The Surprise

A/N: This chapter has now been revised as well. Although the storyline is still the same I changed quite a bit of it.(31/03/2006)

Chapter 2: Explanations...well sort of.

Original Cindy shook her head, trying to sort out whatever it was that she was sure was impairing her vision. Things looked the same. She blinked a couple of times hoping that would be the remedy but when she opened her eyes Alec was still standing in front of her holding a baby. Original Cindy opened her mouth several times as if she were about to say something but then closed it again. For the first time in her life, Cindy was speechless.

"Um...hi, OC," said Alec sheepishly, secretly enjoying the sight of Original Cindy's mouth hanging open like it currently was. It was not very often that the 'all knowing' Original Cindy was caught off guard.

"Here, give her to me," said Max walking over to Alec with her arms ready to receive the baby, then making soft, comforting cooing noises in an attempt to pacify the infant. OC's expression changed from shock to anger when her brain finally registered what was happening. She got up, marched over to a drowsy Alec and slapped him around the back of the head, just as she had seem Max do numerous times. "What have you done!" she demanded to know. "I can't believe this...I need to sit down." Max could not help but crack a small smile at her best friends transitory emotions. She could hardly blame her though, there was no way even the great OC could have saw this one coming. "I guess I'd better explain," said Max eventually. "I see we've kind of thrown you into the deep end here."

"Yeah, you could say that," said OC.

"If you ladies don't mind I'm going to head back to bed," said Alec, noticing that the baby had calmed down and drifted off back to sleep in Max's arms.

"OK," said Max, handing the child over.

"Woah, wait that there pretty boy," said OC. "You aren't getting off that easily."

"Come on OC, can't you interrogate me tomorrow? I mean after you get the details from Max you'll be better prepared to pulverise me," said a sleepy Alec.

Original Cindy considered this for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. All she wanted to do now was talk to Max anyway, she had so many questions and she damn well needed the answers. "OK, I'll let you off this time but tomorrow you and I are having a conversation."

"Looking forward to it," Alec assured her with a grin. "Night." Alec took the baby back into the bedroom, closing the door gently behind him and OC's attention snapped back to her best friend. "So you are a mother? I mean unless I took this whole thing wrong and there is a sane, logical reason for all of this that doesn;t involve you and Alec getting your groove on. It is Alec's right? 'Cause he was looking all Papa Bear."

Max smiled, overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. "Yes I'm a mother and yes, Alec is a father."

"Thank God I sat back down or you could knock me over with a feather," said OC. "Now either I'm having some serious memory lapses or you've been holding out on me!"

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you," said Max sincerely, sitting down beside her confused friend. "But I just didn't know how to. I mean when I rang you, we would talk about the mission and how things were getting along at Jam Pony without me, how much we missed each other and then one of us would have to go. Besides I thought telling you over the phone would be so impersonal."

"It would have been better than not telling me at all," OC muttered.

"I know and I am sorry OC, but what was I supposed to say? 'Hey Cindy, you know the way there is a fine line between love and hate? Yeah well I'm having Alec's baby.' Didn't quite have the right ring to it," smiled Max.
"So this's why you were avoiding Logan," said OC, as a few things clicked into place. "And why your mission took those extra four months and whatever."

"Yeah, once I found out I was pregnant Alec didn't want to risk me going on the late night raids but I did anyway up until I reached seven months but the Alec insisted on doing it by himself which meant it was going to take twice the remaining amount of time," Max explained.

"Well he was right you know," said OC. "You should have stopped raiding or whatever the second you found out you were pregnant."

"Alec would agree with you there," said Max. "But I can be very stubborn, not the mention very persuasive. I pretty much got Alec wrapped around my little finger."

"OK so on to the next can of worms-you and Alec? What the hell happened there? I mean are you two together now or was it just one of those 'We were unbelieveably drunk this one night' things?" asked OC.

"No, we're together," said Max.

"How did that happen and how did you two end up having a baby together?" asked Original Cindy.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to get this talk from your mother?" asked Max with a cheeky grin.

"What the whole 'When two people love each other very much . . .' thing?" said OC. Max nodded."Well that's the bit Original Cindy doesn't get. Before you two went off gallivanting, you were ready to kill each other! The line between love and hate ain't that fine."

"See that's the thing, I don't think I ever really hated Alec, I mean yes he was annoying, well still kind of is actually," said Max, on reflection. "Yes he was a pain in the ass but I think we just got off to a bad start and then he made things worse and I had to keep bailing him out and eventually I just labelled him as a screw up and stuck with it. He just became the easiest person to blame for well...everything I guess."

"So what changed your perspective?"

"A lot of things I guess, like simply spending time with him without already having decided that I was pissed of with him and just taking the time to get to really know him," expplained Max. "It just started out with little things, like after a few days I realised he was thoughtful in his own way. Then after a week I noticed how funny he was. About a month in I realised that he was smart. He has educated opinions and can talk about serious things at length and with passion. I just started to see different sides of him and realised that I liked him a lot more than I thought."

"Hold it there Boo, are we talking about the same guy here? I mean I have always kind of liked Alec but it has been in spite of his selfish, arrogant ways."

"Alec isn't the bad bass he likes to think he is," said Max. "He was a considerate side as well. Yes Alec is arrogant and selfish but that's how he spent twenty years of his life being trained to be. Sometimes it is esy forget that he has not been out in the real world as long as I have. He still has a lot to learn and a lot of traits that Manticore engraved in his brain that he needs to get rid off. I mean all my little realisations about him made me realise that he wasn't a bad guy but there was definitely a turning point."

"I have got to hear this story," said OC, settling in.

"About two months in, we were on our usual nightly raid. It was just supposed to be like all the other ones; get in, get more information and get out. You'd be surprised at how easy it was, though I guess that seeing as they thought no one new that they exisited they weren't too big on security.

Anyway, this one night we had agreed to get the plans for new transgenic breeds out of one of the lab computers. Alec was going to watch the guard's station a few corridors away while I broke into the main lab and download the files onto a disk. The files we wanted had a more complicated security system than I had anticipated and I should have just left it and came back for it the next night when I had more time to work on breaking it but I thought I could bypass it. Needless to say I was worng."

"What happened?" asked OC.

"The computer alerted the security guards at all of their posts that someone was trying to access high security files and they sent off the alarms. Every guard in the building was headind in my direction and blocking off all of my exits when Alec broke into the nearest room to take some of the heat off me. With some of the guards distracted I was able to find a way to the exit. I radioed through to him to see where he was, he told me to get out and meet him back at the appartment, that he would not be far behind me. I tried to argue with him but he said he had enough on his mind trying to escape without worrying if I was OK, so I gave in and went."

"I guess he is as stubborn as you are," said OC with a knowing smile. She had always suspected that Alec had a bit of a soft spot for the woman who was always beating him up but as it turned out she had no idea how far gone he really was.

"Seems that way," said Max. "I couldn't believe that he was worried about me enough to stick it out alone and I found it even harder to believe just how worried I was about him. Once I got back to our place I just kept pacing up and down, fighting the urge to bo back. I was never so relieved in my entire life as I was when he walked into our apartment half an hour later."

"Well what do you you know," said OC. "So how exactly did you go from realising that you cared about him to playing Happy Families with him?"

"Well when he returned that night I was so mad at him for making me as worried as I was and I..." Max stopped her story mid sentance as a knock on the door interrupted her her. "Why am I always been interrupted tonight?" she asked with a frown, getting up to answer the door.

"Yeah," mumbled OC, "and always when you are getting to the good part."

Max opened the foor to find an angry Logan at the other side. "What are you doing here Max? Why didn't you call me when you got back and what are you doing at Alec's?" he yelled.

"Logan, keep your voice down," she pleaded in a hushed tone, realising he might wake the baby and probably Alec, and then there would be hell to pay.

Logan paid no attention to her as he stormed further into the room and continued his rant. "No, why should I? I was worried out of my mind when I rang OC's and she hung up, I thought White had found you!" As he continued to yell at her, Max retreated to the sofa where OC had planted herself, realising that Logan was going to have his say regardless of anything she said. "I mean dammit Max!

He stopped, confused, as the sound of a baby crying echoed into the room.

"Now you've done it," muttered OC.

"Max what is that sound?" Logan asked, bewildered. "What is that?"

"Logan there is something you should know..."