Previously: Max wanted to swap packages with Alec because she wanted to be in the area to obtain parts for her Ninja. Alec did not give in to her and went off by himself to deliver the package. En-route to his destination, someone caught up with him.

Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters obviously do not belong to me. I am writing this purely for non-profit entertainment. No infringement intended, so don't sue me!

A/N: Thank you, you lovely people who reviewed out there! You made my day when I came home to find that I have 5 reviews for the first chapter in only one day. THANK YOU!

Suenoonues – Thanks for your review. Hope you like this chapter.

Honeyx5-452 – Nice to see you reviewing here too! Thanks! Read this chapter and tell me what you think, okay! And you see, the chapters in this story are slightly shorter than Retrieved. Just for you!–-grin--

Loisen – I am a Max/Alec fan too! Very glad that you find this interesting. Jealousy? Yes…but not in this chapter. The jealousy will come in later but will not be the focus of the story. I think! LOL

X5-459 – Thanks for reviewing. Hmm, the identity of the redhead is still somewhat hidden in this chapter. There are hints here and there, though! Keep on reading to find out!

angelofdarkness78 – I love cliffy too! I know, I don't like Celia much myself too! LOL! Hmm…what do you mean by making things better? Things are going to get worse before they get better, as you will soon see!–-winks—

Alana84 – Thanks for the review and for putting this on your fav list. Glad you liked my descriptions of the characters, nice to know all that hard work paid off! Let me know what you think of this one.

Kungfuchick – Glad you liked it and thanks for reviewing. Keep on reading and reviewing!


Chapter 2

His eyes widened in shock.

And recognition.

Alec stopped his bike at the side of the road. Now that the wind was not blowing in his ear any longer, he noticed the eerie silence which surrounded him. The crumbling buildings all around him were the only witness to his presence in the area. Except for the girl not too far behind him. The silver bicycle she was riding slowed as she approached him, a smile on her lips.

What was she doing here, he thought as she stopped beside him. He raised his eyebrows in a wordless question to her. Unsure what to expect, he kept a safe distance away from her.

"Hello 494," she said in greeting.

Alec inclined his head at her to return her greeting. He had not seen her since their last encounter in Manticore.

"I go by Alec now. What are you doing here?" Alec asked warily. He tried but he could not read the expression in her grey eyes. He had never been able to, he suddenly realized.

"Same as what you are doing," she said rather unhelpfully. She hopped off her bicycle and bent over to lower it to the ground. As she straightened up gracefully, Alec could see her exposed cleavage.

Yanking his eyes away from the view she so obviously displayed on purpose, he frowned. She caught his eyes and smiled at his unease.

"What exactly does that mean?" Alec could not help the note of impatience which seeped into his voice. She made him uncomfortable. She had always done so from what he could remember. He could feel a niggling thought in his head fighting to resurface, but he could not put his finger on it. There was something he should remember about her.

"Same old 494. All that passion, all pent up in the name of Manticore. But I knew, didn't I? I found out," she said to him.

"I don't know what the hell you are on about," he snapped back, feeling even more ill at ease now.

"Now come on, Alec," she said, sounding as if she was savouring his name as she spoke it out loud.

Alec forced himself not to shudder at the way she said his name. The niggling thought still eluded him. Damn, why can't I remember, he thought to himself in frustration.

"Is that how you treat an old friend?" she continued, her eyes boring into his intently. That smile was still on her lips.

Alec snorted incredulously and his lips twisted, "You are seriously deluded. We were never friends. Back when I knew you, the concept of friendship did not even exist,"

"It does now that we are out here. But I agree with you. We were never mere friends. We were much more," she purred seductively, her eyes still locked on his. She took a step towards him.

Instinctively, he backed away from her. He frowned at his own reaction, slightly embarrassed. Why did I do that? Am I afraid of her? Alec wondered in confusion. He rarely felt this feeling of fear and apprehension. This whole encounter felt wrong.

She moved closer, reaching her hands out to touch him. He jerked away, disdain displayed clear across his face. Apparently unaffected by his reaction, she laughed and reached out again.

Once she laid her hands on his face, Alec felt a strange haze clouding his mind. A small part of his mind which retained its grasp on reality suddenly realized what was wrong.

Too late, he finally remembered what happened the last time she got close.


Impatiently, Max revved her bike as she passed the sector checkpoint. The sector 8 law-enforcers let her through after she flashed her Jampony sector pass at them. She continued to head towards the building which housed the exhibition. The posters along the lampposts directed her towards a road which led to a converted warehouse.

"Please let them be there still," she prayed under her breath. Her deliveries to Sector 1 took longer than she expected. Even with her stamina and speed, she could not have ridden there and back in time. She had decided to stop home to grab her baby. Hoping that the additional speed would be enough for her to catch the last hour of the exhibition.

No such luck.

As she pulled into the front of the building, she visibly slumped in defeat as her eyes took in the sight before her.

Too late, she sighed.

The scene of ordered chaos in front of her was the last thing she wanted to see. The exhibitors and traders were loading their display and merchandise back into their trucks; some had even pulled out of the parking bay. Several guys who were loading the vehicles noticed her presence and paused momentarily in their movements. They wolf-whistled as their eyes roved up and down her curvy leather clad form. Max rolled her eyes. Men.

One of them, a guy who looked as if he had been overindulging in body-building supplements, hollered at her, "Hey, pumpkin. Nice ride you got there, but we've got a better one here,"

"Yeah, you wanna come ride with us? We can show you how to have a good time," another leered. His friends joined him in laughter.

Max gave them the finger, giving them a shark-ish smile as she did so.

"Aww, baby, that's not nice," the first one said in an admonishing tone as he started strutting towards her.

Another man, obviously the boss, waved his arms at them and shouted, "Get back to work. We need to get the merchandise to Canada tomorrow. Don't know about you but I want some rest tonight before we leave this place. And I didn't pay you to drool over girls. Or you lot don't want your pay?" Suitably chastised, or threatened rather, they went back to loading the truck.

Max's eyes followed them as they loaded a red Ninja into their vehicle. The shiny bike was a newer model than hers. And will undoubtedly have the parts she required to upgrade her machine.

Resigning herself to do what she has been trying to avoid, she turned her bike around and left the parking bay. I must stop doing this, she thought to herself. Even as the thought formed in her head, she could feel her body flush at adrenaline rush that always came hand-in-hand with the mere thought of a heist.

Once at a safe distance, she stashed her bike in an alley, covering it with some old, half decaying planks. She wrinkled her nose at the smell coming from the dumpster nearby as she exited the alley.

Stealthily, she crept back towards the converted warehouse.

The truck she was interested in was one of the last to leave, she noted with satisfaction. She waited until the last guy got into the front of the truck before she made her move.

As the truck started moving, she blurred towards the back, careful to keep away from the line of sight of the truck's rearview mirrors. A graceful leap later saw her clinging precariously at the back door. Crossing her fingers in hope that no one has decided to sit at the back, she opened the latch, letting herself into the rear compartment.

Her pupils dilated as her eyes adjusted to the darkness within. No one was inside. Rigging the latch so that she would not be accidentally locked in, she let out the breath she was holding.

A huge grin spread across her face as she spotted what she was looking for.

The shiny red Ninja was displayed in all its full glory right in front of her.

It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw.


Alec blinked as he forced his eyes open.

Stiffening, his heart pounded as he looked around the unfamiliar room, wondering where the hell he was. It was obviously a motel room, considering the furnishing. A cheap one, at it. He looked out of the window; the sun was just setting.

He sat up, noticing his nakedness for the first time. There was also a familiar stinging feeling on his back. He frowned. What did he do? And who did he do it with? Maybe he got into a fight, he thought. With all those scratches? Fight with what? A cat? He shook his head, attempting to clear the hazy web surrounding his mind.

Throwing the covers off himself, his eyes were drawn to the sticky residue at the top of his thighs, evidence of the activity or activities, which he obviously took part in. Activities which took place not too long ago, considering the state of the 'evidence'.

His frown deepening, Alec looked around for clues. The sheets were rumpled. The bedside lamp was knocked over. He sniffed the air, detecting a very faint smell only a female could produce. Thank goodness it was a female, he thought with a wry bark of laughter. Other than that, he did not find anything out of the ordinary. Well, nothing out of the ordinary apart from the fact that he woke up in a strange motel room with no recollection of how he got there. Strange.

Continuing his inspection of the room, he saw his clothes folded in a neat pile on a chair and the rucksack he was carrying on the floor. Getting off the bed, he snatched the rucksack off the floor. As he did so, the clipboard fell out. Reading through the last couple of entries, he remembered vaguely that he was supposed to be delivering some packages to Sector 8. Obviously the packages reached their destination, he thought as he noted the signatures on the clipboard.

He went towards the door which he assumed was the bathroom, grabbing his clothes on the way.

Standing in the shower, face tilted towards the spray of water, he felt better as the fog surrounding him seemed to lift. Methodically washing himself, he rapidly finished his shower. He dried himself and pulled on his clothes. He desperately wanted to get out of this room to get some fresh air. Maybe the reception downstairs could shed some light on this, he hoped.

Unfortunately, his discreet interrogation of the old man at the desk downstairs came up with blanks. The old man could not remember who was with him when he checked in.

As he pedaled back to Jampony to drop off his clipboard, his thoughts returned to the strange incident. However drunk he was, he had always managed to remember what he did. To say that this incident had him stumped was a glaring understatement.

A moment later, he caught the whirring sound of another pair of bicycle wheels not too far behind him. Turning back, he saw another messenger from another company.

-deja-vu-

Hadn't this happened earlier? His face twisted in concentration. He was convinced that earlier that day, the very same thing happened.

Think, Alec. THINKthe whirring sound of bicycle wheels…

He remembered thinking, 'It must be Max'.

Then it hit him. Chunks of his memories came rushing back in flashes, like a slow motion slide show in his head.

Whirring bicycle wheels.

Deserted road.

Asking a female for hot monkey sex.

Max and sex.

Him needing to get laid.

Him slowing down to give a chance for Max to catch up.

Him waking up alone in a motel room, evidence of sex all over him.

Shocked, he momentarily lost control of his bike and swerved, almost knocking into the other cyclist. The irate cyclist shouted indignantly at him, "Hey! Watch where you are going!"

Too engrossed in his own thoughts, Alec did not even notice as the cyclist muttered under his breath and cycled away. He slid off his bike slowly. A sheen of perspiration dotted his forehead as he concentrated hard on remembering. WHY COULDN'T HE REMEMBER?

Frustrated, he threw his rucksack down. He just could not remember. But all the bits he could remember and the evidence on him pointed to one thing. He slapped both hands to his face and groaned.

Him.

Max.

Sex.

He's a dead man.

t.b.c. (no cliff-hangers this time!)


A/N: If you got to this point, please take a minute to review this fic. It really does make a difference to me. I need that rush of excitement that comes with reading reviews to keep me going! I know, I need help!

A/N: Also, I am writing another story called Retrieved which you might be interested in, that is - if you haven't read it… ;P