"Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

–Robert Heinlein-

"Max,"

Max turned around swiftly, surprised she hadn't heard Alec come up behind her. Sometimes, it really disconcerted her how he seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Alec knew that and took advantage of it, often making sure he was always down wind from her when he wanted to surprise her—to prevent her transgenic senses from picking up his scent and presence.

"What did you do now, Alec?" she asked, staring back at the horizon. The view from the Space Needle was spectacular as always. The sun was just setting, painting the skies a bright fiery orange.

"Nice view," he commented softly, talking more about the woman than the sunset. Max was stunning. She had dark brown that fell down her back like a silken waterfall, a figure of sleek muscles and gorgeous womanly curves, an expressive face with deep dark doe eyes, lush lips that had an inclination towards pouting, and a pert nose he wanted to flick a finger on (but wouldn't if he valued that finger). Putting a lid on his useless overly sappy thoughts, he stalked closer to where she was, careful not to slip. Six hundred feet, give or take, was a long way down.

She glanced at him sideways. "Didn't answer my question."

He shrugged. "I didn't do anything. Why am I always the bad guy, anyway?" Yeah, why was he always the bad guy in Max's eyes?

She snorted, such an unladylike, Max-like, thing to do. "Because you are." she replied flippantly. She didn't notice the slight flinch on his face. "And I've saved your screw-up ass more times than I even care to count." she pointed out.

Okay, maybe she was right on some respects. But acknowledging his love for Max sure made things she said hurt a lot worse than they normally did. His best defense had been to pretend indifference—and he had lost that when Joshua so pointedly spelled out his feelings for him. But he could always act. "Aw, c'mon, Maxie, you know you live for the next time you have to dig a bullet out of my body—just so you can see me without my shirt on."

"In your dreams, Pretty Boy."

Yeah, actually, they were. But he kept that to himself. "Oh, I'm sure you know all about that." he bantered. She just rolled her eyes at him. "Like you would ever be in my dreams." she drawled right back.

"Sure, Maxie. Deny it all you want, but you know you want me."

It was always at this point that she got angry with him. She crossed her arms on her chest and frowned ferociously at him. "Whatever!" she denied hotly. "You can be so deluded sometimes, Alec."

He raised his arms in mock surrender. "Hey, a guy can wish, can't he?"

She just shook her head and continued to scowl at him. "What are you doing up here, anyway?"

It was now or never. Okay, maybe later. First things first. "Can we go somewhere you couldn't accidentally throw me off of?"

Her eyes narrowed in warning. "That bad?"

He swallowed. Damn. This was a hundred times harder than he had originally thought. "Can we get down first? I promise it's nothing bad."

"No." That was Max. Contrary to the point of absurdity. Oh, how he loved it.

"Aren't you even scared that I might accidentally, or not, throw you off this thing?" he asked, a smirk on his handsome face.

Max seemed thoughtful for a second, and there was a slight lift to her lips, a small smile that tugged at his heart (what was all this love sap talking?). "Actually, no." she replied.

"You're that sure of yourself?"

This time, she really smiled at him. It almost blinded him. Max barely ever smiled at him. She smiled at everyone but him. "I'm sure you wouldn't throw me off."

He raised both his eyebrows at her, slightly surprised. Was his Manticore training slipping already? Was he really that open of a book? "Right. Of course not. But you'd as soon kick me off this thing without a second thought."

She shrugged. "Yup."

"Ow, Maxie, that hurts." He laid a hand over his heart and pretended to keel over. "It really does. You wouldn't really do that now, would you?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Care to put that theory to the test?"

"Actually, I'd care to be on solid ground just about now."

"We could arrange that," she grinned, and he just knew she was thinking something devilishly funny (to herself). No doubt, tossing his ass the six hundred feet down to the bottom. But it didn't matter, he knew that was where his heart was headed.

"I'm serious, Max. We need to talk." He said in an uncharacteristically quiet tone.

She raised her eyebrows at that. Max was no fool. She nodded, and made her way back into what used to be a restaurant atop this structure before the Pulse hit.

When they were back down on the ground, he turned to face her squarely. Now or never. Now or never. Now or never. He would never really be able to live with himself if he kept this a secret he knew that. He couldn't stand to really see Max miserable. He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. Max's brown eyes were searching his. A concerned frown on her face. "Alec, what's the matter?"

He took a deep breath. "I found the cure." he mumbled.

There was a pause that made him wonder if she had heard him at all. He didn't think he could bear to repeat it. But then her fist landed on his face, sending him sprawling on the ground. Oh, she heard him all right. "Ow! What the HELL was that?" he whined. It had been so unexpected that he hadn't even had a second to react.

"How dare you make fun of me like that, Alec. That's just low." She seethed, her eyes flashing, her face flushed.

Alec stood up, and straightened himself out. "I wasn't kidding with you. I've had it for a couple of days."

A kick to his gut landed him on his ass again. "Now what was THAT for?"

"A couple of DAYS?" she screamed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Alec honestly couldn't answer that. What could he say? Because it was breaking my heart? Not likely. Not ever. "I'm telling you now, aren't I?" he said grudgingly. Maybe Max was gonna kill him before he died of a broken heart.

He looked at Max warily, wondering if she was gonna strike again. But what he saw made his heart constrict. She suddenly looked like a little girl, uncertain, unsure, scared. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. I found a doctor from Manticore through my…side jobs…and he guarantees it. Says he was the one who worked with Renfro on this type of viruses. With enough incentive and…persuasion, I managed to get him to do it."

She peered down at him, through slightly hooded eyes. "Why are you doing this for me?"

Because I love you. He shrugged, appearing nonchalant when he was anything but. "I figured I owed you. For being such a screw up all the time, and all," he paused, not sure whether to say anything else. "And I wanted you to be happy." he sighed. There. He'd said it. It was the closest thing to a revelation she would ever get out of him. He looked apprehensively at her.

He wasn't prepared for what happened next. No punches, no kicks, but tears. Tears were streaming down her face, and for the life of him Alec had no idea whatsoever just what he had done wrong. "Hey, Maxie? I hope those are tears of joy…aren't they?"

She seemed all choked up. "I…I don't know." And then she ran away.

Alec was left standing in the alley, confused, heartbroken, and…dazed, like he'd just taken a ride on a tornado. She hadn't even taken the package from him. Women. I'll never figure them out. Especially this one.