Thank you to Teegs for betaring

Chapter Seven

Her sobbing had slowed to a slow hiccuping and she was leaning exhaustedly against him.

"Where's your bed Max?" He asked gently his lips on her ear. "I think you need to lie down."

"I'm ssorry," she hiccuped. "It's the fucking hormones, they make me crazy."

Don't they just? he thought, smiling into her hair.

"Where's you room Maxie?"

"It's the first one on the right."

He picked her up, she linked her arms around his neck and nestled into his solid, warm chest as he carried her down the hall, sighing she thought about how right she felt in his arms. Something was happening between them she wasn't sure what it was yet, but when she was with him she felt things she'd never felt before, it was confusing.

For the last two days they had been apart she had done nothing but think about where he was, what he was doing and with whom he was doing it. She hadn't wanted him in her thoughts like that, and it had made her angry that he was. But she couldn't deny the relief she felt at having him back with her now.

This heat has been really weird, bewildering really, once its finished she wouldn't feel like this. Her pulse won't race, her throat won't go dry when she looked at him and her body won't turn to mush when he touched her. It's just her heat. She hesitantly told herself.

I like how he makes me feel came the unbidden thought. No you don't. You're only supposed to feel that about Logan.

Putting her down on the bed he took her boots off and pulled the quilt around her.

"We need to straighten something out Max." Taking her hand as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"What you said about me wanting to kill the baby, Joshua said the same thing. I can't understand how you would think I would want to do that."

"You said it, in your apartment, during my heat just before I went home." She looked at him frowning she couldn't remember exactly what he'd said, she'd been thinking about being pregnant.

"You said I had to leave and go to the doctor before it was to late to stop it from happening," she remembered, her eyes huge and tragic and starting to tear up again.

Oh god he thought feeling like the world's biggest asshole.

"Sshhh don't cry," he said stroking her hair. Where were all these tears coming from? How could it have all got so mixed up? He asked himself looking at her in bafflement.

"No, Max, that's not what I said. You didn't hear the rest and I wasn't telling you to leave, your heat had finished, you were going."

"I was going to the bathroom…my, my heat still hasn't really finished yet," she returned quietly, her eyes on her fingers as they plucked at the quilt.

He recognized what she said immediately. He knew instinctively that it was true.

It wasn't just the residue hormones he could still smell, or even her weird behaviour. He realized almost laughing, thinking about how unMax like it was.

He'd instinctively known it when Logan came to try and take her away and he'd felt it when she'd left on her own. It had felt wrong, deep down atavistically he'd known she still needed to be with him that she was still vulnerable. That was why it had been so hard to watch her walk away. Part of the reason he'd been so frantically, probably irrationally worried about her had been this awareness. Fuck, fuck. Tilting her chin up until she was looking into his eyes, he gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.

I want you Max I want you for my mate in my bed every night under me, over me, around me hot, eager and willing. I want the baby, but with you and me together, no Logan just you and me.

So how do I tell you? He asked himself sadly as he stroked her cheek and gazed into her eyes. How does the guy you love to hate, the guy you think is a juvenile, annoying, selfish screw-up tell you he loves you and wants to be the only man in your life?

Watchful, guarded, green eyes stared into brown.

"I said that if you were pregnant with my baby I wanted to help you raise it."

Her smile irradiated her face taking him by surprise.

He faltered, swallowing, "I…I said I didn't want Logan to raise my child. I still don't," he repeated watching her still smiling face carefully.

Fuck, he thought swallowing this was hard enough the first time.

"I also said that if we couldn't raise our child together, then I wanted you to go the doctor and stop it happening," he rushed on. "I meant the morning after pills that prevent conception. I never wanted you to kill the baby and I wasn't telling you to leave. I would never have told you to go. I'm sorry I upset you, Max, sorry things got so confused. If I could take it back, I would." Moving to sit beside her he pulled her against him and rubbed his cheek on her hair.

Max leaned into him, her hand resting on his stomach.

She was starting to feel a lot better, stronger not so weepy, happy. Happier and safer than I've felt in a long, long time. she thought.

He makes me feel like this, hopeful, in the confusion that is my life at the moment Logan, White, Terminal City, there is suddenly Alec telling me he wants a baby with me and I feel ridiculously happy.

He makes me feel strong and he makes me feel safe. She needed him…Alec annoying smart arsed, arrogant, Alec she thought with wonder.

She'd been thinking about this a lot over the last two days. Her physical need, her heat need for him had been intolerable, her body had nearly driven her crazy. What had scared her was that she had needed Alec, not just any male to relieve herself with, she'd needed, wanted only him.

Kat's said that her instincts had chosen Alec, she'd taken him, in heat, as her mate, her body and her primal instincts now recognised him, desired him, there was now a connection between them.

She had laughed ignoring Kat's knowing smile. Her head had tried to dismiss the idea but her instincts wouldn't let her and her body had continued to demand and yearn for Alec.

The overwhelming relief she was feeling now he was here, was starting to make her realize it was more than just her body, whether she wanted it or not her feelings for him were changing, she had made some kind of connection with him.

Beside, the amazing physical one. she acknowledged, smiling contentedly as she nestled closer, her mind flashing to him over her, inside her hard and tireless. She felt something for him, she still wasn't sure what, but even just having him here, like this, made her feel good. With Alec she felt comfortable like she belonged she didn't have to hide anything from him. She didn't have to wonder if she was doing or saying the right things, worry about whether she was human enough, normal enough, like she always did when she was with Logan.

Her thoughts drifted off to think about Logan…

She'd been quiet for a long time, had stopped crying, she wasn't angry with him anymore, had let him comfort her and he already knew she wasn't repulsed by his touch, liked it in fact, he assured himself, smirking as she snuggled against him.

This was all positive, but he still didn't know what was going to happen from here. Her rage, when she had thought he wanted her to have an abortion, had given him hope that even if she didn't want him, she at least wanted the baby.

Did this mean he would have the chance to be with her, that they would stay together after her heat, that they could be together, Max and him and the baby?

What about Logan? he asked himself, his heart constricting. Where did Max think Logan fit into their puzzle?

"I'm sorry too," she rubbed her cheek against his chest as she tilted her head up to look at him.

Pulled away from his musing he stared at her blankly.

"Sorry for kicking you," she explained.

He started to laugh, "What? You're apologising for causing me pain?" he laughed incredulously. "Those hormones are really doing a number on you aren't they Maxie?"

"Shut up," she huffed elbowing him in his ribs.

TBC