Out Of Breath
Chapter Four
'How the hell am I gonna get myself through this?' Max mused, leaning heavily on the bathroom sink she stared at the reflection in the mirror as if willing the answers to be written there, scribbled across the pale face, etched into the naked skin of shaking shoulders. The brown eyes staring back at her held no such answers though, just a deep uncertainty reflecting the doubt she held in her heart, and she looked away, turning she stepped into the shower, the lukewarm water drenching her hair and body, soothing her aching muscles. Placing both hands infront of her on the cool tiling she rested, swallowing the fear and hopelessness that the seizures always brought, and in turn hating herself for feeling that way. Fighting with all her waning strength to keep the trembling at bay there was no room for thoughts of TC, of the people she was supposed to be leading, no room for the idea that White was still out there, waiting. There was only white hot pain bouncing down her spine, and a need to keep herself away from everyone, out of sight and alone so that no one could see the vulnerability, no one could guess that she was helpless in this.
Feeling the tremors start to gain strength once again she whimpered into the water splashing her face, and the liquid pain coursing through her body took over...
Alec heard the whirring of Logan's exoskeleton even before the man had reached Max's apartment door. Grimacing, Alec stood and moved to put the milk back in the tiny bar fridge type thing Max had scrounged from the wreckage of TC, his thoughts running over the possibility of how easy it would be to sabotage the annoying whirring thing, and mentally cursing himself for not having done it sooner, he turned to the sound of the door closing and Logan's footsteps on the concrete floor. 'Mole would have been up for it', he grinned to himself. His head quirked to the side a little as he heard Logan's footsteps pause, and then head for Max's bedroom and for a second rage flashed in Ales green orbs, and he fought to push down the twinge of jealousy.
"In here Logan" He called, and Logan turned and came back toward the kitchen.
"Alec?"
Alec rolled his eyes at the surprised and suspicious tone and huffed, crossing his arms he leaned back, resting against the bench. "Didn't you get the memo? Max and I are in the middle of a meeting at the moment" Alec began as the older man entered the room, not able to help himself he raised his eyebrow and smirked, knowing full well that Logan had just seen the state of Max's bed.
"Where is Max?" Logan quickly asked, forcible ignoring the cocky X5s insinuation, not even wanting to go there now.
'this day just keeps getting better and better' Alec sang in his head, resisting the urge to laugh out loud as he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, "In the shower" lazing back against the bench he indicated towards the bathroom where the sound of running water could be heard, not missing the tightening of Logan's jaw, or the pained look in his eye, like Alec had just hit him with a sledgehammer. Tight lipped Logan stepped forward and slapped a file down on the bench top infront of him.
"Max might want to have a look at this, concerns an old friend of ours, apparently they snapped him outside....."
Resisting the urge to shuffle, and already becoming bored with the cyberjournalist and his info Alec straightened, opening his mouth to cut Logan off and hopefully send him on his way, he was about to speak when there was a crash from the bathroom, the sound of breaking glass loud enough for both men to hear.
Alec reached to bathroom door two second later, his heart racing he pushed the locked door open, swearing softly as he saw Max, curled in a shaking ball on the floor, her naked back towards him and glass shards from the shower door all around her. Hearing Logan's exoskeleton nearly reach the door way he quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her small frame and gently reached out to smooth the hair out of her face. "Maxie?" He asked, noticing her tightly closed eyes and set jaw he realized she wasn't unconscious but still to far away to respond.
"Oh my god, Max!" Logan gasped, coming to a stop in the doorway. "What happened? What's going on?" he demanded. Not directly answering, Alec instead reached up, grabbing the empty tryptophan bottle off the sink he tossed at Logan, the older man catching it and staring down at the label in confusion.
"It's been so long since she's had one" Logan murmured, more to himself that anyone else, "We thought they had stopped altogether"
Leaning down Alec tenderly cupped Max's cheek, his thumb stroking her skin soothingly. "Im going to pick you up. Ready?" he asked and though her eyes remained shut and her face was still tense and closed she managed a small nod and he lifted her up, standing he turned to face Logan who was staring silently at Max, a shaking bundle in his arms.
"Logan buddy, I think you'd better just wait in the kitchen" Alec stated more than asked, but he received no answer from him, Logan still staring at Max, seemed not to have heard, and remained firmly at the doorway. Alec huffed impatiently. "Logan"
"Huh? Yeah... right" Logan answered, snapping out of it he stepped back, though his gaze still worriedly remained on Max, and he followed them closely down the hall. Alec frowned, annoyed when he heard Logan go to follow them into the bedroom and finding the door with his foot he kicked it shut, smirking as Logan's footsteps stopped abruptly on the other side. Max groaned as Alec gently laid her down on the bed once again, her eyes fluttered open, unfocused and pained "Ben, Im so sorry" she whimpered, and Alec reached out, his thumb creasing the frown lines on her forehead,
"It's me Alec..." He murmured, and that seemed to stir her out of her flashbacks, recognition sliding over her face, watching as Alec inspected the cuts along her arm and leg from crashing through the glass, swearing softly to himself as he gently removed a glass shard and flicked it across the room. Noticing that Max had started trying to arrange the towel so that it covered more of her seizing body Alec grinned, and tilted his head, as though deep in thought,
"You know, that seriously wasn't the way I pictured me first seeing you naked "He quipped, looking down at her. Hearing her whispered "Asshole" he feigned hurt,
"Now Maxie, just stating a fact is all" he said, and Max rolled her eyes and relief washed over him. Max was joking with him, she was still there. "You keep your First Aid in the bathroom?" was his next question, his voice taking on a serious note once again she nodded and he stood up leaving her to get comfortable.
"Where tha hell is my boo?" No sooner had Alec left the bathroom, supplies in hand, Original Cindy's high worried voice rang through the apartment and Alec entered the kitchen to find a distressed OC facing off with Logan.
"Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say that we are in the middle of a meeting? Is that such a hard concept for people to grasp?" He asked, both Logan and OC turning towards him as he entered the room.
"Alec, whats going on? Wheres Max?" OC asked him, taking one look at both men left her with no doubt that something had happened.
"She's having a seizure" Alec answered and OC paused looking confused,
"She used to get them all the time, damn things were a bitch but she got over them" she offered.
"How long has it been going on for?" Logan asked, speaking for the first time since seeing Max
"All morning" Alec sighed, running a hand through his hair he looked between the two, suddenly he felt very tired. "Not sure exactly when it started, but she was acting weird at the meeting earlier this morning then she disappeared and Joshua and I found her unconscious a couple of hours ago" he explained "She's been awake on and off since then, she kept telling me it would go away after a while, but it hasn't yet" looking down at the temporarily forgotten bandaging he motioned to the bedroom "gotta go clean a couple of cuts" he said, but before he could turn OC stepped towards him, taking the bandages out of his hands she looked up at him.
"If there's one thing Cindy learned from living with my girl, it was doing a good bandage" she said and nodding he let her take them from him, watching as she moved off towards the bedroom.
The two men left behind looked at each other, the silence ticking over. "Looks pretty bad" Logan offered, watching as the X5 moved over to the bench, taking a stool.
"Arnt they usually?" Alec asked slumping forward, his head resting in his hands
'No" Logan shook his head, and Alec looked up sharply. "She came to me once before, when they were bad, she couldn't get any tryptophan and the seizures got the better of her" he mused, his eyes clouded by memories
"She's had tryptophan, she down nearly half a bottle, plus milk" Alec said, frowning.
'And it's not having any effect?" Logan asked, seeing Alec's silent 'no' Logan sighed, slumping into another stool at the bench. Both men remained quiet, each musing the implications.
Quickly Alec ran his hand through his hair again, "Therefore this needs to be stopped" he said flatly and Logan nodded soberly.
A/N – Okay Firstly I know this chapter was another 'oh my gosh max is sick' slow type thing but it's the last one like that, the next will move quicker and will definitely be sorting out the problem, trust me ( Secondly I know that it seems that Alec and Logan aren't taking up the matter with urgency like they normally would but I've tried this different ways and I just don't see them reacting that way. Max has had seizures before and gotten through them, she has repeatedly told Alec that she is okay, it is only when they collaborate their experience with her and her seizures that its realized that something is different, something is wrong so yea... that's how I see it....
Oh and I hope ive explained the question about Alec not knowing what Max's seizures where straight away, and how he saw them when he was a kid, if not then feel free to yell at me and ill do my best to fix it :P