Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my own characters. Although if I had my way, Zack and Alec would be mine. Muahahahah LOL
A/N: Plz keep reviewing everyone! It's greatly appreciated.
A week later, it was Christmas, and everything was set. The lights, streamers and decorations were put up, the food and drinks were all laid out on the table and there was a giant Christmas tree in the middle of T.C.. Alec, Michael, Jordan, Bobby and Evan had shown up with it the day before, grinning deviously and refusing to tell her where they'd gotten it. Just this morning Max had heard a rumor about the giant Christmas tree in the downtown center. It was said that it had mysteriously disappeared, with no traces on what had happened to it. Max thought about scolding them but then she laughed and figured that since it was Christmas she wouldn't say anything. Besides, they all deserved a little something from the ordinaries considering all the trouble they had put the transgenics through.
Max stood in front of her mirror, inspecting herself. They had all decided that the party would be formal, just so that they could have fun dressing up. Max quickly agreed to that idea because she couldn't wait until she could see Mole in a tux. Now that would be a memory that would stay with her forever. Many of the transgenics had dates to go with, but Max didn't because Logan had said he couldn't come due to some Eyes Only business. They were still a little awkward with each other because of the whole Zack incident so she didn't mind going alone.
Max straightened out her dress. It was blood red silk with almost non-existent straps, hugging all her curves in the right places. It cut in a diagonal at the bottom, little ruffles trimming the edge. She wore matching red heels to make her seem taller and twisted her hair into an exotic bun with some loose tendrils on the side. She polished off her look with a red lip gloss, making her bee-stung lips look fuller than usual, and then she lightly put on some blush, black eyeliner and eye shadow. She wasn't much of a girly-girl, but for some reason, she dressed to impress. Of course, she always loved to impress, but there was some invisible force telling her that she had to look exceptional tonight.
There was a knock at the door and her sisters and Cindy walked in. They all crowded around her, dressed just as beautifully. Cindy whistled loudly.
"Damn boo. Sugah, you lookin' hot aiight!" she said.
"Yeah, really Maxie. You look gorgeous," Emerald said. She was wearing an emerald green dress to live up to her name and eyes, setting off her bare shoulders with green glitter.
Max blushed, unusual for her.
"Any particular reason why you did yourself up extra tonight?" Jondy teased. She also wore a red dress; however it was more orange and off-the-shoulder.
"No!" Max said hotly, although the flush creeping up the side of her neck betrayed the truth.
"I think there is," Syl said, snickering. She wore a sky blue halter top dress, and extra high heels to give her more height.
"Don't think too much, you might strain something," Max shot at her.
"Tsk, tsk, Maxie. That wasn't nice. Just because you don't want to tell us the truth doesn't mean you have to get catty," Faith said. She smirked at her reference to their feline DNA. She wore a violet spaghetti strap dress, purple glitter encircling her eyes.
"What truth?" Max said. "I just felt like dressing up tonight. Is that a crime? Sheesh."
"Poor little sister, so naïve," Ruby said to Aqua. Ruby and Aqua wore similar dresses, except one scarlet red and the other aquamarine blue.
"Ya. It's so sad," Aqua said back.
Coco, a sister known to get straight to the point, walked up to Max and got in her face. She wore a light brown dress that fell to the floor. "Does this have anything to do with Zack?" she inquired.
Max fought to keep the red off her face. "No," she said, teeth gritting.
Her sisters looked at one another and said at the same time, "I knew it."
"You like him, don't you?" Crystal said. She wore a silver mini dress with a matching shawl around her shoulders.
"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "He's my brother."
Liz rolled her eyes. "No he's not. Not biologically. I mean come on; he's just a random guy you happened to grow up with for Christ's sakes. Zane being Jondy's brother doesn't stop them from getting it on, ditto with Syl and Krit."
Max wrinkled her nose up. "Okay, I so do not want to know about my brothers' and sisters' sex lives."
Faith opened her mouth to continue the lecture on how Zack wasn't really Max's brother when Syl interrupted her.
"We better get going. We're already late to meet the guys and there's only so far the term 'fashionably late' can go."
The other girls nodded.
"Let's knock 'em dead," Cindy said.
"Only not literally," Coco said, all of them bursting out into laughter.
"What's taking them so long?" Krit asked.
"They're chicks. They have to look perfect and all that crap. You know, girl stuff," Zane said.
"The girls are the most un-girly girls on the pla –" Alec started, but stopped as soon as he saw them coming.
"Holy shit," he whispered hoarsely.
The girls walked towards them in all their glory. Walking together they looked like a bunch of goddesses, angels but with an air of danger around them.
"Honey," Jondy said as she walked up to Zane and kissed him.
"You look beautiful Jond," he said.
She smirked. "I know. And I expect a reward later on," she said suggestively.
Zane chuckled. "You bet."
"Oh, please stop before I puke all over," Max said.
"Get vomit on this dress and don't get me wrong little sister, I love you but I'll kill you," Crystal threatened.
Jondy, Syl and Faith left with their dates, and the rest of them stood outside the door to the party room, about to go in.
"Here we go," Liz said.
For some reason, Max took a deep breath before she walked in.
As soon as he felt her presence, he looked up and saw her glide in as if she walked on air. He had to work extremely hard to not drop the glass of wine he was holding.
'She's – There aren't any words to give her justice,' Zack thought.
When he saw his sisters part with their dates, leaving Max alone, he made his way towards her.
'Computer boy isn't here. The ball's finally in my court. Time to make my move,' Zack thought.
Max stood at the food counter; sipping some wine as she unconsciously looked for someone.
'Where is he?' she thought. She blinked. 'Who? Who am I looking for?' But somehow she knew. She scanned the crowd for the familiar blond head, and was so wrapped up in her task that she didn't notice him walk up to her.
"You look stunning Maxie," Zack said.
She turned her head, and smiled at having found her target.
"Thank you," she said.
He smiled slightly and held out his dance. "Would you like to dance?"
As if on cue the music changed to a slow tempo and all the couples in the room paired up and moved toward the dance floor.
"Why not?" she said, putting down her glass and accepting his offered hand. He grasped it tightly and led her towards the dance floor then pulled her gently into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms possessively around her waist. They swayed softly to the music, everyone else falling away. It was just the music and each other. Max's eyes fluttered closed and she let Zack lead the dance.
Standing beside the stereo, Coco and Crystal grinned. They bumped fists and watched Max and Zack.
"Mission," Coco started.
"Accomplished," Crystal finished. They stood there, still watching when Tawny came over and offered a hand to Crystal.
"Dance?"
Crystal smiled. "Sure."
Liz walked over to Max.
"You're beautiful Liz," he said.
"Thank you. Remember though, Cinderella turns back into a soldier tomorrow," she said.
Max chuckled. "Well, I think it was a servant but whatever floats your boat." He turned serious. "I love you Liz, in whatever form you are. Normal girl, soldier, or Cinderella."
"So if I'm Cinderella, does that make you my prince charming?" she asked.
"Why of course, fair maiden," he said, tugging her onto the dance floor.
"You're sexy and beautiful, a great combination," Alec whispered in Faith's ear as they danced.
"And you're hot, dangerous, cocky and funny, my fave type," she whispered back.
"Well, I'll pretend I didn't hear the cocky part and take that as a compliment," he said laughing.
"It was meant to be one," she said.
"Good, because I don't think that my delicate male ego could handle it if it wasn't," he joked.
"I wouldn't say your ego is exactly delicate, I mean, it's pretty big," Faith said teasingly.
"Now that hurts," he said with a mock pout.
"Shut up and dance, or I'll kick your ass," she said.
Alec shook his head. "Wow, it must run in the family. You and Max both have obsessions with my ass."
She punched him in the shoulder.
"Yeah, I think that runs in the family too," he said with a grimace, rubbing his shoulder.
After they finished their dance, Max and Zack reluctantly pulled apart.
"It's a little hot in here; do you want to go outside for some fresh air?" Zack asked.
Max nodded. "Yeah, it's really crowded. We can come back later."
They moved towards the door but as soon as they were under it, Ruby blurred in front of them, grinning evilly. She didn't say anything, just pointed upwards.
Max looked up to see mistletoe.
"Who put that up?" she asked.
"I did, now get on with it guys. You know I'm very patient, I can wait all night," Ruby said.
The rest of their brothers and sisters came over and formed a circle around them, making sure there were no gaps so that they couldn't get away.
"Come on guys," Zack tried, but they all shook their heads.
"Cindy?" Max pleaded, but her so-called best friend just shook her head and joined in in the circle.
"Rube, you may have lots of patience but I don't," Michael said. He walked forwards and pushed Max into Zack, her not falling only because Zack had caught her.
She looked around, but trying to escape was futile. So she did the only thing she could do, throwing Zack off guard.
She kissed him.
At first it was a gentle, testing sort of kiss but soon became passionate and deep, their arms wrapping around each other and the world falling away once again. In the distance, they vaguely heard the sounds of their brothers and sisters hooting, cheering and whistling, but they didn't pay any attention to them. All that mattered was each other.
Zack swept his tongue around the recesses of her mouth, tasting every part. At last he pulled away when they ran out of breath, foreheads resting against the others, panting heavily.
Max smiled. "Merry Christmas Zack."
He smiled back. "Merry Christmas Maxie."
In the hallway stood Logan. He finished his work early and decided to come after all. He was all dressed up in a tux and had his hair slicked back, but the gift he had brought for Max fell out of his hand when he found her in Zack's arms, kissing him without a care in the world. His throat became choked up.
'How could she?' he asked himself. 'I thought – " After not being able to stand watching them anymore, he picked his gift back up and headed to his apartment in T.C..
It was like Max was on a high ever since the kiss. She couldn't stop laughing and smiling.
'I never felt like this when I was with Logan,' the rational part of her mind said. 'What are you talking about? Logan's the one for you,' the irrational part argued back. Max thought back to how she felt when Zack held her, his mouth on hers, and suddenly the rational part became a whole lot louder. 'Maybe this is who I belong with.'
Zack noticed she was lost in thought and nudged her.
"Y'okay?" he asked.
"Mmhmm," she mumbled. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, not explaining anything about what she was thinking, but he didn't ask. He just held her and she seemed content.
That was when everything messed up.
"Max! Max!" shouted an X6 named Ryan.
Her eyes opened immediately. "What's wrong?"
"It's White," Ryan said. "He was spotted a little way off from the gates of T.C., just sitting in his car. It looks like he was waiting for something to happen."
"What do you mean?" she asked but Ryan didn't have time to answer because numerous loud explosions went off and everything went black.
A/N: Did you like it? I'm sorry if this chapter was a little crummy; I wrote this late and I was tired but I wanted to get this story updated. Sry if this isn't too good. Please review!
Thanks to –
shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Hope you liked the mistletoe part.
Taye – Thanks for reviewing!
Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! I'm sry for not having the little visit happening but I just couldn't fit it in this chapter because I had an idea and the whole thing went sideways. But I PROMISE there will be one next chapter. I thought about a little convo with Spike. LOL And I think we share a brain because Jondy and Zane were going to be together from the start. (LOL Wow, I've never shared a brain before LOL)
screaminheathen69 – Thanks for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer!
Sorry for not having much Roswell or BTVS in this chapter, there will be more in the next chapter and after that. Please review and for those who haven't already, plz read "Whose Love?" and "Tell Her".