"Alec" she gently put a hand on his shoulder – he didn't wake up.

"Aleec!!" she shook him – nope nothing, nada.

"ALLECC!!" she yelled, dragging the covers of the bed and jumping on to sit on his thighs. She yanked him up by his shoulders but his eyes were stubbornly closed and he frowned. 'Unbelievable! Like havin' a big kid around!' she jerked his upright form back and forth to each syllable as she tried once more "AL-EC! WAKE–UP STU-PID-HEAD!"

"Whaaat?!" he groused, pulling her close with his arms and trying to rest his head on her shoulder. "Up and at 'em soldier! Forget we have a date with Dix and Josh?" she asked him, pushing him away from her and forcing his head upright again. Sulkily, he slowly opened hazel eyes to the sight of Max flashing a 100 watt smile at him. Her eyes were dancing and she was radiating with positive energy. 'Excited much Maxie?' he thought. His pouting lips couldn't help but turn upwards. He always felt a little proud of himself when he saw her happy – he just knew he'd had a hand in bringing out this side to Max.

Catching the smile appearing on his face as soon as he'd opened his eyes had confused Max and made her a little self conscious. "What?!" it was her turn to ask. Reaching up Alec rested his fingers near her mouth "It's a good look on you Maxie" he told her "Smiling" he articulated when she cocked her eyebrows at him. She blushed and squirmed a little under his gaze. He did this a lot, surprising her with his insightful observations, but she still wasn't really used to being spoken to like that. Sensing her embarrassment, Alec decided to help her out "Y'know it's almost as sexy as you when you're pissed" he joked. When her eyes shot up he saw the confidence back in them again and he laughed when she gave him the conventional slap to his shoulder.

Pulling away from him and climbing off the bed she began telling him about the phone call she'd just received from Dix. They had made all the necessary arrangements of when and where to meet and how they were going to get there. Alec nodded his head after thinking over the information and deeming it safe enough "Ok, so let's get this show on the road huh?" he walked over to his bag and pulled out the clothes he'd picked to wear today. Dark grey combats and a black t-shirt and he was all set. 'So long as it goes with my leather jacket' he told himself. He made his way to the bathroom to shower when Max cut in front of him.

"Uh-uh, it's my turn to go first today!" and she quickly shimmied into the bathroom and slammed the door shut before he could reply. He knew he was a shower hog but so what, he shrugged, she was a bath fiend - she'd spend hours soaking! His mind having finally caught up with him he called to her through the door

"Y' know, if you want things to be really fair you oughta let me join you, we could share the hot water, you can scrub my back, I'll wash your hair.." he trailed off

"Dream on Alec – you wish!" she laughed back.

Alec turned back to pack their things, ignoring the niggling voice in his mind. It had started up a while back and it kept suggesting things, like just now, it had said 'Oh but you do wish dontcha Alec?' Shaking his head clear he tried to focus on packing. The sound of the shower running broke his concentration though and he found himself imagining – wet heat, naked Maxie 'Oh man, I must really need to get laid!' He really didn't want to think like that bout Max.

Sure for a while there in Seattle, he'd wanted to just get into her pants, but now, he respected her and cared about her way too much to want to just bang her like he'd done with the chicks at Crash or Jam Pony. They were just a means of sexual gratification. He couldn't treat Max like that. 'Oh? Some kinda brother sister thing you got goin?' the voice in his head asked. 'What?! No!' he answered immediately. He just cherished the relationship they shared now and didn't want to fuck it up and lose it. 'She's, shes's… just a very close friend and I'm not romantically attracted to her' he finalised. 'Right! So how does that explain you fantasizing bout her then huh?' that annoying voice mocked disbelievingly.

The noise of the shower stopped and drew Alec out of his confusion and back to the task at hand. He busied himself whilst she remained in the bathroom 'she's probably drying off now, getting dressed' the voice needled him. Alec gritted his teeth and ignored the mental images that the words evoked. Course he wasn't helped by the fact that he had helped get her dressed for bed so he knew what her body looked like, kind of. He was grateful when she finally breezed back into the room and he hurried to grab his shower, somewhat thankful for once, that she'd left little hot water and he'd have to make do with a cold one.

A few hours and many miles later, Max had been chattering excitedly to Alec about how she couldn't wait to see Joshua again. 'Shes all Joshua this, Joshua that, big fella, little fella – uggh!' It had been almost two months since she'd last seen him and she had been terrified of letting him go without her, but he had insisted they would both be safer with their own kind. He knew Josh meant a lot to her but he'd hoped he'd taken a greater place in her heart.

"I get it Max, you're excited" Alec grumbled

"Alec?" Max glanced across at him worriedly. 'What's wrong with him?'

Alec looked out of the passenger side window glumly. His good mood from this morning had vanished – poof!

"What is it Alec?" she asked. He looked back at her when he heard the concern and fear in her voice and saw it reflected in her face. 'Great, good job Alec, now you've gone and scared her and ruined her happy mood' he cursed himself.

"I..its just…" he struggled with his conflicting emotions, "I knew that you'd be happy to see Josh again but…look, its not your fault,ok? Its mine… I just…I thought you were already happy?" he knew he wasn't making any sense and Max's look confirmed it.

"Just tell me Alec"

He had come to like that he could be honest with Max now. She didn't judge him straightaway; she'd just try to understand him. 'Maybe she can make sense of this'

"I just feel like I failed or something"

"Huh?"

"all this time, I kinda thought I was making you happy ok? But I look at you now and…I guess I haven't been a that good a friend" he said looking away dejectedly "you're all Joshua this, Joshua that, you should probably ditch me and go to ground with him" he muttered sulkily, but he was also starting to feel a little foolish.

Max cocked her head to one side as she scrutinised him in silence. He was refusing to look at her so she guessed he was feeling a little uncomfortable. 'He thinks I'm gonna leave him? Jeez, insecure much Alec?' she contemplated cheekily. But she couldn't ignore the happy warm feeling that buzzed around her heart. Sighing, she pulled to over and faced him.

"Alec, what are you saying? Are you jealous of Josh?"

"No!.." he scoffed defensively

"coz you have nothing to be jealous about" she cut him short and capturing his attention.

"I'm only gonna say this once so listen good. Yes I'm excited to see Josh and the gang again but not coz I'm unhappy, do I look miserable to you?...I feel like one of those mom's visiting her kid who's left home - I just wana be reassured that he's doing ok…" she paused to guage his reaction.. she was getting through to him. "So stop making excuses to get rid of me. You're stuck with me now you stupid ass!" she joked

As she spoke Alec realised he had been really dumb…'Note to self: jealousy leads to making a complete ass out of ones self' he berated himself. He was glad when she had turned the whole embarrassing moment around with her light hearted comment at the end and took it for the olive branch it was.

"Damn Maxie, looks like you caught on to my devious plan there…and excuse me, but I think you'll find you meant to say 'you fine piece of ass'" he retorted. Max grinned back cheekily "Yeah I guess I coulda gone with that too" and she laughed at Alec's look of surprise before peeling them away in the car.

A/N I figured I'd put a bit more interaction between the characters in this chapter. I think I overdid the insightful stuff in the earlier chapters. Hopefully, this chapter demonstrates how much their relationship has changed now and its introducing the romance aspect now! I appreciate your comments though so let me know anything I could do to improve! Thanks!