Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me, but the plot is mine. This fan-fiction had been written purely for entertainment purposes. No infringement was intended and no profit had been made out of this.

A/N: It was very nice of you all to leave so many enthusiastic reviews. (Hugs). Thank you so much. Your words were really the encouragement I needed to carry on with this. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter. Thanks again.

Reunited Or Not - Chapter 2

(by elle6778)

Alec watched with mixed feelings as Max rode away on her bike, leaving her guy standing by his bike in front of their apartment.

The urge to follow her, to ride up to her, was overwhelming. But he clamped down hard on it. This was not the first time he had felt like that anyway. Every time he popped in to check on her, it got increasingly difficult for him to walk away. But knowing that he had to, Alec turned his bike around and twisted the throttle, speeding in the opposite direction, away from Max.

He had just gone about ten miles when he heard the approaching rumble of another bike behind him. A quick glance over his shoulders told him that the other bike was just about a hundred feet behind him.

And it looked familiar.

Alec frowned, trying to remember where he had seen the bike.

Then it came to him. The bike looked suspiciously like the one belonging to Max's guy.

Alec shook his head roughly. Maybe he was just being paranoid. A number of other people probably own a bike exactly like that. And it was easy to check if he was right.

Alec sped up, his eyes trained on the mirror to gauge the reaction of the other rider. His lips compressed into a grim line when he noticed the bike following suit, keeping the same distance between them. Well, that was enough to confirm his suspicion.

There was no doubt in his mind now that he was being followed by Max's guy, of all things. The guy probably spotted him just now and had decided to investigate. The question was, what was he going to do about it?

Oh, what the hell! He might as well just run for it. With his transgenic reflexes, there was no way an Ordinary could catch up with him.

He twisted the throttle hard and his bike sped forward abruptly, its front wheel lifting off the ground. The traffic around him was light, but the road was not completely free of other vehicles. Weaving in and out, his bike streaked perilously close past the other vehicles. The other drivers slammed their horns in warning, but Alec just ignored them.

A quick check in the mirror told him that the other bike was doing exactly the same thing effortlessly. Alec frowned. No Ordinary could do that.

Unless he was not an Ordinary.

Then it occurred to him.

The guy must be an X5.

Max was seeing an X5.

Alec felt his blood boil.

For some reason, the thought that Max was seeing one of their own kind bothered him more than if she was going out with an Ordinary. Why? Was it because he knew deep inside that an Ordinary would not be able to satisfy her physically, emotionally and mentally in the long term? Was that why he kept going back even when he thought that she had moved on?

Alec was not the type to run away from a confrontation. If Max's guy, transgenic or not, wanted one, he would gladly oblige. Not to mention that this would be a good chance to take out all his pent-up frustrations.

On someone who deserved it.

Abruptly, Alec swerved to the side, ignoring the irate horns of the other vehicles.

Parking his bike at the side of the road, he jumped off, fully expecting to see the other bike following suit. Sure enough, the other bike pulled up behind him after a few seconds. The rider got off and took off his helmet, confirming to Alec that it was indeed Max's guy.

Alec yanked off his helmet, staring at the guy assessingly, wondering what he had that attracted Max's attention.

The guy was returning his assessment with an unreadable expression on his face. Something akin to shock, Alec noted, a little confused by it. What has he got to be confused about?

"Well, are you going to stand there all day without a word? Or have you got something to say to me?" Alec snapped, breaking the silence. He was tense, ready for anything the guy might dish out.

Seemingly snapping out of whatever he was thinking of, the guy said, "You must be Alec."

Alec stiffened visibly. Max had spoken about him to this guy? The implications of that whirred in his mind, but all he said was, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Zack."

Alec's eyes rounded. "Zack? As in Max's brother?" Now he understood the look on the guy's face when he lifted his helmet. Zack must have been shocked at the resemblance between him and Ben.

A feeling of relief came upon him. So it was only Zack with her. So she was not with someone after all? Then a thought occurred to him. Hang on, who was to say that they were not together? They were obviously not biological siblings. Alec felt his blood simmer at the thought of the transgenic in front of him laying a hand on Max.

Zack's lips tightened. "I'm her CO, but no, we're not biologically related."

Alec snorted. "Well, yeah, I guess you're not big on incest and all that stuff, huh?"

Ignoring his jibe, Zack asked coldly. "What are you doing back there?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Zack's jaw tightened. "Don't play dumb. You've been watching Max. Why are you hiding?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Alec replied, "Why not? It's a good pastime. You know, watching you and Max. It's not illegal, is it? Say, what's going on between you and Max, anyway?" he asked in a disinterested tone, completely at odds with how he was actually feeling.

Zack raised an eyebrow. "What does it look like?" he answered with another question.

Alec gritted his teeth. "You tell me."

"I think I'll pass."

"Why did you follow me? New job not challenging enough?" Alec taunted.

Zack gave him a warning look. "I want to tell you to stay away from Max. She's slowly moving on and she doesn't need you to screw things up for her. Especially when you don't even have to guts to come back to clean up the mess you caused the last time," he said coldly.

Alec recoiled at the accusation. "I've no intention of 'screwing' things up for her," he said defensively, offended that Zack would think so. What has Max been telling him?

"Just stay away from her," he warned again, the implacable expression on his face telling Alec how serious he was.

"If I don't?" Alec tossed back, unperturbed.

Zack's expression hardened, and Alec suddenly understood why Zack had been chosen as Unit 2's CO all those years ago. That look would have intimidated most transgenics. But not him, Alec thought.

"Then you'll have to go past me," Zack replied icily.

Alec smirked. He was beginning to get what this was all about. "So, big brother wants his little sister for himself, huh?" he taunted.

"I told you, we're not biologically related. And I have no such intentions towards her," Zack insisted, but Alec could see the flash of bitterness in his eyes. So it was like that, huh? That one-sided thing must be painful.

"Still…" Alec started to say but was cut short.

"I said, it's none of your business."

The guy was beginning to get on his nerves. Alec's eyes flashed. "Max IS my business."

Zack arched a brow. "So that's why you stayed away so long, huh? And have you thought about how she'll feel if she finds out that you've been watching her all this time without her knowledge? That you knew all along where she is and didn't even bother to approach her?"

Silence.

"Yeah, think hard about that, Alec," Zack said, then spun around to stalk back to his bike.

Alec stood wordlessly as he watched Zack leave.

A small voice inside him taunted, yeah, Alec, how are you going to explain it?

The ride home was refreshing, clearing her mind further. She felt a lot calmer now. The Space Needle always had that effect on her. That was why she always went up there to think.

She pushed her bike out of the lift and headed towards their apartment. They had to do something about their living arrangement. Original Cindy had not said anything to her, but Max did not want to make her feel as if her personal space was invaded. And having a male in their apartment definitely fell into that category.

Pushing the front door open, she pushed her bike in and parked it near next to the kitchen counter.

"Hey, I'm home," she announced.

"Hey, Max," Zack greeted sleepily from the couch.

"Sorry. Didn't realise that you were sleeping," she said, dropping onto the armrest to look at a tousled looking Zack. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing. Just hanging around," he said, pressing the heel of his hands into his eye sockets as he yawned.

Max frowned. It was very slight, but she could have sworn that she had heard a hint of evasiveness in his voice. "That's it?" she prompted.

"I came up after you left. I was tired."

Deciding to leave it for now, she replied, "Okay." Looking around, she asked, "So where's Original Cindy?"

Zack grinned. "Went out with her new girl," he said. "She has good taste, I have to say," he added thoughtfully.

Max smiled at his words. "That's the first time."

Confused, he asked, "What?"

"That you show that you're actually a guy and not a soldier. That you're interested in some girl," she teased with a laugh.

"My memory's not that good. But I sure know which way I swing," he proclaimed with a wry smile. "But then again, you already know that."

Max sighed. She knew what he was not saying.

Shortly after she had 'rescued' him from the steelheads, he had started behaving strange towards her. Strange as in he had seemed interested in her, and not in the brotherly way either. It had turned out that he thought that they were an item. As in romantically involved, much to her horror.

She had been quick to point out that the reality was not quite like that.

He had been confused, hurt and angry.

She had persisted and finally, to her relief, he had accepted it, albeit reluctantly.

"Sorry, Max. I shouldn't have brought it up," he said, giving her an apologetic look.

"It's okay, Zack," she brushed it off. She knew that he did not mean it, he just could not help it sometimes. Having his memory telling him one thing and having her telling him something completely opposite must be hard to cope with.

He sighed wearily. "It seems so real, but it's only my mind's interpretation. I know that. I know that the things I see in my mind is not as it seem. And that the reality is different. It would help if I can remember more, but I just can't do it."

Max looked away. "It'd be nice if you can remember where the rest is," she suddenly said.

Zack shook his head. "Even if I did, I can't tell you. Especially now. The less people know their locations, the safer it is for them."

Knowing that it was useless to press him further, Max decided to leave it.

For now.

Alec stared out of the cracked pane of the window, silently watching some of the X8s train under Biggs' guidance. The training session had attracted a small audience, a mix of transgenics and transhumans.

When he had found this place almost a year ago, he had not expected it to end up like this. All he had wanted to do was to stay there, to lay low until the heat cooled a little before making the transgenics split up. But they had somehow settled into Terminal City, and so far, no one on the outside suspected that they were there.

Even from the distance, Alec could see the lizard-like transhuman who called himself Mole eyeing the training critically. He smirked. No doubt Mole would have something to say to Biggs sometime soon about his training methods. As a matter of fact, Mole had already started, Alec noted with a wry smile as the transhuman began to shout something to Biggs.

Another transhuman named Joshua, one with an uncanny likeliness to the canine species, was standing next to Mole with an excited smile on his face. Cece was on his other side, looking as if she was explaining what was going on to him.

Those training sessions were important not only to keep them all in tip-top condition, but also to keep all of the transgenics out of trouble. They were used to this, the discipline, the routine and the training. It was something familiar to them, something they could hold on to in this strange world outside.

He would do well to remember his own training, Alec thought moodily. It had been his carelessness which had exposed him. He got complacent, confident that nobody would suspect that he was watching her. He was wrong.

And now Zack knew that he was around.

His mind kept going over and over the conversation he had with Zack. The short conversation brought up some disturbing issues.

Firstly, it was Zack's relationship with Max. The thing was, Alec was not exactly sure he understood why he had gotten so riled up when he had initially thought that Zack was with Max, as opposed to Max going out with some Ordinary. Was it really because he had felt that there was a better chance of the relationship succeeding if Max was seeing another transgenic? If he wanted her to be happy, shouldn't he be accepting it and be happy for her? Why did he feel like he wanted to punch Zack senseless at that time? Not that it mattered now since the interest seemed only one sided.

Secondly, what if Zack decided to tell Max of their encounter? It was unlikely, considering Zack's own agenda. But there was still that possibility that he might. So what was he supposed to tell Max when she asked for his reasons? Was he just going to tell her that he had stayed away because he thought that she was happy and that she had moved on?

That sounded lame even to him, he thought with a grimace.

He tried to think back to the time when he had first seen her laughing and joking with her friend. That was that time he had made the decision to walk away. Yes, he had been glad that she was happy and that was one of the reasons for his actions.

Another reason, which he hated to admit even to himself, was fear. It had been easy to remember what she had said to him back in Manticore. She loved it out here. It was where she could find everything which was important to her. She did not need anything else. In her mind, he was probably the embodiment of Manticore; the perfect soldier… the breeding partner. He was everything that would remind her of her time in Manticore. What if he had walked up to her then and she had told him exactly that? What could he say?

Alec was not sure that he could handle the rejection.

He heard a soft creak behind him, telling him that someone had just come through the door into his room. There was only one person in the entire Terminal City who was familiar enough with him to do that.

"Dee," he greeted without turning around.

"What are you doing there, Alec?" she asked curiously, the sound of her footsteps coming closer.

He closed his eyes, mentally wiping off the images of Zack and Max so that when he turned around, Dee would not sense anything out of place. Answering her questions was something that he could do without at that moment.

Once he had composed his expression into some resemblance of normality, he turned to face the petite, blonde haired girl who was standing just behind him.

"This is my room, the last time I checked. Or have we run out of space for the new arrivals?" he asked blandly.

Dee narrowed her eyes at him. "You know that's not what I'm asking." She nudged towards the window. "What are you looking at?"

"Just watching the kids. They're improving fast," Alec remarked. "Can't believe that Biggs actually agreed to train them. Maybe I should be worried."

She laughed lightly. "Biggs's fantastic with them. Who would have guessed?"

"Yeah, we might be lucky and all of them will turn out exactly like him. So, how are things with going with the supply run?"

"Dix and Joshua's monitored the run last night. So far so good. We got enough food for this week. I just hope that it's going to be good next week. I don't think I can deal with what we went through last week again," she muttered with a worried frown as she looked down to her feet.

He arched an eyebrow. "Hey, what's with that look? Anyone would think that we don't feed you or something."

She gave him a biting look. "Very funny, Alec," she said sarcastically. Then in an overly casual voice, she asked, "So, where have you been all day? I've been looking for you. I missed you."

Alec sighed inwardly. He had known that she would have discovered his absence at some point. Sometimes it was suffocating, the attention she loaded on him, but he guessed it was understandable. He was the closest person to her here after all. She had been stuck in the infirmary when the explosion occurred, while the rest of her unit was on a mission somewhere else. So she had automatically latched on to him during the escape and had since been by his side.

Knowing that he had to give an answer, he said, "I just went for some air."

She gave him a suspicious look. "Around here?"

"No," he replied shortly, his patience beginning to run thin. Why could she not understand that he did not want to talk to her about it?

"Where?"

"Dee, don't you have anything better to do than to interrogate me? Or are you trying out for psy-ops?" he snapped, stalking away from the window.

Unperturbed, she followed him. "I can't be worried about you, is that it?"

He turned around abruptly. "Listen, Dee. You've been great to me. But you have to understand that there are things that I won't share with anyone." Alec felt a pang of remorse when he saw the hurt in her eyes. Shaking his head slowly, he exhaled and said, "This is not about you, okay?" he said in a gentler tone.

"This is about her, isn't it?" she said softly, not looking at him.

He did not answer. Instead, he went back to the window.

A minute later, he heard the door shut softly behind him.

The sound of his sigh was loud in the room.

Alec knew that this could not go on forever. The whole situation was driving him mad. And it was not fair to those around him either. They needed a CO who whose head and heart was in the game, not one who had left his heart somewhere else.

A decision need to be made.

And soon.

When the last package of the day had been delivered to its recipient, Max exhaled a long sigh of relief.

It was not as if she had anything better to do, but delivering packages all day for a small, almost insignificant sum of money was a pain. At least the sector pass gave her the convenience she would not have had otherwise, she thought grumpily.

Mounting her bicycle, she started to pedal in the direction of home.

As she approached their apartment, she paused as a thought occurred to her. Maybe she should check up on Logan to see how he was getting on with the search. It had been a week since she had seen him anyway. Maybe by now he got closer to some leads.

Turning her bicycle around, she headed in the opposite direction.

It was not long before she pulled up to the entrance of Fogle Towers. Dismounting, she pushed her bike a short distance and secured it to a lamppost.

A small feeling of anticipation began to bubble inside as she walked into the building, but she forced it down, not daring to hope for much. She was only checking in, right? Logan might not even have found anything yet, she told herself as she climbed the stairs, too impatient to wait for the lift.

When she got to his door, she rapped loudly and waited.

No answer.

She knocked again, this time harder, hoping that she would not accidentally smash his door with the impact.

The door held.

But still no answer.

Max debated whether she should pick the lock. But what if Logan and Asha were in the middle of something? She cringed. Okay, bad visual. She guessed there would be no lock picking then.

With a shrug, she decided that she would return tomorrow.

She turned to leave, but the sound of the approaching lift made her pause.

When the lift door opened, a surprised gasp escaped her lips and her eyes rounded in disbelief.

t.b.c.

A/N: Yep, a little cliffie there. Hope you don't mind (grins). Please leave a review and let me know what you think!