Break

Show: Dark Angel

Rating: M

Status: WIP

Genre: Drama/Romance

Pairing: M/A

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from anything, nor anything else

Summary: Even super-soldiers have limits. Max unknowingly pushes Alec to breaking point. The newly appointed leader of the Freaks finds he has some unexpected emotional issues to deal with. A story that came to me whilst listening to 'Passive' by A Perfect Circle. Please let me know what you think.

I wrote this chapter listening to the soundtrack to 'Requiem for a Dream' but I don't think it has come out that dark.

Chapter 4: About a Boy...

She sat pushing her food around her plate, she either had no appetite or was too preoccupied to bring herself to eat. Logan tried to keep as silent as possible in the hope that he would dissuade her from pursuing her current line of discussion much further.

"What am I supposed to do now? its not like he's left me with a choice. And it just seems so unfair, I mean I'm the one that nearly died. He's just so urh, unreasonable." She growled clearly frustrated. Logan sighed as he began to lose his own appetite. It seemed so painfully obvious to him what was going on and yet she had no idea which just seemed to make it worse. He had often been of a jealous complexion when it came to her relationship with Alec, so it was possible that his deductions were somewhat biased and unfounded but that didn't make him feel any better.

"... and you know what else?" she continued.

"No, but I bet you're going to tell me." Logan sighed gruffly, making Max pause mid thought. "because I just love hearing about Alec." He continued more bitterly than he had intended.

"What?"

"You've never stopped complaining about him. Before it was about how he was no good, how many stupid things he had done, and how he irritated you with his endless yapping. Now that he's stopped, I have to listen to you complain about his lack of yapping which seems to drive you even crazier." Max was stunned and said nothing. It was true that Alec had been on her mind lately but that was understandable. Their roles had completely reversed. She was now in the dog house while he held the moral high ground. She had hoped that after everything they had been through together they were at least good friends. She couldn't deny that he had always had her back but now it seemed he had decided he'd had enough of their situation, or worse, that he'd had enough of her. She was hurt, so yeah, these recent events had been at the forefront of her concerns. In past he was making a nuisance of himself so often it was hard not to have something to say about it. So why was Logan all bent out of shape about it? usually he couldn't wait to jump on the anti-Alec band wagon. "I thought you'd be happy once he stopped talking?" He continued.

Max looked down as if ashamed "So did I ... but not like this." Logan tried to keep his feelings in check, very aware that he was becoming irrational. He looked up at Max who sat across the table, staring off into the air. He tried to tell himself she is just missing the companionship of a friend but it seemed so hard for him not to picture the situation otherwise. It was too much like a boy pulling a girls hair in the playground because its the only way he knows how to get her attention; because its the only way he knows how to show he likes her.

"I wonder if you talk about me this much when I'm not around?" Logan thought out loud.

"What do you mean? I don't complain about you." Max frowned

"I thought that maybe this was the one thing I had over him, but now I think I envy him this too."

"What are you talking about?" Logan looked at Max hard for a long moment.

"I just wish I was on your mind as much as Alec seems to be." Logan looked back down at his food and grudgingly shovelled a spoon full into his mouth. Max didn't appreciate feeling under attack again. It seemed ever since she'd woken up she couldn't do anything right and all she got were stern words and angry looks. Enough was enough.

"On my mind?! I've been cut off! I'm out of the loop on everything. I've nothing to do and no one is talking to me. I can't help because he's in charge and he wont let me! he hates me! Which makes a huge difference to my life! So excuse me if it crops up every now and then." Max growled sticking her fork murderously into a piece of chicken.

"He doesn't hate you." Logan said lowly.

"Oh yeah, right, he's clearly my number one fan." Max glared at Logan waiting for his interpretation, or just another excuse to rant and relieve her own frustration. Logan became uncomfortable with the way the conversation was progressing.

"You know what, lets not talk about this, lets just ... just talk about something else."

But they didn't.

They sat in silence: one ignoring the silence determined to seethe; the other afraid that there wasn't really anything left to talk about between them.

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"Hey baby boo, how's tricks?" Alec looked up to see OC leaning against the door frame almost silhouetted by the setting sun.

"Hey," he smiled lightly "You off already."

"'fraid so." Cindy wandered in looking over the weapons Alec was cleaning. All it's separate components were laid out neatly on an oily blue cloth. She often wondered why any of them took so long with their weapon maintenance when they could assemble and disassemble them in the blink of an eye.

"Don't worry about Normal, I've already sweetened him up for you." Alec said returning to his chore.

"I knew you would," She smiled "You're well trained." Still standing someway behind him she looked him over carefully before opening her arms and stepping forward. "Come 'ere."

Alec looked round at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Original Cindy needs a hug and you look like the man for the job." Alec's lips twitched with the ghost of the smirk he was so well known for. He rolled his eyes and got up as if it were a real chore and walked over to give her a hug. Cindy hugged him tightly perturbed by the absolute tension in every fibre of his body. Alec tried to fight it but it was good to be held by a friend who cared.

Maybe she wasn't the only one who needed it.

His muscular tension eased a bit making OC smile at her accomplishment no matter how small it was.

"Thank you," She whispered, Alec tensed again and moved slightly away. Cindy looked him in the eye, "I'm not saying it for her, I'm saying it for me. Thank you for saving her." Alec's eyes flickered with something and his brow quivered for a moment but he said nothing. "You did good."

Alec looked away as he disengaged from her. He battled with himself for sometime in silence, unsure whether to ask or not. Cindy could see the lines of stress on his face and the twitching of the muscles in his jaw. "How is...?" he began when Cindy cut him off.

"She's fine." Alec nodded once still not looking at her, "She misses you."

Alec's face cracked and he released a short burst of laughter that was soon followed by another, and another until he couldn't contain himself. His laughter wasn't hard, it was breathy but continuous and uncontrolled. Cindy watched him concerned as he doubled over. Of all the Transgenics she had met Alec had always been the most unpredictable, but at least she felt she could read him. Right now he was walking around like the eye of the storm, standing in it you couldn't be sure when it would end and when the world might turn grey once again.

"What's the joke?"

"No joke." Alec said his laughter dying down, "But its better than crying, isn't it?"

"You losin' it Boo." At that Alec stilled. He looked at her with hard eyes as if staring right through her. Slowly he started to walk towards her.

"Why? does that scare you?"

Cindy stood her ground "No."

Alec stopped in front of her as if testing the truth of her words. Then he smiled "Well it scares the shit out of me. Come on, I'll walk you out."

A/N: ok, well I'm not sure what I think of it but hopefully you do, so please review and I promise to write more. thanks!