate," he said kissing her back. "So much for damage control."

"So much for not being in the mood," said Max, undoing the buttons on his shirt."God the heat really is killing me."

Suddenly Alec broke the kiss. "Hold on a minute! I'm not in the mood! And it's reallynot that warm in here at all. Shit Max you're in heat!"

"What?" she asked, rolling her eyes, annoyed he'd broken their contact.

"Max, you're going to need to stay away from me. I got feline DNA as well, I can smell those hormones coming off you in waves and trust me, they do not help me resist you one bit," he said as he scrambled to the otherside of the room.

"Alec, don't be ridiculous, don't you think I would know if I was in heat?" said Max.

"No, well not until you've done something you're going to regret anyway," he said, buttoning up his shirt. "I mean it Max stay back."

"Alec, as you said earlier we're both grown ups here," she said, walking seductively towards him. "I ain't going to regret anything cause I'm not in heat," she said logically, her fingers moving slowly down his chest to his jeans.

"Max . . ." said Alec, his grip on reality weakening as she undid his button and slowly pulled down his zip. "Ssssh," she said.

Alec didn't know what hit him that moment but he'd never been so grateful for the little drop of blood that had somehow remained near his brain, to supply it with enough oxygen for him to snap out of the spell her heat hormones were casting on him. He quickly pushed her back and lifted her swiftly. "Alec what are you doing?" she squealed as he headed for the bathroom.

"Stopping you from kicking my ass when you get over this," he said, dumping her in the shower and turning the cold water on. "You'll thank me when you mind clears up," he said leaving her and heading straight for the phone. He had no other option. "Hey OC it's Alec."

"Hey Alec, its past 2am!" said O.C. clearly grumpy.

"I know and I wouldn't call you unless it was an emergency. Max is in heat and pretty much trying to jump my bones and because of my feline DNA I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to resist her," he explained.

"Then get the hell outta there, cause I swear pretty boy, if I found out that you took advantage of my girl . . ." she warned.

"OC trust me, it's not like that at all. I'm as much at the mercy of the hormones as she is," he said. "But if I leave her here by herself I'm afraid she's going to go out and do something really stupid."

"Or someone." said OC.

"Exactly," said Alec. "Look I sent her for a cold shower so we should be ok for now but just . . ."

"Already on my way sugah," said O.C.

7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

Alec was in the middle of his 255th push up when it hit him. The steam came wafting out of the bathroom, and Alec could smell the hormones in it that had diffused out of Max's pores and into his nose. "Two hundred and fifty six, two hundred and fifty seven," he said with more determination, gritting his teeth. He was going to beat this. He wasn't going to let a couple of hormones get to him, he was a soldier god dammit!

"Thanks, I really needed that."

He stopped at the sound of Max's voice, and looked up to find her dripping wet from head to toe, her black tank top and trousers clinging to her. 'Good Lord, this is going to be my undoing,' he thought with a gulp. "Uh, Max?"

"Don't worry, I'm feeling better," she assured him. "Cooler, calmer."

"Good," said Alec, getting up and dusting himself off. "Here, you can do push ups over here if you want. I need to go for my own ice cold shower."

"Ok," she said nervously.

"Don't worry," said Alec, "I locked the door and the windows, I'm nottelling you where the keys areand OC is on her way over. I'll be as quick as I can but right now I think I'm going to go insane if I don't get in there like right now."

Max could only give a forced grin as Alec disappeared into the bathroom and she heard the sound of the water hitting the bath. 'I wonder what it would be like to be in there with him? Oh no, definitely time for the push ups.' She got down and began working out. A couple of minutes later, a fully dressed but slightly wet Alec emerged and went to the fridge for some water.

Max was just trying to keep herself focused on her push ups, trying not to let her mind wander,and she was doing reasonably well until she made the mistake of looking to the side and catching a glimpse of Alec. 'Good Lord, he makes drinking water look hot. No Maxie, stop that.'

Alec finished his drink and was making his way back to his assigned spot for more push ups when he made the mistake of looking at Max while she was doing her push ups. 'Good Lord, she makes push ups look hot. I wish we were doing an altogether different type of physical activity right now. No Alec, stop that.' Suddenly their eyes met and locked on for a split second, 'So much for the cold shower,' they both thought, and that was that, they were gone again. As they both crashed on to the bed, they both knew it was a bad idea, but the fever just took over their minds, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777