Chapter 4

Alec looked away from Max's intense stare. "Ava, where's Shane?"

"It's not her fault, she told me to stay put, I was just in the hall but Gwen stole my toy and I went after her. Shane only left for a second to get some food." Ava explained.

Alec nodded; he couldn't get mad at her when she looked at him with her big brown eyes so innocently. "It's ok but you shouldn't be out here alone talking to strangers."

"It's ok, she's Manticore too." Ava happily told her father. Since the escape she never saw anyone of her kind except Alec and Shane. But there was something more about the woman watching them, she knew it.

"Why don't you go inside and wait for Shane then give her a hard time for me, ok?" Alec said lowering her to the ground.

"Ok." Ava said running off.

Alec looked at the woman before him, unsure how he was going to handle the situation. "So Maxie what brings you by?" he placed his hands in his pocket.

Max slowly walked around him and moved the collar of his jacket. "I knew it. Since when do X-5's have kids?"

"I do love this question game we play but I'm skipping it today so you answer me first."

Max sighed. "I was on a run and saw her getting ready to pound on a kid twice her size. You don't look surprised to know I'm X-5, why didn't you tell me?" she tightly asked. She was glad to know her instincts were right but also very pissed off. She didn't quite understand why yet.

"Why would I? Wanna start a little club?"

He wasn't helping her mood, Max felt anger surge though her body, all control she had slowly slipping. "You knew what I was before we met; I saw it in your eyes. The question is how and why? Where you looking for me or is all of this a freaky play of events?" her arms were tight around her chest, her mouth in a line as she waited for what smart ass comment he came up with next.

Alec diverted his attention. "Shane, nice of you to join us. Peach is upstairs, keep her there."

"I thought her name was Ava." Max said when they were alone again.

"It is, Peach is a nickname. Her cheeks turn red a lot, she looks like a peach." Alec absently explained as he focused on the apartment building unable to look at her again.

"She's your biological kid?"

"Yeah." Alec softly said. "It's not safe to talk out here, come inside." He led the way, once inside he shut the door. "The other girl is Shane, she's X-6." He explained so she'd know they could talk freely.

Max's mind began to race, Ava was too old to be born after Manticore and she had a barcode, so she knew the little girl was born there. She had been unaware Manticore was involved in a breeding program using their own instead of mixing DNA like the way she was made.

Alec sat down at the kitchen table and noticed her intense look, she was trying to figure it all out he realized. "It's only her, there was no unit. There isn't three year old transgenics running around town. Ava was an experiment, Manticore went down before they could continue and try again with others."

Max sat down at the table as well. "What kind of experiment?"

Alec was silent for a moment before making his choice on what he should and shouldn't say. "They had plans to take the two most perfect strains of DNA and create a child that would be better then anything they created before. It worked, she has no junk DNA, she doesn't get sick, her brain is more developed now then the average forty year old."

He sighed heavily before continuing. "I was in good with the guards; I wandered around at night freely. One night I went to the lower levels and found a little girl crying. We talked and she told me why she was made and what they were doing to her. The next night I broke into Renfro's office and found Ava's file. It listed the samples used to create her. X-5 494 was listed as the father, that's me. They look my sperm, the other X-5's embryo and implanted it into a surrogate."

Max was silent, she knew Manticore was sick but the things she learned today were just painful. She wouldn't allow herself to think of what they could've been doing to Ava.

Just as she thought of the little girl's innocent eyes, she joined them in the kitchen climbing on Alec's lap.

"Are you going to tell her?" Ava softly asked looking at her father.

"Tell her what Peach?"

"I saw her barcode, she's 452."

Alec felt his chest tighten as he looked into her hopeful eyes. She knew what it meant but refrained from saying more leaving the choice in his hands. Alec knew how bad she wanted to know her mother. "Yeah I'll tell her, why don't you give us a few minutes alone."

Max watched as the little girl walked away, there was a sense of familiarity to her. Max's mind drifted back to the night of the fire, how Renfro spoke of her DNA before she died. She snapped out of the memory and looked sharply at Alec. "Tell me what?"

Alec looked in her eyes; it wasn't the way he planned on telling her. He wanted more time but Ava knew the truth and saw her, he couldn't break his little girl's heart. "I did come here looking for you. I found out you worked at Jam Pony, Ava wanted me to stop fighting so I decided I'd use the job as a cover while I decided how to go about telling you or when. Ava knows her mother's destination from the files, it's you. That's what she wanted me to tell you."

Max felt all the air escape her lunges. "No, it can't be….they wouldn't---"

Alec left the table and came back less then a minute later. He laid the pieces of paper in front of her as he sat down. "You've seen her eyes Max, they're yours."

As the strong emotions rushed to her eyes, she picked up the paper which had the Manticore header. There it was in black and white, Ava's file, her parents' facts, destinations, and notes about the testing done on all of them. Testing she didn't remember. She looked up at Alec and fought to keep the tears inside.

"I never pegged you for the speechless type." Alec said trying to make light on the intense air around them. He sighed and gave up. "You don't have to decide anything now. She's safe and doesn't expect---"

"Is she happy?" Max blurted. "Or does she feel Manticore was easier then this world, made more sense or something?"

"We were going to escape anyway. You just made it easier. Thanks by the way." Alec said with a grin, he couldn't handle the serious atmosphere between them.

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't let my kid be raised the same way we were or worse. I had to get her out and spending so much time away on missions I knew I could handle it. Raising her, being out in the world and away from Manticore." Alec explained.

"That explains it. All the missions, why I never saw you around all that time."

"I found out about Ava a week before the fire. Before that I was on a long term mission. Like the proof states, I was the best male they had. Once I was ready I spent more time on missions then back at base."

Max scoffed. "You don't have to be so cocky about it." she grabbed a hold of all her running emotions and stashed them away for later. "About Ava---"

"Like I was trying to say before, if you want to be involved in her life I won't stand in your way. But if you don't or you need time she'll understand."

"No it's---" When she looked at him it dawned on her, she had a child with this man she didn't even know. Their DNA created the beautiful girl in the other room. "I want to get to know her."

-

Isabelle A.