Rating: PG

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairing: M/A

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Dark Angel and I have no money so suing me would be pointless.

Summary: You can't control what you hear; you can only pretend its not being said. How will Max cope when something becomes too real to ignore? M/A (as if I'd write anything else)

A/N: Thanks to Jaimo, lyra, Alana84, darkangel494, Sarah, AngelKougaeri, HoneyX5-452, elmo, manema, lakergirl08, lori89, Jes, wildsky, Ro, kim, chance32, messymissy, kungfuchick, Synthera, and meri24. You have given me confidence to continue with this idea. So here it is chapter two I hope you like it.

Truths:Chapter2

When morning did come it was the most unwelcome thing to Max second only to the man brewing coffee in the next room. Grudgingly she got up and dressed mourning the loss of what could have been a perfect full night's sleep but was in the end only about an hour and a half. She stalked in the next room hoping her obvious bad mood would deter her flatmate from engaging her in any kind of conversation. But knowing Alec that was almost certainly too much to ask.

"Good morning, you'll be glad to hear that the sun is shining, well as much as it can through this smog, and there's a nice smell of burning rubber floating through the air ..."

"Alec!" Max interrupted her irritation evident "Just shut up will you." Alec looked her over properly, she did not look good.

"Wow, usually a good night's sleep does a person a world of good but if it has this affect on you Max I think you should leave it well alone." Max glared at him from across the room.

"I didn't have a good night's sleep and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" she hadn't meant to say that last part but it was the truth. If it hadn't been for him and his feelings she would have slept like a baby. Alec looked at her incredulously.

"Huh! Now this I have to hear," He laughed mirthlessly "How exactly is it my fault? I wasn't even here." Then a grin began to spread across his face and it was almost as if she could see the cogs turn. "Or are you trying to tell me something Max? You know if you wanted a bed buddy all you had to do was ask." He finished wiggling his eyebrows at her. An image of Alec in her bed popped uninvited into her head. The fire in Max's eyes flared and she clenched her fists at her sides enraged.

"God Alec shut up! For once in your sorry excuse for an existence would it kill you to just say nothing! And I would rather drink my own puke than even hear you and bed buddy in the same sentence. Now give me my coffee and get out of my way!" Max snatched up her mug, which appropriately had the word stressed and a frazzled looking stick man on it, and stormed out of the apartment slamming the door behind her.

"Wow." Alec sighed looking at the door long after she'd left, "Tell her? Yeah I'll tell her, over my dead body."

Max tried to calm herself as she walked across to Head Quarters startled by her own bubbling rage. She couldn't work out why finding out about his feelings for her was getting her so wound up. Maybe it was because she couldn't understand why he would. She was terrible to him, he'd admitted as much to Biggs last night, but none of that was because she didn't like him, it was because she did like him. Max frowned at her own logic, it made no rational sense what so ever. But that's what they say about feelings and emotions, they are totally irrational. For Manticore, irrationality meant mistakes and so they tried to beat all emotions out of their soldiers. Even on the outside Zack had warned her about 'phoney sentimentality.'

Last night she tried not to think about it. She tired not to think about whether or not he would confess his feelings to her. She tried not to think about why that was so scary. She tried not to think about what he meant to her. She tried to assure herself that nothing had changed, that it made no difference to her. She loved Logan, Alec didn't even factor into that equation. So then why did it feel like everything had changed? Max didn't understand and was reacting in the only way she knew how; with anger.

She'd been angrier at herself than at him this morning but he had presented her with the opportunity to vent and she didn't think she just took it. She found herself wondering again how he could possibly be in love with her when he enjoyed torturing her so much. It almost as if he wanted her to be always angry with him ... a dog that likes to be kicked?

She inhaled the bitter sweet aroma of her coffee and sighed. She was just beginning to convince herself that he was a no good, smart-alec, pain in the ass, but he had to ruin it by making a damn good cup of coffee didn't he. Max growled in frustration, why was he just so impossible to hate?

"Hey Max." Biggs greeted her as she walked in to HQ "You sleep ok?"

"No." Max said quietly in warning and walked past him. Biggs looked at her confused and waited but she didn't look like she was going to ask.

"Don't you want to know how the heist went last night?" Biggs called stopping her just outside her office. She turned on him sharply. She always asked for a brief, a mission report but seeing as she already knew this one had been a success she hadn't thought to. Of course he didn't know that and she wasn't about to tell him. She sighed and smiled apologetically at him.

"Sorry, haven't had the coffee yet." she threw out as an explanation "How did it go?" Biggs walked across to her fishing out a list from the pocket of his combats.

"We got everything and then some." He said proudly indicating the extras listed on the back. "It's already down at the med centre being sorted." Max nodded.

"Good job."

"Well it was mainly Alec's handy work." Biggs confessed. Max looked at him searchingly wondering whether his confession had anything to do with his conversation with Alec last night. Was he trying to sweeten her image of Alec? Then she had remembered that Alec had almost forgotten the tranquillizers, a minor slip up, but right now she really needed not to like him. Max frowned, why was a good, caring, reliable Alec such an unwanted thing at that moment?

"You don't have to cover for him you know." Max said shaking her head as she walked into her office. Biggs just stared after her in confusion; he had not seen that one back firing at all.

Max had been holed up in her office all morning keeping to herself as much as possible. All that most of the transgenics in Headquarters saw of her was a brief glimpse as she appeared only for a moment through the window in her door as she paced up and down the length of her office. It wasn't until the afternoon that Alec joined them. He glanced up at the door as he stepped up behind Biggs who was sitting with his feet up, cleaning bike parts.

"Hey," Alec said tossing his friend a drink can. Biggs caught it with out even looking but he did look up when he noticed the brown paper bag Alec was carrying out of the corner of his eye. Biggs smirked.

"What did you do now?"

"I didn't do anything." Alec replied almost automatically.

"Well you brought a gift, so you must be making up for something."

"Like I said I didn't do anything." Alec growled lifting the bag out of reach of Biggs' inquisitive hands.

"So what, you're making up for things haven't done now? You're so whipped."

"Shut up." Alec strode off towards Max's office making sure to knock Biggs over the head with his bag as he passed, but Biggs just laughed. I hope I never fall in love he mused shaking his head.

Alec jogged up the steps to her office not bothering to knock, not that he ever did so why start now. He pushed the door open and leaned across the opening watching her. She was staring out of the window, her focus not on anything in particular, with a crumpled bunch of papers in her hand. The serene look on her face was deceptive, offset by the obvious tension in her body and the way she was unconsciously crumpling her paperwork.

"Max?" She didn't move, either she hadn't heard him or she was studiously ignoring him. "Max." Alec began to cross the room towards her beginning to feel concerned at her general lack of response. She looked like a porcelain doll a light in the rays of the afternoon sun. "Max." Alec reached out to touch her making her jump nearly three feet in the air.

"God Alec! d-don't do that." she stumbled over her words as she stumbled slightly away from him.

"You okay?" Watching the wary look in her eyes.

"Fine, I was just ... and where have you been all day?" Max huffed quickly changing the subject, more than a little embarrassed at having been caught unawares.

"Around," Alec said off handedly not letting her get away that easily. "What's on your mind?" Max looked at him trying to keep a neutral face. Trust him to notice when something was bothering her. Not that she was exactly being discrete about it. When she still hadn't said anything Alec continued. "You know you don't have to be here."

"I'm just tired." Alec wanted to believe her. She had been working hard and if she really hadn't got much sleep last night she had every reason to be tired. And yet his mind kept going back to all those times she gave Logan the same tired excuse when she didn't want to deal with him or whatever emotional trauma she had had that week. It was clear, however that she wasn't about to talk to him about it. Hurtful as it was to think that she was still keeping him at arms length, he had to respect that. "I need sleep but it's not like I'm going to be able to get any even if I tried, so why waste my time." Max mumbled bitterly. Alec sighed but quickly replaced his concerned features with a smirk.

"If you want me to really ware you out Max..."He winked mischievously at Max's tired glare.

"You're unbelievable."

"No, I'm just insatiable." Max rolled her eyes and Alec chuckled lightly, "Here." He said sliding the brown paper bag in his hands on to the desk in front of her. Max eyed it suspiciously.

"What's that?"

"I just picked it up on my way over. It's not for whatever you think I did this morning, I'm not apologising or trying to pay you off because I'm innocent and you know it ... But that doesn't mean I'm above calling a truce." Alec looked her over carefully "so ... truce?" He looked so damned adorable at that moment that Max couldn't help but crack into a smile if only a small one.

"Whatever, just get out of here." Alec beamed as he sauntered out, his goal had been achieved. Max watched him go before she pulled the bag open to have a look inside. She pulled each item out individually. There was a carton of milk, a sandwich and ... a bottle of sleeping pills.

A/N: Please review, please. They get my creative juices flowing. xxx