It was only because Max was already awake that she heard the slight buzzing of her pager from across the room, where it was still lying in her jacket.
For a moment, she considered not getting up. It had been so calming just lying there, feeling not alone for once, and she had been nervous at how quiet Alec had been. She was loath to break away from him.
But, it wasn't an option. Either the buzzing would leave her all ready awake self irritable and questioning, or it would wake Alec up. While normally she'd welcome an opportunity to share the misery, he'd looked so lost last night…
Using all her transgenic stealth, Max lifted herself onto all fours, gingerly brushing aside the arm half draped over her. She slid down into a silent roll, catching her jacket and dashing out of the room, incredibly thankful that Alec was, all things considered, a pretty heavy sleeper.
When she saw the number, she stopped. Set the little piece of plastic and wires on the table, her half-donned jacket dangling from her arms.
Logan. He phoned three times while she observed the pager. Three times while she didn't answer, until he gave up. While she wondered what he wanted, and realized she didn't want to know. While she considered leaving the pager there and curling back up on the couch. While she remembered belatedly that she did probably owe Logan an explanation, for once.
Max grabbed her pager and shoved it into a jacket pocket, going back over to the couch. Not bothering to be overly careful, she crawled back on top of Alec, letting him shift groggily under her weight and blink up at her. A half smirk, "Ahh, c'mon, Maxie, five more minutes."
Rolling her eyes, Max couldn't help but wonder whether watching too much TV really would rot out his brain. They were transgenics, so it was unlikely, but TV had been a favorite pastime of the generation that had let itself get pulsed. "Don't worry, you get to go back to sleep. I'm going out, didn't want you to think I'd left without saying goodbye."
Looking a little more awake, Alec shrugged, eyes teasing, "What, were you afraid that I'd think you'd been captured by one of the many secret agencies after us and go on some half-crazed mission to save you?"
Laughter. "Something like that."
Alec wrapped his arms around her waist, not concerned by her elbows balancing all her weight on his chest. He wondered if getting Max to eat real food other than milk could be considered an Olympic sport. "How do I know this isn't all a dream?" Raised eyebrow.
"Careful soldier-boy," she smoothly moved her arms down, between his, and broke out of his embrace, landing in a half crouch, safely out of grabbing distance. "You're getting paranoid again."
Watching Max walk out of the room with a parting roll of her eyes, Alec laughed, "Something like that."