Title: Today 'They' Won the Battle part 6
Author: Rhasa
Rating: PG-13
Category: Drama
Keywords: Max and Alec developing relationship.
Summary: Alec receives some shocking news.
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money being made. No infringement intended
although some fun is. Feedback: Gee, what can I say? I'm a feedback junkie.
Make my day Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Today 'They' won the Battle Part 6 By Rhasa
Max knew it had been too good to be true.
"I thought you said you could trust him."
"I did. Well, at least Alec said I could trust him. He's dealt with the guy a few times before, mostly as a tryptophan supplier, with no problems. It was supposed to be a sure thing."
"So what went wrong?"
"I don't know. He was just a no show. At first I thought he may have been picked up by the sector police, they've just been looking for black market operatives, hoping to nail them for dealin' with us. But then I heard that a shipment similar to ours was being off loaded at the docks to the Korean gang. Word has it, they had quite a street war with the Seattle Mafia two nights ago. Two dozen or more casualties. 'Guess they needed a few bandages," he said sarcastically. "They could probably offer him double what we were offering. I think we've been screwed."
"Screwed is right."
"Kyra's all bent out of shape about it. She caught me coming back in. I had to tell her, Max. I swear she was just about ready to faint when she heard the word."
"She's doing it tough."
"Yeah, I know." "We need those medical supples, damn it. More than anyone else does. Go pay our friendly dealer a little visit. See if you can't 'persuade' him to come up with another shipment - at a discounted rate of course - for, you know, 'customer inconvenience'. If that doesn't work, we may have to pay the Koreans a little visit."
Luke nodded and turned to leave
"Oh and if you see Alec, tell him I want to have a word," Max growled.
Max waited until after dark but still no sign of Alec. He was supposed to have reported back, after his latest census taking exercise, more than six hours ago. His apparent disappearing act, for no one had seen him since earlier that morning, had done nothing to quell Max's anger. She couldn't afford to have problems with their black market suppliers at the moment. Alec was a big part of keeping that side of things running smoothly.
Max had allowed her anger to build inside of her for most of the day. The demands and frustrations of running a place like terminal City seemed to be getting to her yet again. Try as she might to remind herself that there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for Alec's black marketeer to stiff them, she couldn't help but feel somehow that it was all Alec's fault. She knew Alec was an easy target for her bad moods; she knew that of late he had come through for her more times than he had screwed up, but none of that mattered as she trudged down to Oak Street looking for him after dark, in hope of giving him a piece of her mind.
It didn't take her long to track him down to a rather dilapidated looking house in the bustling X5 district. There was much talk around just what Max and the others in charge were hoping to achieve by collecting all the information Alec had been asking for; many keen to give Max their opinion as she wandered the streets. Some were sceptical that a census could prove to be very useful, others were glad to see some sense of real organisation was getting underway. After nearly an hour of fielding comments and questions, Max was finally pointed to the house where Alec was seen entering hours before.
"Alec?" she called tentatively as she stepped through the front door.
"Max," he whispered, in a surprised tone.
"Just where the hell have you been all day? You were supposed to check in, oh, seven hours ago. What the hell have you-"
"Will you keep it down!" He whispered again.
"No. I will not keep it down!" She yelled louder. "I was beginning to get-"
"Just be quiet okay!" "No it's not okay. Luke went out for the medical supplies. It seems the contact you set him up with was a no show-"
"Max!"
"What?" she barked, as she watched him move silently back towards a door that obviously led to the bedroom and crane his head in that direction, as if listening hard for something.
Max felt her anger return to her full force. If he had a girl sleeping back there she was going to give it to him full force.
"You've got someone sleeping back there haven't you?" she sneered.
"Ah, yeah," he admitted. "You could say that. But-"
"And this is why you haven't come back, why you haven't checked in."
"Max, I can explain-"
"Your first duty is to. to. hell, I don't know what we should call ourselves. Your first duty is to the committee."
"The committee?"
"Yeah. That's what I'm calling us for now. The committee. Me, Kyra, Luke, Dix, Mole hell even Travis. All of us who are trying to work together to run this place. The committee. Your duty is to us-"
"Max, you've got it all wrong-"
"You don't see the rest of us slackin' off. We don't take personal time. We don't have time to take personal time, let alone time to come down to Oak Street and-"
"It's not what you think," he said, his voice growing louder.
"Oh right. Next you're gonna say 'she meant nothing to you'!"
"Well she did mean nothing to me, but it's still not what you think-"
"I thought I could trust you, Alec," Max hissed.
"You can trust me."
"I need to be able to count on you, I need for you to be where you say you're going to be-" "Max, you can count on me, I will be wherever you want me to be. Look at me," he said, gently gripping her upper arms and turning her to face him. He took a deep breath and was glad that at long last she wasn't interrupting him. Maybe now he would get a chance to explain.
"I have a small problem," he sighed, while he looked deep into her eyes. "I came down, and was doing the census, but then I met this girl, her name is Mary. Anyway-"
It wasn't Max who interrupted him this time, but the small cries of the boy he now knew of as 'Jed' coming from a back bedroom. He dropped his head and sighed. Just his luck. Jed hadn't woken when Max had been bellowing minutes before, but now it seemed the quiet was the thing that had unsettled him.
"That's a baby back there," Max said in confusion.
"Yeah," he sighed again. "Hang on."
Max watched as Alec went towards the sound of the infant, noticing that his shoulders slumped as he turned away from her. He returned just a few seconds later carrying a small bundle over his shoulder patting the baby's back in a strong, yet soothing rhythm.
Max couldn't help it. The sight before her was too bizarre. A small smile broke out across her face as she watched Alec sooth the baby's cries using sounds, pats and soft words.
"You're a natural," she said as the baby seemed to settle.
"Oh God, that is *so* the wrong thing to say to me right now."
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Max said keenly interested in this latest development, her anger seemingly forgotten.
"A boy. Jed."
"So what.. are you babysitting or something?" She asked craning her neck to get a better look at Alec's small charge.
"Something like that, I think."
"You think?"
"Well I thought I was, but now I'm starting to think something else is going on here."
"What do you mean? Can I hold him?" she asked the two questions in the same breath.
Alec silently told himself that he would never quite understand what is was about women and babies.
"Um, yeah. Here," he said as he carefully passed the bundle to Max.
She was the one who was a natural, he thought to himself, as he watched her cradle the baby in her arms and start a soothing sway. He was actually enjoying the sight before him, before Max suddenly stopped and quietly gasped. She looked up at him and then back to the baby, dashing whatever hope Alec had of there being no truth in the claim that Mary had made to him earlier. It was undeniable. Max could see the resemblance just as he had.
"Alec."
"Yeah?"
"His eyes. They're..they're-"
"My eyes."
Max looked at him a look of confusion and concern crossing her face.
"I was trying to tell you," he began. "I came down here to do the census. I met a girl. She calls herself Mary. She looked so familiar, you know? Anyway, she starts answering my census questions and then bam! She drops this little bombshell on me. She says that he's mine."
"Yours?"
"Yeah."
"Yours, how?"
"Mine, as in, she-was-my-breeding-partner, mine."
"Your breeding partner?" Max asked, practically choking on the words.
"That's what she said," he sighed, as his shoulders drooped under an imaginary weight.
Max stood still, trying hard to absorb everything Alec was telling her. "I don't know what to say," she whispered, after a few moments.
"That makes two of us."
"Where is she now?" Max asked.
"She's gone, Max. She left. She said something about getting some formula for the baby. But that was like five hours ago. I think... I think she's abandoned him."
Max looked up into Alec's eyes. "You don't know that."
"No. But that's what my gut is telling me. It was the way she was looking at me. At him. It was the way she left. She asked if I would look after him while she went and got formula. She said, she wouldn't be long. I told her that I didn't know, but she said, "you *are* his father," and I couldn't refuse. I said I would look after him for a while and then she." he faltered, looing down at the ground.
"What?" Max prodded.
"She.. She said goodbye to him."
"So? She's his mother. What did you expect her to say?"
"No. Max, you don't understand. It was the way she said it. It was the way she looked at him. It was the way she left. It was like she was going..forever."
Max looked down into the eyes of baby Jed; the infant's green and gold orbs both reassuring and disturbing at the same time.
A child.
Alec's child.
"So what do we do now?" Alec asked, tentatively, glad that Max was here to share his little "problem".
"We wait."
"We wait? Max, didn't you hear what I just said? I think he's been abandoned."
"I heard you, but... well, I'm not convinced. A mother doesn't just abandon her baby. Not if she can help it," she said, sadness tinging her words. "We'll wait. You'll see. Mary, his mother, she'll come back."
"Max-" Alec began, intending to argue with her to see reason.
"This is her child. She's his mother. We'll wait. She'll come back," she said.
TBC Only if enough people ask.
Author's Note: Okay so those of you who know me, then you know that I only write for feedback. That is, if I don't get enough feedback or requests I will shamelessly abandon a story. Which is pretty much what I did with this series until I received some very nice words from a few individuals saying they "had to know what happened". This is for you guys.
Feedback greatly appreciated at Rhasa4@yahoo.com or just push that review button.
Also for those of you who know me, then you know how scathing I am of 'babyfics'. I hate them. Loathe them and haven't read a good DA 'baby fic' yet (there's a challenge to all you writers out there. Write a 'believable' babyfic. Is there such a thing? And if anyone knows of a good one that I haven't read, tell me about it).
So let me put your minds to rest. THIS IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE A BABYFIC. The introduction of Jed is just a means to an ends - sorry Jed.
And yes the plot thickens.
Lastly, those of you who know me also know that I take requests. Quite a few of your suggestions I write into my stories. Mind you, there a quite a few of your suggestions that never make it into my stories. It just depends on what I have going on at any one time. Nevertheless, I am eager to please, so if you have something you desperately want to see, you could always try me and I will see what I can do.
No promises though
Until next time.. Maybe..
Rhasa
Today 'They' won the Battle Part 6 By Rhasa
Max knew it had been too good to be true.
"I thought you said you could trust him."
"I did. Well, at least Alec said I could trust him. He's dealt with the guy a few times before, mostly as a tryptophan supplier, with no problems. It was supposed to be a sure thing."
"So what went wrong?"
"I don't know. He was just a no show. At first I thought he may have been picked up by the sector police, they've just been looking for black market operatives, hoping to nail them for dealin' with us. But then I heard that a shipment similar to ours was being off loaded at the docks to the Korean gang. Word has it, they had quite a street war with the Seattle Mafia two nights ago. Two dozen or more casualties. 'Guess they needed a few bandages," he said sarcastically. "They could probably offer him double what we were offering. I think we've been screwed."
"Screwed is right."
"Kyra's all bent out of shape about it. She caught me coming back in. I had to tell her, Max. I swear she was just about ready to faint when she heard the word."
"She's doing it tough."
"Yeah, I know." "We need those medical supples, damn it. More than anyone else does. Go pay our friendly dealer a little visit. See if you can't 'persuade' him to come up with another shipment - at a discounted rate of course - for, you know, 'customer inconvenience'. If that doesn't work, we may have to pay the Koreans a little visit."
Luke nodded and turned to leave
"Oh and if you see Alec, tell him I want to have a word," Max growled.
Max waited until after dark but still no sign of Alec. He was supposed to have reported back, after his latest census taking exercise, more than six hours ago. His apparent disappearing act, for no one had seen him since earlier that morning, had done nothing to quell Max's anger. She couldn't afford to have problems with their black market suppliers at the moment. Alec was a big part of keeping that side of things running smoothly.
Max had allowed her anger to build inside of her for most of the day. The demands and frustrations of running a place like terminal City seemed to be getting to her yet again. Try as she might to remind herself that there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for Alec's black marketeer to stiff them, she couldn't help but feel somehow that it was all Alec's fault. She knew Alec was an easy target for her bad moods; she knew that of late he had come through for her more times than he had screwed up, but none of that mattered as she trudged down to Oak Street looking for him after dark, in hope of giving him a piece of her mind.
It didn't take her long to track him down to a rather dilapidated looking house in the bustling X5 district. There was much talk around just what Max and the others in charge were hoping to achieve by collecting all the information Alec had been asking for; many keen to give Max their opinion as she wandered the streets. Some were sceptical that a census could prove to be very useful, others were glad to see some sense of real organisation was getting underway. After nearly an hour of fielding comments and questions, Max was finally pointed to the house where Alec was seen entering hours before.
"Alec?" she called tentatively as she stepped through the front door.
"Max," he whispered, in a surprised tone.
"Just where the hell have you been all day? You were supposed to check in, oh, seven hours ago. What the hell have you-"
"Will you keep it down!" He whispered again.
"No. I will not keep it down!" She yelled louder. "I was beginning to get-"
"Just be quiet okay!" "No it's not okay. Luke went out for the medical supplies. It seems the contact you set him up with was a no show-"
"Max!"
"What?" she barked, as she watched him move silently back towards a door that obviously led to the bedroom and crane his head in that direction, as if listening hard for something.
Max felt her anger return to her full force. If he had a girl sleeping back there she was going to give it to him full force.
"You've got someone sleeping back there haven't you?" she sneered.
"Ah, yeah," he admitted. "You could say that. But-"
"And this is why you haven't come back, why you haven't checked in."
"Max, I can explain-"
"Your first duty is to. to. hell, I don't know what we should call ourselves. Your first duty is to the committee."
"The committee?"
"Yeah. That's what I'm calling us for now. The committee. Me, Kyra, Luke, Dix, Mole hell even Travis. All of us who are trying to work together to run this place. The committee. Your duty is to us-"
"Max, you've got it all wrong-"
"You don't see the rest of us slackin' off. We don't take personal time. We don't have time to take personal time, let alone time to come down to Oak Street and-"
"It's not what you think," he said, his voice growing louder.
"Oh right. Next you're gonna say 'she meant nothing to you'!"
"Well she did mean nothing to me, but it's still not what you think-"
"I thought I could trust you, Alec," Max hissed.
"You can trust me."
"I need to be able to count on you, I need for you to be where you say you're going to be-" "Max, you can count on me, I will be wherever you want me to be. Look at me," he said, gently gripping her upper arms and turning her to face him. He took a deep breath and was glad that at long last she wasn't interrupting him. Maybe now he would get a chance to explain.
"I have a small problem," he sighed, while he looked deep into her eyes. "I came down, and was doing the census, but then I met this girl, her name is Mary. Anyway-"
It wasn't Max who interrupted him this time, but the small cries of the boy he now knew of as 'Jed' coming from a back bedroom. He dropped his head and sighed. Just his luck. Jed hadn't woken when Max had been bellowing minutes before, but now it seemed the quiet was the thing that had unsettled him.
"That's a baby back there," Max said in confusion.
"Yeah," he sighed again. "Hang on."
Max watched as Alec went towards the sound of the infant, noticing that his shoulders slumped as he turned away from her. He returned just a few seconds later carrying a small bundle over his shoulder patting the baby's back in a strong, yet soothing rhythm.
Max couldn't help it. The sight before her was too bizarre. A small smile broke out across her face as she watched Alec sooth the baby's cries using sounds, pats and soft words.
"You're a natural," she said as the baby seemed to settle.
"Oh God, that is *so* the wrong thing to say to me right now."
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Max said keenly interested in this latest development, her anger seemingly forgotten.
"A boy. Jed."
"So what.. are you babysitting or something?" She asked craning her neck to get a better look at Alec's small charge.
"Something like that, I think."
"You think?"
"Well I thought I was, but now I'm starting to think something else is going on here."
"What do you mean? Can I hold him?" she asked the two questions in the same breath.
Alec silently told himself that he would never quite understand what is was about women and babies.
"Um, yeah. Here," he said as he carefully passed the bundle to Max.
She was the one who was a natural, he thought to himself, as he watched her cradle the baby in her arms and start a soothing sway. He was actually enjoying the sight before him, before Max suddenly stopped and quietly gasped. She looked up at him and then back to the baby, dashing whatever hope Alec had of there being no truth in the claim that Mary had made to him earlier. It was undeniable. Max could see the resemblance just as he had.
"Alec."
"Yeah?"
"His eyes. They're..they're-"
"My eyes."
Max looked at him a look of confusion and concern crossing her face.
"I was trying to tell you," he began. "I came down here to do the census. I met a girl. She calls herself Mary. She looked so familiar, you know? Anyway, she starts answering my census questions and then bam! She drops this little bombshell on me. She says that he's mine."
"Yours?"
"Yeah."
"Yours, how?"
"Mine, as in, she-was-my-breeding-partner, mine."
"Your breeding partner?" Max asked, practically choking on the words.
"That's what she said," he sighed, as his shoulders drooped under an imaginary weight.
Max stood still, trying hard to absorb everything Alec was telling her. "I don't know what to say," she whispered, after a few moments.
"That makes two of us."
"Where is she now?" Max asked.
"She's gone, Max. She left. She said something about getting some formula for the baby. But that was like five hours ago. I think... I think she's abandoned him."
Max looked up into Alec's eyes. "You don't know that."
"No. But that's what my gut is telling me. It was the way she was looking at me. At him. It was the way she left. She asked if I would look after him while she went and got formula. She said, she wouldn't be long. I told her that I didn't know, but she said, "you *are* his father," and I couldn't refuse. I said I would look after him for a while and then she." he faltered, looing down at the ground.
"What?" Max prodded.
"She.. She said goodbye to him."
"So? She's his mother. What did you expect her to say?"
"No. Max, you don't understand. It was the way she said it. It was the way she looked at him. It was the way she left. It was like she was going..forever."
Max looked down into the eyes of baby Jed; the infant's green and gold orbs both reassuring and disturbing at the same time.
A child.
Alec's child.
"So what do we do now?" Alec asked, tentatively, glad that Max was here to share his little "problem".
"We wait."
"We wait? Max, didn't you hear what I just said? I think he's been abandoned."
"I heard you, but... well, I'm not convinced. A mother doesn't just abandon her baby. Not if she can help it," she said, sadness tinging her words. "We'll wait. You'll see. Mary, his mother, she'll come back."
"Max-" Alec began, intending to argue with her to see reason.
"This is her child. She's his mother. We'll wait. She'll come back," she said.
TBC Only if enough people ask.
Author's Note: Okay so those of you who know me, then you know that I only write for feedback. That is, if I don't get enough feedback or requests I will shamelessly abandon a story. Which is pretty much what I did with this series until I received some very nice words from a few individuals saying they "had to know what happened". This is for you guys.
Feedback greatly appreciated at Rhasa4@yahoo.com or just push that review button.
Also for those of you who know me, then you know how scathing I am of 'babyfics'. I hate them. Loathe them and haven't read a good DA 'baby fic' yet (there's a challenge to all you writers out there. Write a 'believable' babyfic. Is there such a thing? And if anyone knows of a good one that I haven't read, tell me about it).
So let me put your minds to rest. THIS IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE A BABYFIC. The introduction of Jed is just a means to an ends - sorry Jed.
And yes the plot thickens.
Lastly, those of you who know me also know that I take requests. Quite a few of your suggestions I write into my stories. Mind you, there a quite a few of your suggestions that never make it into my stories. It just depends on what I have going on at any one time. Nevertheless, I am eager to please, so if you have something you desperately want to see, you could always try me and I will see what I can do.
No promises though
Until next time.. Maybe..
Rhasa