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: Thank you for all you reviews for the last chapter! I tried to update a little sooner this time, which probably means that there are more mistakes in here than usual! (sighs) Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy what's coming up next…

Rules Can Be Broken - Chapter 16

(by elle6778)

Eyes rounded in surprise,Max hissed under her breath, "Sky…"

Original Cindy snapped her head towards Max, surprised. "You know him?" she exclaimed, and then shook her head slowly as her lips curved into a smile. "Girl, is he the reason you went missing for so long?"

Max did not have a chance to conceal the astonished expression on her face before her friend spotted it.

Arching a well-defined eyebrow, Original Cindy smirked, "So, what's the dealio with pretty boy over there?"

"Long story," was Max's only reply before she made her way to the entrance. Sky was part of the reason, just not the whole deal, but she could not bring herself to explain the situation to Original Cindy just yet.

She knew that Sky had registered her presence merely by the sudden stiffening of his posture. Obviously his Manticore-honed radar was still fully functional, she noted wryly.

"Hey," he said guardedly when she reached him.

"Hey yourself," Max said. She then gave a pointed look at his companion, the new girl Normal hired. When the ditzy blonde failed to receive the silent message, Max sighed in exasperation. "Could you give us a minute?" she snapped tightly.

The girl gave her a startled look before saying lightly, "Oh. Sure. See you later, Sky."

Turning back to Sky, Max asked, "So, what are you doing here?"

"Gee, Max. I didn't realise that I need your permission to go anywhere. Or do I have to report to you now?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I thought you were going somewhere else?"

"Like where? I figured that since Manticore dumped me here in the first place, it'll probably the last one they'll ever think of searching for us if they somehow had caught on to our game," he explained, before he scanned the room quickly. "Where's lover-boy?"

Max scowled. "Don't call him that."

Sky rolled his eyes. "Okay. Where's Zack?"

"He's out of town. Sorting out some…personal business," she replied disinterestedly.

Studying her curiously, Sky asked, "So, you want to tell me what's going on?"

"There's nothing-"

He interrupted her. "Come on, Max. You face is practically an open book. You're pissed about something."

"I said there's nothing wrong! So drop it," she snapped irritably, her discomfiture showing clearly.

Sky went silent for a moment, his expression thoughtful. Then he said quietly, "You're upset about Zack, I think. What did he do?"

Max gritted her teeth in annoyance. The guy was persistent alright. Must be something he had learnt from Manticore's interrogation lessons. She took a deep breath before saying, "If he had done something, it's none of your business anyway."

"Now, that's not true, is it, Max?" he said cheerfully, putting his arm around her shoulders. "We're buddies now, and being the only two X5s in here, we've got to watch each other's back."

Max threw him a sceptical look.

Grinning, he continued, "And not to mention that if Zack had messed things up with you, this basically means that I have a better shot at… you know…" He left it hanging there for her to speculate.

Understanding his unspoken words, Max glared at him, but she could not help the twitching of her lips. "Don't even go there, Sky. I mean it," she warned.

Sky moved his hand to her shoulders, shifting so that they were eye to eye. "Max, you won't be able to resist my charms," he said, his eyes relaying his seriousness.

Max could not help it. She burst out in laughter at his earnest expression.

Sky looked satisfied. "Much better," he said, patting her shoulders. "Now, you want to tell me what's bothering you? You're practically radiating misery."

Max was touched by his concern. Obviously he was trying to cheer her up, but she was not sure if she wanted to talk about her feelings for Zack to Sky, of all people. But she supposed that she had to tell Sky something.

"I don't really want to talk about it," she finally said. Hesitating a little, she then continued, "I made a mistake, and I don't want to re-hash it. It's not like I don't trust you or anything. It's just… personal, I guess."

Sky nodded silently. Then, with a grin, he shrugged and said, "Hey, I can't say I blame you. Manticore forgot to include lessons on how to engage in a heart-to-heart when they cooked up our syllabus."

Max looked at him, the corner of her lips lifting slightly. "You know, I think you might be right."

Sky threw an arm around her shoulders. "Of course I am."

Max rolled her eyes.

Zack stood next to his bike, looking out at the long length of empty road ahead of him as he took regular, almost mechanical, sips out of the can of soda in his hand. He appeared completely absorbed in his thoughts but he did not miss the approaching footsteps of another person.

"Zack, are you okay?" Jondy's soft voice broke the silence.

He took another sip of his drink before he replied gruffly, "Yeah. Just wondering where she is." And wondering why she left the way she had done, he continued silently.

Her brows furrowing, she said, "You know, I've been thinking about it. The whole thing didn't make sense. I mean, why did she run off like that?"

Zack's lips quirked. "I don't need to tell you that running is what we do best, Jondy," he said wryly.

Jondy snorted. "Not for no reason. Only when we want to escape something. Like capture, or…" she paused, her expression turning contemplative as she studied Zack.

Zack prompted absently, "What?"

"Something just occurred to me, that's all."

Zack raised his eyebrows, wondering what Jondy's agile mind had come up with this time. "Do I want to know?" he asked warily.

"Depends, I guess, on how honest you want this conversation to be," Jondy batted back.

"Just say it," Zack said roughly, his patience wearing thin. Something in Jondy's expression told him that he would not like what he was about to hear.

Jondy gave him a shrewd look. "Something happened between the two of you, didn't it?"

Zack stiffened visibly. "What are you going on about?" he said, trying to keep the edginess out of his voice. Jondy could not possibly know about what had happened between Max and him in the last few weeks. How could she?

"Don't play dumb, Zack. It doesn't suit you," Jondy said, planting her hands on her hips as she watched him expectantly.

"Jondy, I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted, averting his face from her. Last thing he wanted was for Jondy to guess what had happened from his expression, if she had not done so already.

Rolling her eyes, Jondy snapped, "Fine. Let me spell it out for you then. Yes, we're good at running. And as far as I know, we only do it for two reasons. One; escaping capture and to avoid being compromised. Two; running from our emotions. Now since we've ruled out capture, then Max must be running because of some emotional stuff. Since she didn't even know that I was there in the casino, then the only other catalyst must be you," she paused for a second, and then said softly, "I don't know. Maybe something happened between you two. Something which made her feel like she needed to leave."

Zack stared at her wordlessly, unsettled at her assessment of the situation. An assessment which seemed to ring true. Especially considering that he had rejected her that last night they were together. Almost one week had passed since that night.

Yes, maybe he had pushed her away, or maybe Max had had enough of him. Maybe she had decided that it was time to take his advice and split up and she had not been able to find a good time to tell him. So she had decided to disappear at the first opportunity. He had definitely given her no encouragement to remain with him.

He had succeeded in his aim to keep the distance between them.

Somehow, the knowledge made him feel even worse. It was strange, because this was exactly what he thought he wanted. For them to stay away from each other. No tactical exposure. No risk of being caught together. No phoney emotional stuff. No riding side by side in the wind.

No Max.

He sighed, suddenly feeling weary. Suddenly feeling heavy-hearted.

"We'll find her. We…"

Jondy interrupted him. "Zack, you know as well as I do that if she doesn't want to be found, we won't be able to find her."

Zack shook his head. "I need to know for sure," he said quietly.

"What happened between you, Zack?" Jondy asked gently, laying a hand on his shoulders. "You can talk to me."

Zack did not answer. Instead, he swung his leg over his bike.

"Where are we going?" Jondy asked, concerned as she followed his example.

Zack gave her an unreadable, but determined look. "We just need to check one last place, and then we'll go back our own ways, as per our usual protocol. That's okay with you?"

Jondy smiled at him sadly. "Okay," she agreed with a sigh.

Crash was packed as it usually was on a Friday night. The sound of pre-Pulse pop music blared out of the sound system, interspersed with the sounds of conversation and laughter in the room.

Sketchy's eyes were almost popping out of its sockets as he stared intently at the couple in front of him, his lips mouthing, "Come on, come on…"

Original Cindy was holding herself a little better. An occasional gasp would escape her lips but overall, she managed to keep her cool in the face of the excitement at their table.

Max and Sky sat facing each other, their eyes locked together in battle, an imitation of what their arms were engaged in. Besides Original Cindy and Sketchy, a small crowd of spectators had gathered around them, betting on who would come up tops in the arm-wrestling competition.

Sky's eyes twinkled as he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Max to hear, "You know that we're putting on a show just to entertain these people, don't you?"

Max raised her eyebrows and replied just as softly, "No. You're going to be the entertainment. I'm going to win." Her right arm and his were still locked in the neutral position, neither of them besting each other. Max did not know for sure if Sky was holding back, but she definitely was not putting in her full strength. Yet.

"Only if I let you," he said with a smirk.

"You wish."

"So what do I get when I win?" Sky continued.

"You're not going to win," Max told him. If Sky thought that the conversation was going to distract her from their competition, he was sorely mistaken.

"Come on, Max. Humour me. SAY I win…what's the prize?"

"All that money you betted on yourself?" she replied with a grin.

Sky snorted. "Of course, but that can't be it, right? There must be more than that. Something humiliating for you, for example."

Max rolled her eyes. It was so typical of Sky to ask for something like that. "First, you're NOT going to win. And secondly, I have no intention of humiliating myself in front of all these people."

"Since you're so sure that you're going to win, then there's no harm in indulging me, right? So, what should we say your punishment should be?"

Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, "Alright. Fine. I'll do your deliveries for one day."

Sky emitted a bark of laughter. "That's it? What do you take me for?"

"What do you want, then?" Max asked immediately, and then realised that she had fallen into the trap Sky had set when she caught sight of his grin. Glaring at him, she growled, "You did that on purpose."

His eyes rounding innocently, he said, "Hey, what did I do?"

"Fine, whatever," she said grudgingly. "What do you want?"

His grin widened.

Max watched him warily, sure that he was going to come up with something which would drive her completely insane. This should not be too difficult for him considering how well he had been able to get under her skin the past week. The guy seemed to live to annoy the hell out of her.

"I want a…" he paused dramatically.

"A kiss!" someone from the crowd shouted out.

Max gritted her teeth in irritation, realising that they had forgotten to keep their voices down. And there was no way she was kissing Sky.

Her expression must have told him just as much because he laughed a little, and then said, "Nah, too easy. Not much fun in that."

Max resisted the urge to sigh in relief, but her respite was short-lived.

"Though I think that I could do with a lap dance," he said cheekily as he squeezed her hand quickly.

"What!" Max shouted, indignant. "Dream on, you pervert!"

Sky smirked. "But hey, it's not going to be an issue if you win, right? Scared, Max?"

Max pinned him with a look which would have shrivelled a lesser man. "Bite me."

"That's the spirit," he said cheerfully. Then, in a softer voice, he continued, "I was beginning to miss that spirit of yours."

Max's jaw dropped. All that was just to get her riled up? To what? Had she been so detached since she had returned to Seattle a little more than a week ago that Sky suddenly felt the need to wake her up like this? What the hell did he think he was doing?

Unable to keep her thoughts to herself any longer, she hissed to him, "Sky, whatever you think you're doing, just stop it, okay? Giving you a lap dance isn't going to do much apart from bugging the hell out of me."

Unperturbed, Sky grinned. "Yeah, but I bet you're going to love me even more now," he said just before suddenly pushing down hard on her hand.

Max's eyes widened in shock as her hand hit the table with a bang. Damn, she had allowed him to distract her. Something she could hardly afford now, especially with that stupid lap dance hanging over her head. She glared at Sky, her fists itching to wipe the satisfied smirk off his face.

Waving his hands in the air, Sky stood up, lapping up the cheers from his supporters. Turning down to look at Max, he grinned widely and said, "So, you owe me a lap dance."

"You cheated," Max accused with a scowl.

"Hey, the rules never said that we can't talk," he pointed out indignantly. Turning to the crowd, he asked, "Right, guys?"

Shouts of 'yeah' and 'of course' rang out, much to Max's dismay.

Raising his brows, Sky tossed Max a challenging look. "Want to back out of our deal now?"

Disgusted at the entire situation, Max continued to scowl as Sky's grin grew wider and wider. Finally, she said, "Alright, you're on. Name the time and place and you'll get your lap dance, you sick jerk."

Sky laughed. "There's no time like the present, I always say."

Someone hollered loudly in the direction of the DJ, requesting a raunchy song. The crowd cleared a circle around the table as Sky sat down with an expectant grin on his face.

As a heady music began to play, Original Cindy yelled out, "Hey, how's the guy supposed to enjoy his lap dance with y'all breathing down his neck, huh? Get a life already and leave this two alone."

Her proclamation was met with boos and complaints, but most of them scattered back to what they had been doing prior to the wrestling match.

"You too," Original Cindy snapped, pulling a reluctant Sketchy away.

Max did not know whether she should thank Original Cindy or not for her attempt at giving them privacy. Well, not that she was really going to give Sky a real lap dance anyway. But somehow, she knew that Sky would not let her live it down if she just backed out.

Resigned to her fate, Max stepped in front of Sky, her face still set in a scowl.

"You could try to look a bit more cheerful," he commented dryly.

Max bared her teeth. "Better?"

"Perfect," he said flatly, rolling his eyes.

Max began to move to the music, her movements displaying her agitation. Sky grinned, leaning forward to get closer to her. Max gave him a warning glare before she slowly turned in a circle in time with the music.

Sky whistled. "Not bad, soldier."

"Shut up!" she snarled. "I'm not going to-" she started to say when a movement at the entrance caught her attention.

She froze when she realised that Zack and his brunette had just walked into Crash.

What was he doing here? He was supposed to be in San Francisco, Max thought, her mind whirring frantically. She watched as the brunette leaned close to him to say something, to which Zack smiled softly.

Max felt her heart twist painfully, something which she had hoped not to feel again. Zack obviously did not know how his presence with the brunette affected her, otherwise he would not even be there. And Max promised herself that she would make sure that he would not find out how painful it was for her even if it killed her.

"Hey, Max. If it really disturbs you, you can stop, you know. I'm not that starved for attention," Sky said, watching her pained expression with concern.

Max turned back to Sky, strangely comforted by his words. "What? And let you think that I can't do it? No way," she said lightly.

Then she began to move again, settling her hands on his shoulders as she swung her hips side to side to the throbbing beat. A moment later, she trailed her fingers down his chest as she bent lower.

Max felt rather than saw Sky's reaction to the change in her. Stiffening under her fingers, he pulled back to look at her suspiciously. "Erm, Max? What are you doing?"

"Giving you a lap dance," she drawled. "Isn't it obvious?"

Sky waved a dismissive hand. "Well, yeah. But-"

"What? Running scared now?" she challenged.

He gave her an affronted look. "Hell, no. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the view," he said, grinning lazily, laying a hand on her hips.

Max forced a grin. "You do that," she said.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught the exact moment Zack spotted her. He froze on the spot, bringing the brunette to an instant halt. The confused brunette then said something to him, but Zack did not reply.

A sudden surge of guilt coursed through Max at the expression on his face. Zack looked dumbstruck, almost as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

And hurt.

Max swallowed the uncomfortable feeling in her throat and continued to dance.

t.b.c.

A/N: Heh! I guess it's not too hard to guess what's coming up in the next chapter! In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.