Disclaimer: Not mine except new characters

A/N : My first attempt. Sorry this one's all talk, Ben knows nothing that happened in session 2 and Max wants to catch up.

For the author reviewers of this, I have updated my favourite authors to include those writing DA fiction, if everyone on alert reviewed, I would have to update daily. I'm looking for 182 reviews for this.

Many thanks:

Elle6778: Glad Ben came across as I'd planned, hope you like this one too.

Mel11: Here's the chapter you wanted, hope it lives up to expectations.

Angel of Darkness231: She's not going to push that yet!

Wildsky: Give him a couple of chapters.

Angelofdarkness78: No romance yet!

Darkangelgirl: TC is OK, but out of sight, we catch up with them in chapter 36.

Shygirl1: Glad you're enjoying the interactions.

Who loves the teacher?

Chapter Thirty-three: Catching up

When they were alone Max said, "Ben I'm sorry that I left you, but I couldn't take you with me." Tears welled in her eyes again at the memory.

"Hey Maxie, I asked you to kill me," he replied, "neither of us knew that Manticore wouldn't let us go that easily." He wiped her tear and hugged her, "I've missed you Maxie."

"I've missed you too," she replied quietly, hugging him back.

"He must've made it easier," he said referring to Alec.

"What do you mean? Seeing someone everyday with your face but his cocky annoying ways, made life easier," she laughed. Then seriously, "if anything it made it harder."

"How so?" he replied.

"For a long time whenever I looked at Alec all I could think about was our last time together in the forest," she said. "I kept thinking why was he enjoying life when you had to die. All his cocky comments that made me laugh couldn't make up for you not being there."

"He said about you working together, so you didn't completely despise him," Ben queried.

"He made some major cock-ups when he first tried to be friendly and I pushed him away," Max replied. "Then I realised he wasn't going anywhere and that he was there when I needed someone to help me. Gradually I stopped thinking of you every time I saw him and he became my second in command."

"It sounded like he and Miss Sandle are together, so why didn't you and he get together?"

"As I said, I pushed him away until it was too late," she replied. "Then Issy came and they resumed something that started at Manticore."

"I always knew she seemed more distant in our sessions than with some of the others I spoke to," Ben commented.

"What about you?" asked Max. "What happened back at Manticore?"

"You mean do I still want to tattoo my barcode on people and hunt them down to perform amateur dental surgery?" he asked ironically.

"As well as other things," she replied truthfully.

"After they brought me back, they had me in psy-ops for what seemed like forever," he remembered. "That's where I met Miss Sandle, she got me to talk about my fears and what I'd done; she sounded a lot like you did on that last day."

"What do you mean; she sounded like me and please call her Issy?"

"When you tried to make me see that what I was doing was wrong and that I was trying to kill myself, she got me to see those things for myself. Things like how terrified I was without the structure that Manticore had given us, our fear of the nomalies and the punishments. She even made me realise that the stories were an attempt to make sense of the horrors that Manticore brainwashed us with."

"So you trust her?"

"I did then, but when I saw her here today and the charade that everyone was playing I wasn't so sure."

"We were concerned that if you realised that Manticore had been blown-up that you might run and …" her voice trailed off, how could she tell him about her concerns?

"You thought I might start capturing and killing people for fun again," he finished for her.

She looked up at him not wanting to acknowledge the truth of what he'd said, but he could tell from the look in her eyes.

"Maxie, have you no faith in psy-ops?" he smiled. "I might have spent a long time there, but Issy devised what she called 'a non-invasive re-programming treatment'. They seemed to think it worked, I might still enjoy the chase and stalking my prey, but I don't feel the need to kill." Then he added quietly, "I think the worse treatment I had under Issy was hearing how Alec had been treated because I went psycho, although she was only try to explain the different types of treatment. He must really hate me."

Max looked surprised, "Alec isn't big on hate or killing, but he's not bad at defending himself," she said.

"Good, I'd hate to start a new life fighting my twin although he'd have reason."

"I think at the moment he's enjoying being away from our responsibilities at TC."

"So the two of you run this new Manticore type place?" he asked.

"Yes we run it, with the help of lots of others, but it's nothing like Manticore; can't even rely on the water supply," she laughed. "We look after our own and fight for our right to life."

There was a knock on the door, Max looked surprised but shouted, "Enter."

Issy and Alec came in. "I thought you might want these," Issy said handing over some clothes for Ben.

"Since Ben's here I thought I'd take Issy for a walk in the woods," said Alec. "See if anyone else is hiding out there that might like to join the good fight in TC, be back for lunch."

"Ok, but make sure you got your coms sets, in case you need back-up," Max replied.

"Always," replied Alec touching his ear, "'Deck's got us covered in the basement." He and Issy left for their walk.

Ben watched Alec leave but something wasn't right, "Max if he's 494 where's his barcode?"

"Oh blame Issy, along with resurrecting the dead she discovered how to remove the barcode permanently, cure the serotonin deficiency and remove the heat cycle," she replied sarcastically. "When she arrived in TC one of her first actions was to sort that for Alec and restore some of his memory, he's become infatuated with her since then."

"I doubt she's caused that although she has a remarkable knack of finding the problem and then getting you to fix it."

"Why don't we go out for a walk, I could do with stretching my legs," she asked, "we can carry on talking."

"Good idea," he replied. "Not worried I'll escape over the fence then."

"I've knocked you down once, I could do it again," she challenged as they walked out of the building into the sunshine, fixing her coms link and reporting their absence to Lydecker.

"How do you feel about the nomalies now?" Max was concerned about how Ben would react to Joshua, Mole, Dix and the others in TC.

"When I expressed my fear of the nomalies and what we thought they would do, Issy suggested that I meet some when I was ready. Sort of face your worse nightmare and see what happens."

Max thought that would be barbaric until she remembered her own meeting with Joshua. "What happened?" she asked.

"She arranged for two of them to be brought to psy-ops one day. I don't know who was more terrified, one was a transhuman called Joshua and the other was a nomaly called Luke. I think they thought they were going to be punished, so Issy introduced us. Then she said many children are frightened of spiders it is only when they are older that they realise that the spider is more frightened of them, and that we were like those children. So she chaired a group discussion of our fears, by the end of three weeks we were actually telling stories to each other. Why do you ask?"

"TC isn't just X5's it's all the freaks from Manticore X5's, X6's, transhumans and nomalies," she replied. "Joshua and Luke are both there helping with the running of the place."

"When will we be going there?"

"When you're ready to face them," she replied. "They're not all as forgiving as Alec about his treatment in psy-ops."

"How many of his unit are there?" he asked, knowing how they felt.

"I think there's six now."

"Oh!" he replied nervously. "I remember their reaction when I got out of psy-ops and joined another unit, I don't think it helped that he'd been on a mission and when he came back he was back in psy-ops."

"What happened?"

"A couple of them cornered me in a security black spot and tried to take their frustrations out on me," he winced, "if it hadn't been for 511 I think they might have needed to resurrect me again. I spent a week in med bay and got sent on the mission almost immediately I got out."

"511, you mean Biggs," replied Max, "why did he protect you?"

"He said something about 494 wouldn't be happy if they ended up in solitary because of me."

"Oh!" Max replied quietly, "well you'll be meeting Biggs again; he and Mole are in charge while Alec and I are away. I'm surprised they sent you on a mission so soon."

"I'd spent three months training with Candi and Rod, but otherwise being kept away from the other X5's," he replied, "all the units knew that I was there and Manticore wanted to be sure that I wouldn't revert, I don't think they'd realised it wasn't just me they needed to watch."

"Sounds like Manticore, only thinking about the mission and treating us like we didn't have any emotions."

Seeing Alec and Issy in the distance, he asked, "what are his real feelings about me?"

"I'm not sure, but after the weird things that have happened, I think he wants me settled and doesn't want to upset any of my family, you included."

"What sort of weird things?"

"Oh, tattoos appearing on me out of the blue, meeting our creator Sandeman, fighting with an evil cult known as the Conclave, being told that we were made for each other, you know weird things like that," she rattled off quickly.

"And finding someone you killed is alive again must figure on that list," he added. Then after a pause he continued, "what do you mean made for each other?"

"Sandeman created me to save humanity, if you can believe such a thing," she smiled laconically, "and created you and Alec to be my mate, with Issy as guardian angel for us all."

"Our own Blue Lady," Ben smiled sadly, "but why didn't she tell us before we escaped?"

"For some reason she couldn't."

"So I'm supposed to do what, exactly?" he replied puzzled.

"I don't know, but whatever let's take it slow."

"I'm still a trained soldier, so what am I supposed to do at TC, I'm not really designed for Civvy Street."

"None of us were designed for Civvy Street, but we manage. We'll find something for you, Mole would probably want you on the security team and we'll need your fighting skills when we go up against this conclave."

Looking around Ben realised that Alec and Issy had disappeared, "Is it getting close to lunch?" he asked.

Max looked around and replied, "it must be, Alec's stomach can usually be relied upon for meal times and I think Issy was cooking. Shall we head back?"

"In a minute," he replied bending to kiss her, "I haven't said thank you yet."

Holding him back, she queried, "Thank me for what?"

"For killing me," he replied. She looked surprised, "If you'd just left me I'd have ended up in psy-ops when Alec was there. Issy was recalled the day they took me in, so she started trying to resurrect me and help him at the same time. By the time I was fit enough for psy-ops she'd worked out the programme of treatment and managed to argue her case. Now will you let me give you that kiss?"

Her arms relaxed as he reached down for the embrace.

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A/N: Hope you're not too disappointed. 182 reviews for the next.

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