Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any characters featured in either of the seasons.

With Ben In Between

"Alec!" Vanessa yelled with frustration. Alec just ignored her yelling and continued to pack her things. "STOP!" She tried to grab her clothes from him but ended up tripping herself instead. She landed ungracefully on the ground with a un-lady like grunt, and Alec didn't even look at her as he continued his assault on her things. "Why are you doing this?"

"I don't want to you live with you anymore, get out." He said simply as he grabbed two trash bags and tossed them out the front door of his apartment. Vanessa scrambled to try and drag them back inside.

"What!" She yelled standing right in front of him, trying to hold her ground against his towering figure. Placing her hands on her hips she set herself solid against him.

"You wanna go fuck some guy, be my guest, but I don't want you coming home to me afterwards. Now that is out of the way you can pack yourself the rest of the way out of my apartment. I'll be back in two hours, every trace of you better be destroyed or gone." With that he grabbed his jacket and keys and walked out of the apartment like he was going for a mid-day walk.

Alec walked aimlessly through the streets, just taking in everything around him. Since he had moved across the pond, he had never really seen what was around him. Sure he had seen the nightlife, but that was it. He worked on base all the time training future operatives and on the weekends he usually let exhaustion take over and let his body recuperate. Right now he was given a week leave, and the first thing he did was exterminate an infestation problem he had at his apartment. Vanessa. A buddy of his from the base had broken the news to time a few days before he was granted leave.

"Hey McDowell!" Lt. Shavers jogged up to Alec and started to run along side him on the track.

"What's up, Jas?" Alec asked once they set a mutual pace.

"You still with the Vanessa chick?"

"Yeah why? Want her?" Alec joked, not really seeing where this was going.

"Really? That's funny because lately I've been seeing her at this hotsy totsy bar with some moneybags. All over him and everything." Alec abruptly stopped and stared at the Lt. with question. "Thought you should know before you makes you a fool." Shavers offered staring at Alec. Pursing his lips and nodding his head, Alec took in a deep breath.

"Thanks, I needed to know. Now, what bar?"

That night he had followed Vanessa to the bar and sure enough she met up with some guy. Because of the lighting and angle, he wasn't able to make out who the guy was and frankly he didn't care. She cheated, that's all that mattered and frankly he was done with her. The only reason he'd want to know who the guy was to warn him and wish him luck, but he didn't feel like doing that now.

The next day he had requested leave for a week, and once it was granted he began today's activities. So here he was now, walking around deep in thought. So deep in thought he didn't see the café tables with people, nor did he see the woman walking from a table in the shade. One minute he was walking the next he was laying on his back in a puddle with a person on top of him trying to get up. "Sorry," he muttered squinting at the blinding sunlight in his eyes.

"Alec?"