Freedom on the inside
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anything to do with Dark Angel. They apparently belong to some guy who is most definitely in need of a brain check. What was he thinking when he decided to axe the show? Oh well, I guess when I'm rich enough I'll just have to buy the rights to the programme and then we'll finally get a third season. I wouldn't count on it though.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: M/A (eventually!)
Summary: What if Max never escaped Manticore in 'Designate This' and didn't get the chance to infect Logan? Logan and everyone else in Seattle thinks she's dead and Renfro's still alive?
Author's Note: I know there's been a lot of 'what if she never escaped stories?' but this is my shot at what could have happened. Please read and review!
Chapter Sixteen
Strange Little Life
"Just smile and nod and don't even try and open your mouth," Max whispered to Alec, whilst simultaneously nudging him in his side with her elbow as they walked into the usual bustle of Jam Pony.
"Hey Normal," Max said casually as she walked up to the front desk.
"You don't have time to say hey, these packages need delivering! Bip!" he barked with not so much as a glance up at the person who had spoken.
Max was just about to open her mouth with a comeback to match but was instantly prevented by her name being yelled by a very familiar voice.
"MAX!" Turning she found herself in the wide open arms of none other than Sketchy. It was also at that moment that Normal decided to look up.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the missy miss back from the dead."
"What can I say Normal? News of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
"I've heard many excuses for not coming into work but 'faking your own death'? That has got to be the lowest of the low, even from you!"
"Look Normal, I had a . . . medical emergency."
"A medical emergency?"
"A heart transplant."
"Uh yeah," Normal scoffed, "You got a doctor's-"
Max sighed before doing something completely unexpected; she lifted up her shirt, giving Normal a nice view of her scar.
Alec, Cindy and Sketchy stood behind her with their eyes wide open in shock. Unfortunately for them, they didn't quite get a nice a view as Normal, although Sketchy did try his luck. The key word being 'try'. Cindy whipped him back before he could even take a single step forward.
"That's uh . . . a nice scar you got there."
Max just smiled as she just put her shirt back down.
"Well it's healing fast. Anyway, I brought you a present Normal, you know as my way of saying sorry for missing about four months of work."
Normal arched his eyebrows.
"Guys meet Alec," Max turned back around to Alec and placed an arm on his shoulder.
Predictably, Normal and Sketchy just stared at him, making Alec feel very uncomfortable under the two gazes. Lifting his hand, he waved briefly, "hi."
"I think Alec'll be perfect for delivering packages, so what d'you say?"
"Well we are down a couple of men . . . sure I'll give you a test run."
"Thanks man," Alec smiled.
"Well come on then, don't just stand around. These packages are missing their mommies! Bip, bip, bip!"
Max grabbed a couple of packages and unceremoniously tossed a few to Alec,
"Welcome to my strange little life."
"Well that was the last package," Alec breathed as he sat on his bike, "And I made a whopping grand total of a CENT in tips!"
Max smirked as she felt the weight of her own tips in her pocket, "Like I said, being POLITE, is worth the trouble."
"Polite," Alec scoffed, "You don't have a polite bone in your body!"
"Actually I do, asshole!"
"Maxie, you just demonstrated my point."
"Whatever."
It was Alec's turn to smirk at his success of riling her up, "I'm going home."
"Excuse me, but you mean MY home!"
"Same difference. Anyway the kitchen's mine tonight."
"Oh great!" Max groaned, "What are you up to?"
Alec did what he thought was a charming wink, "You'll have to wait and see," before riding off, giving Max no chance to respond.
"Jerk," she muttered.
Max walked straight through the laminated lounge into Logan's computer room. She didn't knock. Barging into Logan's apartment had become second nature to her; even Logan came to expect it. He spun around on his chair on hearing the footsteps,
"Max."
"Hey Logan."
The two stood there for a couple of minutes of silent unease before Logan attempted to make the first step towards reconciliation,
"I didn't get to explain myself back at Manticore. You misunderstood me, Max."
"No your meaning was explicit . . . and you were right. I am forever going to be controlled by Manticore."
"But you don't have to be," Logan said getting up from his seat as Max sat down.
"Logan you don't get it. I'm a transgenic."
Logan gave her the look that read, 'Yeah, well tell me something I didn't know.'
"I'm always going to be a transgenic. I was bred to be a soldier." Max continued.
"But Max you can leave that behind."
"Maybe I don't want to. I can't be the normal girl you want me to be."
"I'm not asking you to be normal."
Max didn't have a reply.
"Look Logan, I've got to go. If you get more info from Renfro or Lydecker, let me know."
Max turned to leave but was stopped in her tracks by Logan as he opened the conversation again,
"So where does this leave us Max?"
"I honestly don't know."
"What's changed? Before you were recaptured, we were . . ."
"Like I said, I don't know." With that, she left him to his own dejection.
As soon as Max walked through her own door, a surge of relief flooded her senses; that and a particularly suspicious smell wafting in from the direction of the kitchen.
"ALEC!" Max yelled as she rushed in.
"Hey Max," Alec smiled innocently as he held an overcooked, burnt and black piece of meat in a baking tray, which Max suspected had previously been a chicken.
She stared at the scene with nothing but amusement. The usually brash X5 was decked in Original Cindy's cooking apron. It was covered in cute little pictures of honey pots and homemade jam jars, with various herbs bordering the fabric. Max couldn't even begin to question where Cindy had gotten the apron from, let alone her using it. His outfit was completed with oven mitts to match and a classic white chef's hat.
"W-what a-re you . . . doing?" Max managed to choke out, while trying to keep her hysterical laughter (which was threatening to show at any moment) under control.
"I was trying to make us dinner. You know as a thank you. But yeah sure, laugh at the guy who can't even work an oven. Seriously, give me an open fire to cook over any day!"
Max for once in her life was speechless. The feeling of anger had quickly subsided, (even though she knew one perfectly good oven tray was completely ruined), and was replaced with something she couldn't quite name. It was endearing, is what it was. She had never seen this side of Alec before, and it was startling but pleasant all at the same time.
"Well I guess it's just hot dogs for dinner," Alec sighed dumping the tray on to the kitchen counter.
"I didn't know you knew how to cook," Max said to his back.
"I can't."
"Well that was obvious. More of a 'how to cook' than 'can cook'.
"There's nothing hard about putting a chicken into an oven. It's getting the oven to work that's the hard part."
Max smiled, "Thanks."
"It's only burnt chicken and hot dogs."
"No thanks for the gesture."
Alec shrugged, "No biggie."
He then gave her a big, open and entirely innocent smile, catching her completely off guard. Doing a full u-turn, she walked out of the kitchen so fast; she nearly walked into the wall.
'He's right it's no biggie, so why am I making a big deal out of this? It was just dinner, well not much of a dinner.' Max fell on to the sofa as she listened to Alec carrying on away with his 'cooking.' She kept her exterior as calm as possible but her mind was as frazzled as the poor chicken. This was perfect; more confusion to add to her cake mixture.
A/N 2 – Hope you all liked that! Next chapter sees the arrival of the familiars!!! And well that means some action for those who have been waiting for it! Thank you once again to all my reviewers:
Chainedreamer – Hey don't worry, I'm not planning on disappearing and not ending the story! I will finish it . . . one day!
Lakergirl – even my twelve year old cousin noticed the jealousy and he's a boy! Thanks for reviewing and yes I heard about Jensen being on Smallville. Only problem is I'm probably going to be waiting for over another year for the fourth season coz here in the UK we haven't even seen the third one yet! As you can guess I'm very annoyed!
Sarasidle3 – Here you go here's your update, but I can't promise I won't write any more cliffhangers; they're just so fun to write!
Loralee – I'll try to get Alec to mention something about Biggs, thanks for sticking by the story, hope you enjoyed it!
Jade-k – I don't think Max'll ever stop hitting him even when I make her fall head over heels in love with him!!! Lol!
Aur – I try to write long chapters but then they become too long and I have to cut down, and so I get back to square one, but I'll try!!!
Chaosti –lol! Yep definitely perfect. D'you watch Smallville? Jensen's got a regular part in it! Yippee!!! Anyway hope you liked this chap and I did include the scar scene, couldn't miss that out!
Auramin – I totally see where you're coming from but I wanted to get Max and Alec out of Manticore and it seemed the best way to do it. I think they probably don't quite trust her yet but they came up with a compromise that's why they were willing to let her go.
Nelita – hey you will be getting Ginger back. I'm just giving her a break at the mo to develop the story a bit more! Alec beating the crap out of Max? I suppose I could arrange another fight . . .
Lisa – first and foremost I apologise!!!! I'm so sorry I didn't get round to mentioning you on the previous chapter. You see I up loaded chapter 15 without checking to see if I had any new reviews, so sorry! And also I am very glad you like the story and thank you for reviewing!
Lynsi - Hey thanks for reviewing and i hope you liked Max's return to Jam Pony and Alec's entrance to the world of delivering packages!!!
Keep reviewing guys, means a lot!
Thanks
SmilinStar xxx