At first, Emily wasn't exactly sure what to make of the scene she had walked in on. It was only once the blurs slowed and forms rematerialized to her sight that she started to get an idea. The woman stood very still, trying to make sure that she had the right details before she was noticed.
The two transgenics slowed their speeds as the wall came up closer to them, but still hit it at a fairly hard pace. Twin grunts sounded for only a second before Max had gained the upper hand and yanked, throwing Alec off balance and into the coffee table.
Too absorbed in the match to notice the spectator watching them, the fight continued. Alec caught his balance so quickly that only another transgenic would be able to tell that he had fallen at all. Eyes locked on each other, they circled briefly, before Alec dove forward, catching Max round the legs as she jumped back and yanking her to the ground.
Before she was pinned more than a moment, Max used her arms to push herself up, grabbing Alec and tossing him over her head smoothly. Once both had scrambled up, on opposite sides of the room again, Max grinned, "You gonna catch me, or just stay over there?"
Dodging around furniture, they came after each other once again, becoming locked in a brief embrace of tangled arms before Alec pushed away, leaving Max to be the one sprawling back over the couch this time. "If I recall correctly," he stepped to the side to avoid her grab, "this is still a tie game."
Abruptly, Max stood still, hands on her hips, just barely out of arms reach from Alec, "Tie game?" She asked incredulously, "In what world? I so had you pinned two times."
"Yeah, but," Alec countered, stepping forward and catching Max around the waist this time, taking advantage of her distraction, "I had you pinned just a minute ago."
Max stepped back to pull free of Alec, but both transgenics misjudged and rebalanced just a second too late, Alec's arms releasing Max to steady himself, tilting her backwards dangerously. She grabbed his shirt to regain her balance, but Alec wasn't stable yet, and both went tumbling back onto the floor. "Off," she groaned, as Alec's bodyweight landed on top of her.
Rolling to the side, Alec lay next to Max, both sprawled out on the floor for a moment, taking time to catch their breath and wondering how any wooden floor could be that damn hard. They'd dented the wall; the floor had dented them. Finally, Alec announced, "That was three, I win."
Pushing herself up on one elbow, Max lay on her side and regarded Alec and his statement equally, "You're counting that?" She sat up fully and shook her head to get her hair out of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for a reply.
Also moving to a sitting position, Alec questioned, "I was on top, wasn't I?" His grin and the sparkle of his eyes made the statement seem a little less than innocent.
It was times like these when Max lamented that her naming of Alec had been so accurate. It's actually kind of cute though… Catching her train of thought quickly, Max shook it away; she would not get into this now, or the fact that she was strangely inclined to shut him up by kissing him instead of hitting him. "Jack ass."
Rolling his eyes, Alec stood up and offered Max his hand to pull her up also, keeping a wary eye, just incase she decided to pull him down instead. When she simply jumped up though, Alec shook his head; "It's no fun when you're not mad."
"Good, that mean you'll stop now?" There was just a hint of irritation in her voice; losing wasn't her strong suit, especially when the winning pin was more of an accident than anything else.
Around this point in time, they finally started paying enough attention to something else to realize that someone else was there. Both transgenics spun around and saw Emily in the doorway, confused expression on her face.
For the first minute or so, Emily had been sure that they were fighting, but then they had started talking, and from the grins and lack of damage being inflicted, Emily had decided that wasn't the case. She had gotten the opportunity to watch them fight the guards at the hospital before, and this was nothing like that had been. Now she realized that they had been having some sort of a contest, but it didn't account with the suddenly bashful looks on their faces. "Alec, I was just coming over to come to dinner? And Max, of course you're invited also."
Avoiding Max's eyes, Alec kept his attention focused on his mother. He wasn't exactly sure what she thought or how this looked. Whatever the case, he was sure that explaining how he had teased Max and she had challenged him to spar, with some interesting prizes to the winner, was not something he wanted to get into. Instead, Alec shrugged, "Maybe another time, if that's okay."
Nodding, Emily motioned that she was going to leave, the sudden tension very obvious. She filed away this odd scene for future reference and analysis, possibly with Maria, "Well, I'll be heading out then, Maria will be joining me anyway." Halfway through the door, Emily called back, "I hope you two had a good workout?"
Luckily, she didn't wait for a reply because Max was already blushing and looking for her jacket, and Alec had moved to shut the door, firmly this time, and to lock it. Max noticed this and shrugged slightly, "Sorry about that, it was probably still open from when I came in."
Shrugging her jacket back on, Max felt slightly less exposed than when she was in her tank top. Alec turned to her, resting his back against the door and surveying the damage to his apartment. It wasn't bad except for the dent in the wall and the overturned coffee table. "You do know how to make an entrance."
Back stiffening, Max defended herself even as she moved to right the coffee table, even looking at it making her feel slightly nervous for a reason that she wasn't willing to define. "I was upset."
Moving towards the other transgenic smoothly, Alec inquired, "And now?" His gaze was less teasing and more predatory, remembering the terms of their earlier deal.
"I don't know." Max sighed, sinking back down onto the couch, the table momentarily forgotten. It was easy to see that she was confused, and Alec had to admit, he was confused also.
Shrugging, Alec attempted to move the topic away from such touchy topics and towards lighter things. He never had been one for too much serious talk. "Ahh, well, I suppose I can collect my debt later. There's plenty of Jerry Springer marathons, right?" He caught her chuckle and shrugged, "What, they hit each other with chairs, that's television."
Max's initial response to this statement scared her, but she decided to go with her instincts anyway, tired of fighting them for every little thing. Every decision she seemed to make was life altering, but she was sick of stepping on eggshells to avoid hurting others. Standing up again, Max laughed, "You're so sweet sometimes," catching Alec in a surprised quick kiss, "but the rest of the time you can be such an ass."
Shrugging, Alec asked, "What did you expect?" Max just shook her head, and walked over to the television, turning it on and fiddling with it a moment before catching the right channel and walking back to Alec.