Disclaimer: I know. I don't own Dark Angel. But it's fun to think that I do :)
A/N: Some of the conversation is taken from the second season, second episode "Bag 'Em."
A/N2: I hope you like it...please R&R.
The Identity of a Soldier
Chapter Four: Same Old, Same Old
Max tapped her foot, leaning against Normal's desk. So far he hadn't looked up to see which one of the "miscreants" that he had in his employ had come to bother his morning coffee.
OC couldn't take the wait. The instant she walked through the doors behind Max at Jam Pony, she announced in a proud voice "Yo, everybody. Look who's back from the dead!"
Sketchy looked up from his seat on the benches near the lockers and was overcome with elation. He looked like the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Max! Oh, my God…You almost scarred me to death." He wrapped his arms around her in a brotherly hug. "This is a joyous turn of events." He leveled a stare at her. "Now what happened?" he expected the truth. It may not have appeared to be a very close relationship before, but everyone knew that Sketchy had lost a lot when he thought Max had died.
"Well, well, well. Look who's here." Normal finally looked up to see who had caused the chaos of greeting noise. Max turned to see her boss stepping around the partition which separated the package caging from the couriers.
Max leaned back after the hug and smiled at her friend. She knew what it did to him to lose her, she had seen what it had been like for everyone when Theo had died. "What can I say? The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated…" Max rolled her eyes. She knew what was coming next.
"You, missy miss, are not employed at this establishment any longer. Your name is mud, as far as I'm concerned. I've heard every lame excuse for missing work known to man…but faking your own death for a three month sabbatical is a new low…"
"I did not fake my own death… It was a… medical emergency." Max made it up on the spot. But it wasn't even a lie.
"Care to explicate?" Normal looked marginally irritated. She knew that he expected her to fumble for a reasonable explanation.
"A heart transplant," Max stated. It was fact. She just left out the part about being shot in the chest, through the heart, and the fact that her brother had killed himself in order to give her his heart.
"Well, that's good. But, you had better have a note from your doctor or a prescription for cyclosporine, because I'm gonna need more proof before I buy that--" Normal began spouting his usual threats to her job status, but Max thoroughly cut him off.
So he wanted proof, huh? She'd give him proof. Max didn't even hesitate. She lifted her shirt up to reveal the foot-long scar on her chest, as well as her female appendages, but it didn't seem to bother her. Sketchy leaned over trying for a better vantage angle, but OC covered his eyes.
"Well, that's a nice, big uh…scar you have there." Normal stumbled. He was just about as baffled at seeing Max's topless body as he was when she tried to jump him during her heat before she was recaptured by Manticore. Women…who could explain them?
Obviously not men. Max rolled her eyes and dropped her shirt back down. "Yeah, well enjoy it while you can, 'cause it's fading fast."
Alec paced the apartment. What was he going to do for the next six hours? There was sleep…or food… But Max would probably kill him if he ate all of her food, which is what would happen because there wasn't much in the small apartment. He could go out and get more food… No, Max had laid down the ground rules. Under no circumstances leave the apartment. Right.
But whoever said he couldn't find clothes for himself? Or that he couldn't defend himself? There were mostly Ordinaries outside anyway. Wait. What was that word? Ordinary? What did that mean? Alec's breathing increased and a headache began to throb at his temples. Rubbing them with the thumb and middle finger of his left hand he walked to the kitchen, dropping down onto one of the barstools. That was unattainable ground, his mind wouldn't let him tread in the precarious regions of memory. But there was something there, something that he was supposed to remember. Or, was it something that he needed to remember but didn't want to?
He groaned and leaned right arm against the counter, raking his left hand through his dark hair. Why was the truth so elusive? What did that sadist organization do to him to make him shrink away from the facts of his past he knew lay buried somewhere within himself.
He slumped his shoulders, dropping his forehead into his upturned palm. As his chin drove into his chest, Alec got a good whiff of himself. Man, that is disgusting. I need a shower. He scrunched up his face, standing and dropping his arms, he headed to the bathroom.
Closing the door, he stripped off his t-shirt and dropped his fatigues. Glancing at the articles in his hands, he wondered if Max had anything that would wash out blood. Pursing his lips in thought, he shrugged and tossed them on the floor in the corner. He would ask her later. Though, he preferred to have different clothes altogether, to burn the ones that seemed to wrap his mind in a hazy blackness, denying all memory from two days ago and before. He vaguely recalled a bleak existence of following the demands of someone more important, even if they made no sense.
Stepping into the shower, Alec turned on the water. Shocked at the temperature, he tried to adjust it. But it didn't change. It was probably part of the after effects of the Pulse, limited power…not enough to run a water heater. Shucks, guess I'll have to make do. He let the water run over his tense back. If it was warm water, the tension would have slowly ebbed away with the pounding droplets, but no deal. Cracking his neck, adjusting to the temperature of the water, Alec glanced at the numerous soaps that lined the wall. Women are strange. Alec popped the top up on one bottle and breathed in the comforting scent that had adorned Max's bed where he slept early that morning. But they smell good. He put the bottle down and reached for a regular bar of soap.
When Alec finished showering, he turned off the less than satisfactory water and quickly dried himself. Pulling on his boxers, he considered what to wear… Hmmm. Nothing. There was no way he was going to put on his crusted-blood covered clothes. Boxers would be fine. For now.
But he had another problem. What was he going to do now? He thought over his options again. Sleep sounded like a good idea, so he went back into Max's room. Once again curling up under her sheets, he drifted into a dreamless sleep. Thank God for Max's smell.
Max's pager beeped. She glanced at the number on her way out the door with her next run. Crap, it's Logan. Since the ordeal with the virus, she had come to dread his pages. This was the first one she had gotten from him since she got back, and she just prayed he would keep it to business. She couldn't handle the personal stuff at this point.
She called out to Normal as she walked back to the dispatch desk, "Can I use your phone?" Without waiting for a response, she picked up the receiver and dialed Logan's number.
Normal glanced at her before calling out another run. "It's like she never left."
The phone rang once then he picked up. She tried to sound casual. "Me hitting you back. What's up?"
"Alec?" Max stepped through the door of the apartment, half expecting the male transgenic to be doing push-ups in the middle of the floor. When she didn't get a response, she glanced around. Then she went to her room. Sure enough, there he was sound asleep in her bed, though shirtless. "Alec." Max said a little louder, standing in the doorway. He kicked off the blankets and sat up straight, as if expecting his CO to be standing over him for inspection.
Finally recognizing who was there, Alec waved a sleepy hello. "You're back early." His voice was raspy from the few hours of sleep. It didn't even seem to bother him that he was only in his boxers and she stood mere feet from him.
Max took a few breaths, staring at the floor. He was a lot more appealing in only his boxers, sitting up groggily in her bed, than he had been at Manticore with his we've-got-our-orders routine. She looked up, with her heart-rate finally having resumed its normal rhythm, and tossed his new clothes at him. "Put these on. We gotta be somewhere." She turned around to wait in the living room.
"Where do we have to be?" Alec asked her from within the room, pulling on the clothes. Max was true to her word. She had found some suitable clothes for him and brought them, just like she said she would in her note.
"I got a call from a friend of mine. Logan said that there was some signal in the sky. I went and looked at this amateur video he had of it. The signal is from Manticore. It's telling everyone to regroup, rendezvous at a certain set of coordinates." Alec came into the room pulling on a black leather jacket. His olive-green cargo pants hung loosely over his black boots, black t-shirt draping over the waistband. "I have this sneaky suspicion it's only to lure them out of hiding for extermination."
"No doubt about that." Alec shuddered. "Manticore is the devil." He may not remember much, but at least he knew that.
"I want to go check it out, stop it if possible." Since Max was dragging him along with her, she thought it would be a good idea to keep him apprised of the situation.
Max led the way out to her motorcycle. "Try not to fall asleep this time. I might need your help." She straddled the machine, once again with Alec behind her, arms wrapped around her waist.
A/N: I will update as soon as i get three reviews, and when i finish the next part
Review Responses:
J.D5: I'm glad that you liked the feral part…I agree, it is one of the better parts of season 2. I like it so much that I try to put it into all of my fic ideas, somehow…I don't really give myself enough space to do it in my one-shots, but in the others that I'm planning it is definitely a fixed part… As far as sticking to the script outline, some basic aspects I will stick to, but others are bound to change. Thanks for keeping up with the reviewing. More to the story will come, eventually.
Angel of Darkness231: I'm glad that you like it. I'm trying so hard to keep my own angle on the story… that will be interesting as I follow parts of the plot-line from season 2.
calistra: Thanks. I hope you do keep reading, and that you continue to like how it goes.
Alana84: I know. It's awful to do that to Alec, but for sake of the story, I had to. I hope to get at least this and another update in before school, but I make no promises… Thanks for continuing to review, it really helps!
HoneyX5-452: (for the review of chapter one) Well, that's the first that I've heard of the idea being used before. I've read a fic where Max can't remember who she is, but not Alec…so it's original to me…I didn't get the idea from anyone or anywhere but my mind… But, I'm glad you like it.
candyabble: Thanks, and I'm glad you like it :)
