Chapter Thirteen

For the split second that it took for the vibrations caused by his vocal chords to tremble the tiny hair-like strands in Max's ears that hence transformed the information into nerve impulses to then travel to her brain and for the sentence to fall into place and make sense, the X5 just stood there. Stood and watched in slow motion; the grin upon his lips, their movement offset with his words, the moment his eyes sparked and brimmed with mischief and everything crashed and overflowed with realisation triggering apprehension.

Apprehension, ironically, was the same thing running through Max's mind. The word, to apprehend coincidentally meant two very different things that ran parallel in the two transgenic minds.

Alec; anxiety, uneasiness, trepidation.

Max; stop, capture, arrest.

Perhaps even in that order.

Alec didn't turn back, didn't wait the few milliseconds it was going to take for what he'd said to register; in fact he was all for a head start against her. At this point in time he needed all the help he could get.

His entity was focussed on one thing and one thing only, which in consequence led him to a million miniscule details to keep his mind off what she might be capable of should he fail in his quest. The fleeing transgenic concentrated on the deep rhythmic breaths that passed in and out of his lungs with practiced ease. He kept his eyes on the road in front of him, always in front, looking at his goal knowing that should his eyes wander they'd see those frightful things called obstacles. Ears were entrained on the frantically even plod of his feet and his nose tracked her hormones, evaluated the amount adrenaline and such that emanated from her keeping record of just how determined she was.

And determined she was. Max wasn't at all focussed on her own running but rather on every move the infuriating smart-ass in front of her was making, indomitable to catch him but as she thought this her mind sort of halted. What was she gonna do once she'd tackled his sorry ass to the ground? Her brow furrowed, confusion and a mental blank settling. It wasn't as if she'd been horribly offended… well for a second she'd been, then she'd gotten angry that he'd known exactly what she'd thought and that he'd hassled her about it. I mean why was he allowed to think about sex constantly but when she did it, it was called sexually frustration?

If you thought about it, it just wasn't fair. She had exactly the same right as him to be thinking about sex and all things related as much as she wanted; there was no law that said she shouldn't. So what if she'd started twisting words and sentences and fantasizing every minute of every hour of every day these past few days?

Max groaned in self-disbelief. It was too hot. In Seattle this wasn't a problem, the rain took care of those thoughts, at least most of them when it came to her, it was the same concept as to why the English invented cold showers. Why? To stop people masturbating that's why.

If she really thought about it for a second the answer to her question was easy; what was she gonna do once she caught him? Give him a piece of her mind.

Alec was beginning to realise that perhaps he'd gone a bit too far this time. Relentless, he had been hassling her constantly about sex from the first moment they'd met; about other things too of course, but this had been one of the more predominant. Why? Alec hadn't wanted to admit it, not even to himself but if he absolutely had to be honest, well, he was a little insulted. Of course if you took into account that back then she'd just sparked something with Logan and that she felt some sense of loyalty to the man, and you also took note of the fact that he looked like her dead brother, the one who had lost it and she'd had to kill and that for reasons, back then unknown to him, she seemed to be squeamish about anything related to sex, then really he shouldn't have been offended. But rejection isn't pleasant, no matter under what circumstances.

These few days on the road, despite their weird friendship having grown deeper, had only seen him hassle her more, though not entirely his fault. Max had left herself open so many times, and Alec was not the kind of transgenic, person, creature, whatever, to refuse an open shot, especially ones of such great entertainment.

Now, in consequence he found himself running away from a very sick of it Max and he couldn't really blame her, he'd get pissed off too if he wasn't getting any and it was constantly rubbed in his face.

There was the fountain; the million Hollywood Vegas movies fountain, they could both see it, and Alec headed for it. Later he'd ask himself why but in that moment it seemed like a good idea, maybe she'd cool off. It was worth a shot. Max saw him dart down the path that passed the closest and a smile glinted upon her lips; she was less than 10 metres behind himnow but she didn't follow, instead going up higher on the footpath. Alec barely had the time to glance around wondering where she'd gone that the X5 using the railing vaulted herself in the flying down heading straight for him.

The look on his face was priceless, a terrified hedgehog looking into oncoming traffic on the highway. Nothing he could do would stop her, there was nothing, all he could do was watch and brace himself for impact.

Max hit Alec like a speeding train, propelling both herself and her target into the air and for a brief second they were flying but the next second they were falling. The water was cold, was the only thought that registered when they splashed into the fountain. It was cold and sense flashed into Max's mind, her head was clear as the water settled around her and Alec. She was on top of him, the blond holding his body up with his hands.

A smile that Alec had never seen before watched him and her laugh did nothing to reassure him. Her hands splashed water onto his face, causing him to close his eyes. They went to his closed lids, and he thought she was wiping the water away, at first, what else could she be doing. Max laughed again quietly as she kept her hands over his eyes and moved forward, planting a kiss on his forehead. Alec flinched, unsure whether to be scared or worried. Max planted a second on the tip of his nose. Her breath tickled and froze his lips as they made contact with his wet flesh.

Alec swallowed weary.

"Here's a piece of my mind," the words registered at the same time as the her lips on his did; their softness tingling, their warmth a sensual contrast to the cold of the water, now no longer sharp, but pleasant.

Max broke away removing her hands so he could look at her, the hedgehog look was still in place, "Alec, breath."

It was almost a cue, his lungs opening immediately taking in air, she could sense his pulse hard and fast and she watched him, slightly concerned. "Alec are you okay?" as she spoke those words his eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp. Max screamed in surprise letting him go and he went underwater. Quickly realising, she grabbed him again pulling him out and dragged him to the fountain edge and out softly laying him onto the pavement.

"I can't believe you just fainted."