A/N: My thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter. As promised I have tried to get this one posted as quickly as possible. If it sucks, blame it on the rush. (But I don't think it sucks, so hopefully you won't either) Enjoy, and please review!

A/N #2: The next chapter is about half written but it is going to be a fairly long one so I'm taking a short break to work on a little dribble that popped into my head last night. Check my story listing in a couple of days if you want to read it. It will be titled "Family Game Night, X5 style".

The Morning After

When Alec woke up the next morning, he was alone in bed. "Damn it!" he swore. "I knew she was going to do that."

"Do what?" Max asked. She was standing in his bathroom doorway wrapped in a towel.

Alec stared at her mesmerized and unable to answer. Max smiled at him as she finished drying off then slipped on the shirt and pants she wore the day before. When she was dressed she sat down on the bed facing Alec.

"We need to talk" they both said in unison.

"You first." Max said. She stretched out on the bed next to Alec and began tracing patterns on his chest with her fingers.

Alec was finding it hard to think. He kept getting distracted by what Max was doing and by his memories of the night before so he finally caught her hand and laced his fingers through her to keep them still. Once he had them immobilized he rolled over to face her. "Last night was fantastic, Max, but when I woke up this morning I though you had freaked out on me and run away again."

"I did." Max said quietly. "Or at least I thought about it. Every time I've ever given into my heat I've always hated myself in the morning. When I woke up with you today I immediately ran to take a shower..."

"Gee, thanks!" Alec interrupted chuckling.

Max grinned then continued. "It's what I always do. That's where everything starts to sink in and the guilt hits me. I usually end up crying in the shower."

"You have nothing to feel guilty about Max." Alec said. He brought her hand up to his lips and tenderly kissed her fingers. "But did you?" he asked almost as an afterthought.

"Did I what? Alec's constant interruptions were beginning to confuse Max.

"End up crying in the shower." Alec repeated. He was a little afraid to know the answer but he had to ask.

"Not this time" Max looked up at him shyly and Alec resisted the urge to kiss her; that would only start things up again and they did have places to be today. Max continued. "I feel like I should feel guilty, but I don't. I mean, Logan's still out there somewhere thinking I'm dead and probably mourning over me and I'm in here having the best sex of my life. Why don't I feel horribly guilty, Alec?"

Alec rolled them both over so he was laying slightly on top of her, looking down into her eyes. "Listen to me, Maxie, and listen good because I'm only going to say this once. What happened last night, happened. You couldn't control it anymore than I could. You did nothing wrong. Not only that but what happened between us was not a betrayal of your relationship with Logan. I know you still care about him and I have no doubt that he still loves you. I'm not going to lie to you though; I'm glad this happened. I've wanted you for a long time, maybe since the first time I saw you. What I didn't want was to hurt you; I never wanted to cause you any grief. If I did I'm truly sorry..."

"Alec, no. Don't apologize, please. I wanted this too. Look, I don't know what this thing between us is, maybe it's the beginning of something or maybe it's nothing. What I do know is that Logan is eventually going to get over me and move on with his life and that's ok; that's the way it should be. I need to get on with my life too and for now that life is here, at Manticore, with you and the rest of our unit. After that, who knows? Maybe we'll all get out of here someday and I can get back to my crazy little life in Seattle, but right now I just want to take it day by day, ok?" Max searched Alec's face trying to find some sign that he understood what she meant, that he understood that she wasn't running away or trying to trivialize what had happened between them.

"Ok" Alec leaned down and kissed her again. He would have liked to stay in bed with her for a little longer, but the breakfast bell interrupted them. Groaning, he got up and began to dress. Once he was ready to go he held out his hand and together they walked towards the mess hall. "Best sex of you life, huh? Damn, I'm good!"

The sound of an answering smack echoed down the halls...