Disclaimer: Charles Eglee, James Cameron, and Fox own Dark Angel as well as most of the characters in this story.

Chapter 2

"So how come you aren't at Logan's crib tonight?" O.C. asked, taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee. It was still early in the evening—only eight o' clock. She and Max had spent half of the day lugging her belongings to her new apartment.

Max curled her legs underneath her and shrugged her shoulders. "I wanted to help you move. You know I had to help my home girl."

O.C gave her a look of disbelief. "I could have had Joshua help me."

"Hmmm. I didn't even think about that," Max said with a shrug. "You're telling me that you didn't want my company?" She pretended to look hurt.

O.C rolled her eyes. "Don't even go there. You know I love hanging out with you. Now back to the subject at hand. Why are you avoiding him?"

"Avoiding who?" Max picked at the cotton on O.C's secondhand couch.

"You know who, Max. I thought things were good with you and Mr. Save the World."

Max sighed heavily. "I thought so too, O.C. I love Logan…." Even as she said the words, she realized that it sounded as if she were reciting a line from a play. How could she convince her friend that she loved Logan if she wasn't completely sure herself?

At one point in time the words would have been genuine. What had changed?

O.C was watching her closely. She saw a myriad of emotions pass quickly over Max's face. It was one of the few times that Max allowed anyone to see past her military mask. "You sure about that, Boo?"

Before Max could even formulate a response, her pager went off. "Alec." She stood up quickly, grateful for the interruption. "I have to go. If Alec's paging me, it probably means that something is going down in Terminal City. We'll chill tomorrow. Okay?"

O.C nodded. "Sure thing." As she watched Max retreat, she was sure of one other thing--something was definitely going on with her home girl.

"Okay, what's up?" Max asked Alec as she entered the ponderous building that had become TC Headquarters.

Alec looked up from the map he, Dix, and Mole were gathered around. The three of them had been completely absorbed in whatever they were looking at. As usual Alec was the first one to acknowledge her presence. "Well look what the cat dragged in."

"Shut up and spill, Alec,' Max said crossing her arms across her chest. She gave him her no nonsense look, which only made Alec grin.

"We were looking over the schematics, and we found another underground tunnel that runs out of Terminal City," Alec said tracing the highlighted route on the map. Max bent over the map, paying careful attention to everything he was saying. "We figure we could use it to bring in more X-series quicker as well as supplies because it might start looking suspicious if we keep bringing people into O.C's building. We could alternate. The last thing we need is for anyone to discover the tunnel that is connected to O.C.'s room. White and his cronies would have a field day with that."

Max nodded in approval. "Good work. I didn't think you had it in you," she joked.

"You really need to stop underestimating me," Alec said, looking hurt.

Max laughed at that. "Good one, Alec. Now how about you go and check out that tunnel."

"Only if I get the pleasure of your company," He replied, winking at her.

"Dream on. Take Mole or one of the X6s with you."

Alec stuck out his lip in a pout. "But none of them are half as hot as you." He had barely got the words out before his remark earned him a slap to the back of his head.

"Really, Max. If you want to touch me, all you have to do is ask. No need to get violent," Alec said, ducking out of the room quickly to avoid Max's wrath. He lived to come up with ways to get under Max's skin. It never took much for him to achieve his goal either.

Max watched him leave, resisting the urge to go after him and pummel him with her fists.

"Do my eyes deceive me or did our resident Ms. Attitude let Alec go with his body intact?" Kassie said, shaking her head in feigned surprise. She had watched the entire scene play out from the doorway. She was one of the three-dozen X5s living in Terminal City excluding Max and Alec. She and Max had grown pretty close over the last month.

"I'll get him later," Max said without much conviction. She brushed her long hair out of her face and frowned. "Honestly, Kass. Alec is like a little kid. It's like he lives to torture me. I swear Manticore must have created him for that purpose."

"Why do you let him bother you?" Kassie asked. Her gray eyes were wide with curiosity. She absentmindedly twirled her red hair around her finger, which meant that she was thinking hard.

"I don't know. He just knows how to push my buttons." Max rolled her eyes. "Anyway… you hungry? You want to go grab something to eat from the mess hall?" The Manticore style mess hall was only temporary until things settled down enough for them to build a restaurant.

The redheaded transgenic gave her a strange look. "Talk about a major subject change, Max. Talking about Alec bothers you?"

"No. I just have other things on my mind so can you drop the whole Alec thing?" Max said more harshly than she had intended.

Kassie held up her hands defensively. "Okay. Point taken. Let's go get something to eat."

As they headed to the mess hall, Max let her mind wander back to Kassie's words. Why did she let Alec bother her?

Alana84- Thanks for your review and for the correction. I was watching an episode of dark Angel and I realized that his eyes aren't blue.

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