Disclaimer: Dark Angel and its characters do not belong to me. This fan-fiction had been written purely for entertainment purposes. No infringement intended and no profit had been made out of this.
A/N: A big thank you to all those who reviewed! This chapter is slightly longer than usual, but I hope you'll still enjoy it!
Rules Can Be Broken - Chapter 10
(by elle6778)
Max could barely suppress her grin as she walked out of the bathroom, clad only in the white towel. It was working, she thought gleefully. She knew she had taken a risk in coming on so strongly to Zack, but she had been hoping that if he had been interested, he would respond in some way. And boy did he respond.
She touched her fingers to her lips, which was still slightly swollen from the kiss they had shared. Never once she had imagined that a kiss would be so arousing. Her past experiences paled in comparison with those few minutes she had spent in the bathroom with Zack.
There was definitely something special there, she thought as she sat on the bed.
The sudden chill against her skin alerted her to the fact that she was still clad in only a towel. She had taken off her clothes earlier in the bathroom. And Zack was still in there.
Standing up, she padded back across the room, absently noticing that 'Zane' was still unconscious. Just before she got to the bathroom, Zack emerged. She searched his face for any telltale signs of his emotions, but to her disappointment, his mask was already in place.
"Going to get dressed," she said by way of explanation as she brushed past him, purposely making sure that their skin came into contact. His sharp intake of breath at her action did not escape her notice. But before he could say anything, she closed the door behind her.
A few minutes later, dressed in her tank top and her pants, she stepped out of the bathroom and headed towards Zack and 'Zane'.
"How long do you think Zane's going to be out?" she asked.
Zack shrugged. "He should be awake pretty soon. I didn't hit him that hard. Doesn't really matter if he's out though, easier to handle. And by the way, I think we should stop calling him Zane. He's not Zane."
Max went to the unconscious transgenic. Her hand reached out to brush his blonde hair back. She knew that he was not Zane, but she felt closer to him than her own brother, who she had not seen for a decade. Whoever this guy was, Max did not think he had anything to do with Lydecker's plans. However, she could not be sure. Sighing, she said, "Yeah, we need to think of a name for him."
"Maybe we should just stick to his designation, once I find out what it is. After all, it wasn't as if he's part of our unit," Zack said with a small frown.
Max gave him an incredulous look, her hand stilling on 'Zane's forehead. "I think he should have his own name. We can't be calling him by his designation out here."
"Once I get him to tell us what he knows, he'll be on his own. That's hardly enough time to warrant a name. I have no intention of exposing any of us to Manticore," Zack said sharply.
"I'm not saying that we should expose ourselves. But what harm can a name do?" Max asked. She felt that Zack was being unreasonable about the entire name issue. It was only a name after all!
Zack gave her an uncompromising look. "It's the attachment associated with it that is the problem. We cannot afford to get attached."
Max stilled as she considered his words. Somehow she had a feeling that he was not talking about 'Zane' anymore. It sounded to her as if Zack was trying to tell in his own convoluted way her that they could not get attached.
Sighing, she went straight to the point and said, "Zack, this is not about him, is it?"
"What else could it be?" Zack asked, his eyes not meeting hers.
"Us."
Zack exhaled loudly. Sounding exasperated, he said, "Look, I told you just now. We just can't do it. It's not right."
"Why is it not right? We're not in Manticore anymore. I thought that was the whole point of escaping. To find something better. The way I see it, nothing really bad would come out of what happened back in the bathroom. By the way, that was quite a kiss, don't you think?" Max said to him with a grin.
Zack groaned.
"Or was it that bad for you?" she asked mischievously.
"It's not that…" he said, faltering.
Max interrupted before he could continue. "Anyway, I don't know what you're so worried about. I told you earlier that I'll just forget the entire thing and move on. So I don't think you really need to keep pushing me away."
Zack's head snapped up as he tensed. "You said that just now. What was that supposed to mean?"
"What?" she asked, unsure what he had meant by his question.
"Moving on," Zack replied.
Oh that! Max thought as she resisted the urge to grin. Outwardly, she shrugged nonchalantly. "A girl's got to move on, not much use in sticking around where she's not wanted. It's a big world out there," she said casually, trying hard to keep from laughing at the pained expression that had entered Zack's face before it hardened into an indifferent mask.
"Max, it's not a good idea for you to do that. Any emotional entanglement is bad news for us transgenics, don't you get that?" he told her in a hard voice.
She knew that Zack really believe what he was saying, however, there was no way he could persuade her to think the same way. "Actually no. I don't get that. Life's too short for us to just throw these things you call phoney sentimentality away. If I do that, I might as well be back in Manticore," Max said, her playful mood evaporating.
"Damn it, Max! I'm serious!" he snapped, obviously irritated. "How could you even say that you might as well be back in Manticore after all that we have gone through? After finally finding our freedom."
"That's it, Zack. Freedom. I thought that we ran away from Manticore so that we don't have to abide by all those stupid rules, and so that we can think for ourselves. Live for ourselves."
"We can do that without all those emotional stuff," Zack insisted.
"Don't you see, Zack? Being out here looking over our shoulders all the time, forming shallow relationships and being always scared of something? You call that being free? What's the fun in that?"
"Life's not all fun, Max," he said stiffly.
Max rolled her eyes. "Only if you stop it from being so," she pointed out.
"Max, I can't force you to do what you don't want to do. But I'm planning to stick to what I feel is the best approach to this," Zack stated with a tone of finality.
Giving up for now, Max sighed and said, "Whatever." She knew that there was not much point in continuing that line of conversation, seeing the non-receptive mood Zack was currently in.
Flicking a glance at the still unconscious 'Zane', she said, "Well, like it or not, I'm going to give him a name, since we don't even know what's his designation."
"Fine," Zack said shortly.
After a few seconds of deliberation, she announced to a completely disinterested Zack, "I think we should call him Sky."
Zack raised an eyebrow. "Sky?"
Max grinned. "Yeah, blue eyes and all, you see."
"I see," Zack said slowly, looking unconvinced. "I thank the Blue Lady that you were not the one who had named us," he muttered.
Offended, Max said, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Sky it is then."
Suddenly feeling very tired, Max yawned. "I think I'm going to go catch some sleep," she said, looking at the double bed longingly. Then suddenly a thought occurred to her, and the corner of her lips twitched. Sh wondered how Zack would take it.
Oblivious to her thoughts, Zack said, "I'll take the first watch," and walked tiredly towards the metal chair opposite Sky.
"Oh, come on, Zack. He's all tied up. It's not as if he could escape without waking us up anyway. You need to sleep," Max said.
Zack seemed undecided. Max knew that he was weighing the risk between sleeping and risking her advances against staying awake and being completely useless the next day, because Sky was unlikely to be a threat.
"Zack, you haven't slept in days. How are you supposed to continue to function?" Max pushed.
"We can take turns watching," he suggested.
Max gave him a stubborn look. "Don't even think of it! Even with shark DNA, I need a full night's sleep once in a while. And that's tonight. It's up to you. I'm going to sleep now," she said walking towards the bed and sat at the edge, her back towards Zack. She proceeded to remove her pants, grinning inwardly in anticipation of Zack's response at her action.
He did not disappoint. "What are you doing?" he said in an uncomfortable tone.
Turning to look at him over her shoulders, she replied, "Making myself comfortable." Clad only in her lacy panties and black tank top, she burrowed under the covers with a sigh.
Within minutes, her breath evened and she fell into deep sleep.
She did not even stir when the bed dipped beside her an hour later.
Zack was enveloped in the most contented feeling he had ever had in ages. Reluctant to wake up, his eyes remained shut. He was in a soft, warm bed and his body was completely relaxed after the good night's sleep. A nice warm pillow was in his arms.
Warm pillow?
Zack's eyes snapped open to find his vision obstructed by a mass of thick silky dark hair. He froze and stifled a groan. Sometime in the middle of the night he must have rolled over. Because right now, he was spooned tight against Max's back with his arms wrapped tight around her. She was lying on one of his arms and he had a hand splayed against her bare belly where her tank top had hitched up. His legs were thrown over her bare ones, and he offered up a silent thanks at that fact that he had not removed his pants before jumping into bed, just his shirt.
And to make things worse, his body had suddenly decided to recognise the fact that there was a female body pressed intimately against it. It did not help that the other one of his hands were resting against her breast. Zack cursed silently as he unsuccessfully tried to clamp down on his reaction.
Thoughts of the scene in the bathroom last night came unbidden to him. He had thought then how soft the skin on her back was, but now he realised the skin on her belly was even softer. Blood surged from his head to pool uncomfortably where he did not want it to go.
Stop it, Zack, he admonished himself, feeling irritated at his own reaction. At the rate he was going, it would definitely be embarrassing when Max woke up. He wondered how he could extract himself without jolting her awake.
He should have stuck to his initial decision to stay awake to keep watch of Sky. But the chair had been uncomfortable, and the lure of the bed had been too much for his sleep-deprived mind to resist. He had promised himself that he would get up before Max did.
Right now, he had this incredible urge to bury his head in her soft hair. A small voice inside him told him that he should take advantage of the fact that Max was still asleep to do so. It was definitely something he would not do if she had been awake.
No, he scolded himself vehemently. He was not going to do it.
His inner voice prodded him; Come on, just one time, Zack. What's the harm?
Just once…
Promising himself that this was going to be a one-time indulgence, he nuzzled his face into her hair, breathing in its subtle perfume of vanilla mixed with something uniquely Max. He felt himself growing light-headed at her scent. Unconsciously his hand tightened against her belly and her breast, moving in small circles.
A soft, contented moan issued from Max made him freeze movements.
Appalled at what he had allowed himself to do, Zack jerked away from her abruptly. And then he swore silently. He waited with bated breath for Max to wake up, but after a few minutes of silence, he realised with relief that she was still asleep.
His eyes travelled to the window; it was still early, the sun was barely up yet. Resigning himself to the fact that he could not extract himself without waking her up, Zack decided that the best course of action was to go back to sleep.
Three days had passed, but Sky was still unconscious. Zack was genuinely getting concerned and had moved him to the bed. Even though he was still suspicious of Sky, Zack also knew that in the past week, he had developed a fondness of the other transgenic.
He had not bothered to restrain the unconscious transgenic this time, figuring that he would be relatively weak when he finally decided to wake up. Both Max and him had been taking turns to watch over Sky, both of them hoping that Sky would wake up soon. His vital signs were healthy, which made it even stranger that Sky had shown no indication of waking up.
Now it was Zack's turn again to keep an eye on Sky while Max went out to get hold of some new clothes for them. The clothes that they had on for the last few days were beginning to look as if they were fit for the dumpters.
Zack closed his eyes as the image of Max flashed in front of him. It was getting harder and harder for him to control his attraction towards Max. Their kiss and the time they had spent snuggled in the bed three days ago had made it even worse. Now that he knew how she tasted and how her skin felt like, he found himself craving more, much to his annoyance.
He did not know whether or not it was a good thing that Max seemed to have given up on her advances towards him. Since he had woken up in the bed alone that morning, Max had not attempted to come within touching distance unless ithad been absolutelynecessary.
It was as if she really had moved on.
Zack knew that he should be relieved that things turned out this way, but somehow, something inside him balked at the idea of them drifting apart. He had seen the way she acted towards the pizza deliveryman who had delivered their food yesterday, flirting shamelessly with the deluded idiot and the first thing that had come to Zack's mind at that time had been to kick the living daylights out of the other man. The pizza deliveryman had not been the only incident which had set his teeth on edge. The man at the motel reception seemed to be just as smitten with Max.
Zack was not stupid and he did not make it a habit to lie to himself. Although he did not want to get involved in all these emotional stuff, he knew that it was too late for him to try to remove himself from it now. He hated the fact that he could not control it. The signs were clearly there for him to see.
He was jealous, of all things.
The sound of laughter filtered from the hallway outside into the bedroom. Zack's ears pricked up when he recognised it as Max's. Scowling, he wondered who she was so happily talking and laughing with. The now familiar surge of possessiveness and jealousy swept through him, making him even more annoyed at himself.
He had reached the door before he knew it. Yanking the door open, he found himself staring into a surprised pair of chocolate brown eyes. His eyes travelled past Max to land on the young man, dark haired man behind her.
"Zack, hi!" Max greeted cheerfully. Then gesturing behind her, she said, "This is Rick. He's one of the assistants from the store I've gone to. Rick has offered to help me with the bags."
"Zack. Pleased to meet you," Rick greeted cordially, his confused eyes shifting back and forth between Zack and Max. Obviously, he had no idea that Max was actually sharing a room with another guy.
Obviously, Rick had thought that he was going to get lucky with Max, Zack thought in disgust.
Zack gave Rick a curt nod of acknowledgement. Extending his hands out, Zack said coldly, "We can handle the bags now." His eyes bored into the other man's, wordlessly telling him in the universal male language to back off.
Looking rather uncomfortable, and slightly fearful, at the tone of Zack's voice and the expression on his face, Rick just nodded and dropped the bags in Zack's arms. Turning to Max, he said, "Well, I'll see you sometime. Look me up when you're in the area again, okay?"
Smiling, Max said, "Sure. Thanks for your help."
"It's no big deal," Rick said, walking away.
Turning back to Zack, Max raised a questioning brow. "So what was that about?"
Feigning ignorance, Zack replied, "What?"
Rolling her eyes, she elaborated impatiently, "The alpha male act, what else. You just scared the poor boy away for no reason."
"You're seeing things, Max," he said shortly. There was no way he was going to admit how pissed off he was at seeing the way Rick had looked at Max.
Resting her hands on her hips, she said, "Right. Try again."
Zack groaned inwardly. He should have known that Max would not let this go until he had given her a satisfactory answer. Sighing heavily, he said, "Look, I just don't want our security compromised. Bringing strangers to our room strikes me as being tactically unwise."
"Will you just loosen up a bit? Rick hardly strikes me as someone with contacts in Manticore," she said.
"Yeah, but…" his words were cut short at the sound of a groan from the bed.
In an instant, both Max and Zack were at Sky's side.
Max sat beside Sky, lightly tapping his cheeks. "Hey, time to wake up," she said softly.
Sky groaned and cracked his eyes open. Blinking, he flicked his eyes back and forth between Zack and Max. "Zack? Max?" he croaked weakly.
"You've been out for three days," Zack told him, standing to one side of the bed. His eyes belied his worry as he scanned Sky's pale complexion.
Sky nodded and sat up with Max's help, swaying slightly as he did so. Then all of a sudden, his eyes glazed over as he stared unseeingly straight ahead. It was as if he had frozen in some form of shock. It looked unnerving.
"Hey, what's going on?" Max yelled, shaking him.
Zack laid a restraining hand on Max, urging her away from Sky. He did not like the blank look in Sky's eyes. It reminded him too much of Manticore. "Max, stand back," he instructed warily.
Max looked as if she was about to argue, but thankfully she held her tongue and stood up. Standing beside Zack, they both watched apprehensively as Sky remained that way for several minutes.
Then suddenly the spell broke. Blinking rapidly, the haze in Sky's eyes cleared. But the expression on his face was not what Zack had expected to see. It was a mix of realisation and shock.
His eyes pinned on Zack and Max, Sky stated flatly, "You two are the '09-ers."
t.b.c.
A/N: 'Zane' is now 'Sky' and we're going to find out what happened to him in the next chapter. If I can fit everything in, the next chapter is going to be the last one, no promises though – it may still hit chapter 12. Please review and let me know what you think! I really love your reviews!