Title: Today 'They' Won the War part 2
Author: Rhasa
Rating: PG-13
Category: Drama, Angst, romance (developing)
Keywords: Max and Alec
Summary: Sometimes as leader when making decisions everything isn't just
black and white. Max waits for Alec after leaving him behind.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or 'V'. No money is being made from
this.
"Still not back?" A voice called out from behind her.
"No. Not yet," she answered choosing not to turn around, but to continue to stare out into the darkness that lay just beyond the perimeter fence.
"You can't blame yourself," Kyra said coming up to stand just beside her. "You did the right thing. You can't risk it all just for one man."
"I don't know how many more of these decisions I can take," Max said softly.
Kyra nodded at her words. It had been a dark, dark, day for the inhabitants of Terminal City. The pre dawn raid which now seemed as if it had occurred a lifetime ago had cost them dearly. Seven dead, twenty-two injured and six were still on the critical list. No one had assigned blame to the blunder, but it cut into Max deeply nonetheless. These were her people. She was responsible for them. She would always be responsible for them.
Kyra watched as her leader shifted nervously from foot to foot, and her heart sank for the petite sized leader. She imagined just how worried Max was. The ambush by White and his goons this morning as they tried to get supplies for Terminal City and now only hours later having to leave Alec behind on yet another raid to secure desperately needed medical supplies to help those injured from this morning was tearing her up inside.
"You're a leader, Max. This is what a leader does."
"Yeah. I guess I missed that part in the job description."
They shared a long moment of silence before Kyra broke it.
"You know this isn't the first time I've had to pass myself off as a doctor. Some doctor," she smirked. "I worked in a . well, I don't know what to call it, really. It wasn't a clinic in any sense of the word. We had a shack, two cots made from crates and on a good day something other than half a dozen bandages and half a bottle of aspirin, to treat anything from stage one diabetes to limb amputation.
"Most of our 'patients' were itinerants. They passed through on their way south, somewhere where it was warmer on the streets at night, a little less rain than here," she gave a smirk. "Anyway, one day a woman passed through. A woman." she shook her head at the memory. "She was more like a girl. She couldn't have been older than seventeen, she looked more like fifteen, but she had three children with her, two boys and a baby girl. Small, tired, frightened little things the boys were. Hungry too, boy were they hungry. They didn't talk much. In fact I don't think I heard them talk at all. The littlest one, the baby was. was. well, she was very badly burned when they came in. Her mother had placed her too close to the fire they used to sleep around at night to keep warm. Her blanket caught fire, she was only five months old, and she had been severely burned. She didn't look human when I first saw her. She was blackened, charred, her arms grossly bent back from the tendons being burned, her body swollen beyond belief. But she was still alive, somehow.
"Surprisingly she could still feed from her mother. She cried all the time. That little thing was in so much pain. But in the end there was nothing I could do for her. She needed to be in intensive care, in hospital, with burn specialists and paediatricians, but we knew that wasn't going to happen. She was still alive and her mother looked at me and asked me to help her..." Kyra paused here. Max looked over as the other woman swallowed hard, looked up and continued. "Her mother asked me to help her daughter..." she faltered again.
"So did you help her?" Max asked already dreading her answer.
"I did," Kyra sighed. "I reached over and broke her neck. She died instantly."
Max fell silent. There was nothing she could say. No words of comfort could ever console the grief that Kyra must have felt- must still be feeling- after having to make a decision like that. It didn't make her decision of leaving Alec behind anymore bearable, but it did put things into perspective.
"He'll be okay. You'll see," Kyra's voice came out of the darkness once more.
"I wished I shared your optimism."
"This is Alec we're talking about."
"I know. That's why it hurts so much more," Max said, looking downwards.
She still couldn't forgive herself. She had never left a man behind before.
"Those supplies you got? They'll save lives."
Max looked over at the woman who was the closest thing Terminal City had to a doctor. "I know," she whispered feeling a little guilty that she was still caught up in her own grief.
The two women stood together silently, each understanding the other a little better than they had a few minutes ago. Kyra wondered what was it with women, even Manticore women, and grief. Their mutual decisions had been tactically correct and humane. A male counterpart perhaps wouldn't have questioned whether what they had done as being the right thing or not. Strategically it had made sense that Max left Alec behind while taking the already procured supplies out of the compound. She would have risked herself, the supplies and in doing so the lives of those injured back at Terminal City if she had stayed after Alec had missed the rendezvous. It may have been the right thing to do, but it still hurt.
Max had made up her mind that if Alec hadn't returned in another twenty minutes she would go back for him. Before she could turn to the woman next to her and start the debate about her intentions her sensitive hearing detected movement off into the distance. She instantly went on alert, hoping, praying it was Alec.
As a dark form ran out from a shadow, Max took off sprinting. She hit him full force, crashing into his chest, panting from the adrenaline that had caused her flight.
Alec, momentarily stunned by her reaction to his rather late return, steadied himself and put his arms around her as she hugged him tight.
"I was so worried about you," she said, her words muffled against his chest.
"I was worried about me too," he began in his usual wise crack manner before her words registered in his mind. "Wait. You were worried about me?" he asked as he pulled back a little to look into her eyes.
"I was just as worried. as I would have been. had anybody I known." she babbled back at him, hastily trying to explain herself, while being uncomfortable with revealing what she had been thinking about him.
"Maybe you were a little *more* concerned about *me*?" he ginned devilishly down at her, acutely aware that he still held her small frame in his arms and that she hadn't slugged him one - as yet.
Max's eyes smiled at him. He could see the relief there and was surprised once more. "You've got an awful high opinion of yourself, haven't you?" she teased.
"I'm beginning to get a high opinion of you too," he smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Alec felt her breath against his cheek and it sent a small spark down his spine. They were so close that he could have kissed her if he wanted. Her face was flushed, her breathing quick, her eyes were shining and he thought that he had never seen her look more beautiful.
"Welcome back," another voice called out from not too far away, breaking whatever spell had fallen over Max and Alec.
Alec looked up and Max took that as her cue to fall to his side as they began to walk further into Terminal City.
"We'd almost given up on you," Kyra said as she reached Alec and patted his shoulder. "Almost."
"It's good to be home," Alec said. "And to know that I was missed," he added as he descended the steps that led to the command centre, all the while not taking his eyes off Max who still had her arm wrapped around his waist.
The end. I think.
I would love a review or feedback Rhasa4@yahoo.com
"Still not back?" A voice called out from behind her.
"No. Not yet," she answered choosing not to turn around, but to continue to stare out into the darkness that lay just beyond the perimeter fence.
"You can't blame yourself," Kyra said coming up to stand just beside her. "You did the right thing. You can't risk it all just for one man."
"I don't know how many more of these decisions I can take," Max said softly.
Kyra nodded at her words. It had been a dark, dark, day for the inhabitants of Terminal City. The pre dawn raid which now seemed as if it had occurred a lifetime ago had cost them dearly. Seven dead, twenty-two injured and six were still on the critical list. No one had assigned blame to the blunder, but it cut into Max deeply nonetheless. These were her people. She was responsible for them. She would always be responsible for them.
Kyra watched as her leader shifted nervously from foot to foot, and her heart sank for the petite sized leader. She imagined just how worried Max was. The ambush by White and his goons this morning as they tried to get supplies for Terminal City and now only hours later having to leave Alec behind on yet another raid to secure desperately needed medical supplies to help those injured from this morning was tearing her up inside.
"You're a leader, Max. This is what a leader does."
"Yeah. I guess I missed that part in the job description."
They shared a long moment of silence before Kyra broke it.
"You know this isn't the first time I've had to pass myself off as a doctor. Some doctor," she smirked. "I worked in a . well, I don't know what to call it, really. It wasn't a clinic in any sense of the word. We had a shack, two cots made from crates and on a good day something other than half a dozen bandages and half a bottle of aspirin, to treat anything from stage one diabetes to limb amputation.
"Most of our 'patients' were itinerants. They passed through on their way south, somewhere where it was warmer on the streets at night, a little less rain than here," she gave a smirk. "Anyway, one day a woman passed through. A woman." she shook her head at the memory. "She was more like a girl. She couldn't have been older than seventeen, she looked more like fifteen, but she had three children with her, two boys and a baby girl. Small, tired, frightened little things the boys were. Hungry too, boy were they hungry. They didn't talk much. In fact I don't think I heard them talk at all. The littlest one, the baby was. was. well, she was very badly burned when they came in. Her mother had placed her too close to the fire they used to sleep around at night to keep warm. Her blanket caught fire, she was only five months old, and she had been severely burned. She didn't look human when I first saw her. She was blackened, charred, her arms grossly bent back from the tendons being burned, her body swollen beyond belief. But she was still alive, somehow.
"Surprisingly she could still feed from her mother. She cried all the time. That little thing was in so much pain. But in the end there was nothing I could do for her. She needed to be in intensive care, in hospital, with burn specialists and paediatricians, but we knew that wasn't going to happen. She was still alive and her mother looked at me and asked me to help her..." Kyra paused here. Max looked over as the other woman swallowed hard, looked up and continued. "Her mother asked me to help her daughter..." she faltered again.
"So did you help her?" Max asked already dreading her answer.
"I did," Kyra sighed. "I reached over and broke her neck. She died instantly."
Max fell silent. There was nothing she could say. No words of comfort could ever console the grief that Kyra must have felt- must still be feeling- after having to make a decision like that. It didn't make her decision of leaving Alec behind anymore bearable, but it did put things into perspective.
"He'll be okay. You'll see," Kyra's voice came out of the darkness once more.
"I wished I shared your optimism."
"This is Alec we're talking about."
"I know. That's why it hurts so much more," Max said, looking downwards.
She still couldn't forgive herself. She had never left a man behind before.
"Those supplies you got? They'll save lives."
Max looked over at the woman who was the closest thing Terminal City had to a doctor. "I know," she whispered feeling a little guilty that she was still caught up in her own grief.
The two women stood together silently, each understanding the other a little better than they had a few minutes ago. Kyra wondered what was it with women, even Manticore women, and grief. Their mutual decisions had been tactically correct and humane. A male counterpart perhaps wouldn't have questioned whether what they had done as being the right thing or not. Strategically it had made sense that Max left Alec behind while taking the already procured supplies out of the compound. She would have risked herself, the supplies and in doing so the lives of those injured back at Terminal City if she had stayed after Alec had missed the rendezvous. It may have been the right thing to do, but it still hurt.
Max had made up her mind that if Alec hadn't returned in another twenty minutes she would go back for him. Before she could turn to the woman next to her and start the debate about her intentions her sensitive hearing detected movement off into the distance. She instantly went on alert, hoping, praying it was Alec.
As a dark form ran out from a shadow, Max took off sprinting. She hit him full force, crashing into his chest, panting from the adrenaline that had caused her flight.
Alec, momentarily stunned by her reaction to his rather late return, steadied himself and put his arms around her as she hugged him tight.
"I was so worried about you," she said, her words muffled against his chest.
"I was worried about me too," he began in his usual wise crack manner before her words registered in his mind. "Wait. You were worried about me?" he asked as he pulled back a little to look into her eyes.
"I was just as worried. as I would have been. had anybody I known." she babbled back at him, hastily trying to explain herself, while being uncomfortable with revealing what she had been thinking about him.
"Maybe you were a little *more* concerned about *me*?" he ginned devilishly down at her, acutely aware that he still held her small frame in his arms and that she hadn't slugged him one - as yet.
Max's eyes smiled at him. He could see the relief there and was surprised once more. "You've got an awful high opinion of yourself, haven't you?" she teased.
"I'm beginning to get a high opinion of you too," he smiled.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Alec felt her breath against his cheek and it sent a small spark down his spine. They were so close that he could have kissed her if he wanted. Her face was flushed, her breathing quick, her eyes were shining and he thought that he had never seen her look more beautiful.
"Welcome back," another voice called out from not too far away, breaking whatever spell had fallen over Max and Alec.
Alec looked up and Max took that as her cue to fall to his side as they began to walk further into Terminal City.
"We'd almost given up on you," Kyra said as she reached Alec and patted his shoulder. "Almost."
"It's good to be home," Alec said. "And to know that I was missed," he added as he descended the steps that led to the command centre, all the while not taking his eyes off Max who still had her arm wrapped around his waist.
The end. I think.
I would love a review or feedback Rhasa4@yahoo.com