Chapter 7

AN: Not a very action packed chapter (and it's kind of short) but we're slowly getting to the good stuff. You'll see! Thanks again to X5898. This story is pretty much dedicated to you for reviewing so faithfully! The answers to your questions are in a future chapter. And Colin may just be arriving in TC soon.

Tegan jumped off of her bike and spun around in place, her arms stretched out at her sides and her face lit up by her delighted smile. Alec stood, watching her with a grin.

She stopped to look at him and giggle. "That was fun wasn't it?"

"Not very productive but yeah, it was definitely fun. Your bike is badass."

"Why thank you. And it was so productive! Now I can work on stuff without feeling like I'm going to jump out of my skin."

Alec gave her a weird look and said, "If you say so."

"I do! C'mon, let's go back. It should be late enough to call my dad so I've gotta see this supply list and add stuff to it because I'm sure you guys didn't put some stuff I want for my improvements."

"Hey, we still have to go over those, Tegan!" Alec said, a little annoyed that she was trying to take over. He followed close at her heels as she made her way to HQ.

&. &. &. &. &. &. &.

Max was in need of another break an hour after returning to her office from Tegan and Alec's bike demonstration. She stood, stretching and decided to go check on Logan.

She strolled out of HQ and to Logan's apartment, looking around as she did. They really did need to do something about the buildings to make them safer and she could see the potential in opening a bar or restaurant for the transgenics to frequent. Something for the younger ones too. An arcade or a skatepark…something. They needed a school too…especially with babies being born. She'd have to mention all of it to Alec when she got back.

She dodged a bunch of X-6's running around and entered the apartment building, running up the stairs to Logan's place. Without knocking, she walked in, looking around for Logan. Max spotted him, sitting at his desk and mumbling over his computer.

"Logan?"

He glanced over and grumbled something she assumed was a hello. "I heard the prognosis on the computer was bad. Dead on arrival type of bad."

Her eyes widened in surprise as he growled at her. "Logan…we'll get you another computer. In the meantime, I'm sure you could find something else to do."

He growled again and she sighed. "Fine…but just as a warning, you may want to stay away from Tegan. You put Alec on edge."

He didn't respond and Max almost wondered if he'd heard her. She was turning away to go back to HQ when he said, "Do you want to go get lunch?"

"Um, yeah, that would be…nice."

"We haven't been spending much time together lately. Since I can't fix this maybe…?"

She smiled, relieved. "That's cool. I mean I do have to work but spending more time together…"

Logan stood with a smile. "Good."

She watched as he went through the process of getting his latex gloves on then he walked over to her and took her hand, leading her out of the apartment.

&. &. &. &. &. &. &.

"I thought we were supposed to be working," Tegan muttered between kisses. "Not that this isn't nice but…"

"Later," Alec told her, running one of his hands through her hair as he pulled her closer to him with the other.

They both jumped apart at the sound of somebody knocking on his office door. Tegan ran her hands through her hair to straighten it out a little then went and sat down in the chair she'd been using in his office, opening her laptop and hitting her email button.

Alec went over to the door, opening it to reveal Max and Logan. Max smirked when she got a good look at his appearance but said nothing. "Hey, Maxie. Logan. What's up?"

"Just came to give you the supply list. I added a few more things to it. Figured we should probably get some school books for the kids. Would your father know some good ones, Tegan?"

"Uh, if he doesn't he can ask my mom's cousin. She's been teaching all of the Pride kids since my parents married."

"Good. Keep in mind that our kids are at an advanced level though."

Tegan raised an eyebrow. "Not a problem. Exactly how far did you get in your hacking? Miss the whole off-the-scale genius thing?"

Logan narrowed his eyes at her. "No, we didn't. But your profile is all we got to look at so as far as we know you're an anomaly."

Shrugging, Tegan said, "Get too wrapped up in the 'poor little Tegan was kidnapped by breeding cult freaks' story then? My brothers aren't quite as smart as me but they hit minor genius levels."

Max looked confused for a second. "How can you say it so glibly? Doesn't it bother you more?"

She sighed, resting an elbow on the back of the chair. "I've had all of my life to deal with it. Does it bother me? Yeah, if I really start to think about it and remember…so I try not to. And when I do start to, I usually try to distract myself. I still have nightmares sometimes when I'm really stressed out or I'm going through something bad. Other than that, I'm sick of being pitied. It happens enough with my family. I definitely don't need somebody who wasn't even there for the whole episode pitying me. It happened. I'm alive and relatively unscathed. You can move on now, thanks."

Max was taken aback but then she started to think of Manticore and she could pretty much understand it. "All right. I can respect that. Anyway, we'll need books and stuff. I was thinking of stuff for the kids too. An arcade maybe or a skatepark. Nothing big but just someplace where they can go to hang out. We could probably build a pool table or something."

Tegan nodded. "I'll see what I can get. I'm gonna email the list to my dad and then call him to make sure he got it and to see if anything's impossible. Go over the drop details and stuff…"

"Sounds good. We're just gonna go spend some time with Joshua before I get back to work."

"See ya, Maxie," Alec said with a sigh. He'd been pretty much ignored during the whole conversation and it irritated him but he'd take it up with Tegan after Max and Logan left.

"Bye! Oh, and Alec? Nice hickey," Max told him, grinning as she turned and left, followed by a smirking Logan.

Alec closed the door behind them then turned to Tegan, growling playfully. "You gave me a hickey?"

Tegan smiled sheepishly. "Possibly. Maybe. Just a small one?"

"I think I'll return the favor."

She watched him warily but didn't move when he jumped at her, burying his nose into her neck. "You smell so good," he told her, his voice rough.

"Probably the cat in you responding to the cat in me…or something. You do realize if you give me a hickey people will know that we're kissing at every possible opportunity, right?"

Alec hesitated then straightened. "Good point. We wouldn't want people to know."

With a shrug, Tegan said, "Doesn't matter to me either way but if you say so."

He looked at her face then said, "Are you upset?"

She raised her eyebrows. "No. Should I be?"

"I don't know. Most women would be…"

"Guess I'm not most women," she told him, turning to look at her computer. "Do you want to discuss the improvements?"

"Yeah, let's get it over with."