Title: Movie Magic

Summary: Max and Alec go undercover on a movie set, and things get…complicated. MA.

Spoilers: Takes place sometime after "Love Among The Runes," but before "Freak Nation."

Disclaimer: It's mine, all mine! *maniacal laugh*

A/N: This chapter, and the one that comes after it, I have to admit, are my favorites. The scenes in these chapters are what inspired this whole fic in the first place. It's great to finally be able to post them, lol! *grins*

Thanks again to my anonymous reviewer, Alec's Angel, for her wonderful comment, and to everyone else! You make posting this story a lot of fun. :D

As always, I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter, and please let me know what you think!

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Movie Magic

It was ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous, Max thought.

A transgenic was stuck in a cage, and here she was, on this stupid set, filming a movie.

She didn't really have a choice, though, and she knew it. They'd called TC when they'd gotten back to the set and filled the others in on the situation, so a team was on its way. They just had to secure some transportation first, and that was probably gonna take a couple days. If she wanted a good shot at rescuing that transhuman, she'd have to play her part as Melissa Reynolds, actress, for a little longer. But that didn't make it any easier.

Max sighed.

It went against every instinct she had to just sit back and do nothing. The transhumans had more animal DNA than the rest of the X series, sure, but under the surface, they weren't really that different. They were still family.

She felt a stab of guilt as she remembered the lizard-transhuman she'd met when White had first shown up. She'd been so close to getting him out, but he'd still died, shot down while she watched. She wasn't gonna let something like that happen this time.

They were getting this transhuman out. No matter what.

"Melissa? You with us?" a voice asked.

Max blinked.

"Yeah, sorry," she apologized, forcing herself to smile. "Long day."

Skip nodded.

"Know the feeling." He paused. "Alright, people," he called out. "Tell ya what. Melissa looks like she could use a break, and I could too. We'll take an hour for lunch, and then, we'll shoot the big smooch."

Max froze.

"The big what?" she sputtered.

Skip shrugged.

"You know, the big kiss at the end, when Megan and James declare their undying love for each other."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Skip shook his head.

"What, you didn't think all that tension was leading up to something? That many sparks, fire ain't far behind."

"But…but that's just stupid!" Max argued. "Megan doesn't love James! He's…he's an idiot! He drives her crazy!"

"Well, you know what they say. There's a fine line between love and hate, and all that." Skip turned away from her to shout at the rest of the crew as they hurried off the set. "Remember, shooting starts up again in an hour! That's an hour, people! If you're late, you're fired!"

Max walked off the set in a daze, the words "kiss" and "love" still ringing in her ears. As her apparently never-ending bad luck would have it, Alec was waiting for her.

"So, I take it you heard about our big scene?"

Max glared at him.

"You mean the scene where Megan kills James in a fit of homicidal rage?"

"Um…no, actually I was thinking about the scene before that. The one with less bloodshed and more making-out." Alec smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "Wanna rehearse?"

"Don't even think about it," Max spat. "We're faking it."

"You can't fake kissing, Max."

"Sure you can."

"How?"

"Figure it out. Touch me for real and I break every bone in your body. Got it?"

"You take the fun out of everything," he complained.

She glared harder and Alec sighed, all traces of humor slowly fading from his expression.

"Seriously, Max, we can't fake this. We do, and they're gonna know something's up. It's just a kissing scene. Real actors do that sorta thing all the time. They wouldn't make a big deal out of it."

Max opened her mouth to argue, but no sound came out.

Alec was right. Real actors wouldn't make a big deal out of it, and if they made a big deal out of it, Malone might get suspicious. If that happened, they could lose their chance to rescue the transhuman for good.

"I don't like it either, okay?" Alec added tiredly. "But we don't really have a choice here."

"Fine!" Max growled. "We'll really kiss. But if you so much as-"

Alec held up a hand, interrupting her threat.

"I get the picture, Max, don't worry. Anything more than kissing equals violent, gruesome death."

"Glad we understand each other."

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Forty minutes later, Max had gotten the script for the next scene, and she had changed her mind.

She couldn't do it.

It just wasn't gonna happen.

There was no way.

Yes, she wanted to rescue the transhuman, and yes, she didn't want to risk making Malone suspicious, but…Argh! Max yelled silently. She stalked around the inside of her trailer furiously, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. She wanted to hit something, or someone -- preferably Alec.

This was all his fault! He'd talked her into coming on this stupid mission in the first place, and Logan-

Max stopped abruptly, realization dawning.

Logan.

Before she'd realized it, she had stormed out of her trailer and straight to her "agent's." Max let the door slam closed behind her, not caring about the noise.

"Did you know about this?!" she demanded.

Logan looked up from his ever-present laptop and frowned. "About what?"

"About this!" Max repeated, practically throwing the script at him.

Logan scanned through the pages quickly.

"You mean the scene where Megan and James kiss?" he asked.

"Yes, Logan, that scene. Did. You. Know?"

Logan shrugged. "Sure."

"And you didn't think it would be a good idea to tell me that I'd have to kiss Alec?!"

"I'm sorry, Max. I just didn't think it would be a problem."

"Why-" Max caught herself just in time.

Of course Logan didn't think it would be a problem. He thought she and Alec were together.

"It's not like you and Alec have never kissed," Logan added reasonably, though Max could tell it wasn't an easy thing for him to say.

"Right," she agreed quickly, "of course we have. But…" She faltered. Then inspiration struck. "But that's different! We're not usually in front of thirty people with a camera crew recording everything!"

Logan sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly behind his glasses.

"Max, I really am sorry about this," he apologized again, "but I just honestly didn't think you'd mind."

"Well, you were wrong, I do mind, and there's no way I'm kissing Alec in front of all those people. Now, go talk to Skip, and tell him to change the scene," she demanded.

Logan hesitated.

"Max, I hate to say it, but I don't think he will."

"What? Why not?!"

Logan looked away uncomfortably.

"Well, it's kind of the biggest scene in the movie…you know, what the whole story is supposed to be leading up to."

"So? There are other ways to show that two people are in love. We could…hold hands, or hug…or something," she suggested.

Max grimaced. That sounded lame even to her. Logan's expression made it pretty clear that he thought so, too.

"I know it makes you uncomfortable," he started -- He has no idea, Max thought -- "and I can try to talk to Skip if that's what you really want."

It was. It really, absolutely was. She was about to tell Logan that too, when he continued.

"But, Max, we've only got a couple more days here, and that's one of the last scenes in the movie. Complaining about something now might draw an a lot of attention. Couldn't you and Alec just…"

He stopped, waving his hand vaguely in her direction. Max heard what he wasn't saying loud and clear. Couldn't you and Alec just kiss?

Max felt her stomach tie itself in knots.

She'd had to do uncomfortable things before to accomplish a mission, and she'd always just grit her teeth and gotten through it. Was this really any different?

She swallowed hard.

That was the thing. Somehow, it was different. She couldn't just write this off as necessary and keep going. Something wouldn't let her.

But that didn't change the facts, and the facts were that a transgenic was going to be used for a publicity stunt unless they stopped it. She and Alec had a better chance of stopping it if they weren't alone. Backup was on the way, but they needed a little more time.

Max took a deep breath, and tried to force her tense muscles to relax.

"Okay," she managed finally, proud of how steady her voice sounded. "You don't have to talk to Skip. Alec and I will play the scene out the way it's written."

Logan nodded, looking somehow relieved, uncomfortable, and sad, all at the same time.

"Any news from TC?" Max asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that followed.

"Some. Dix called while you were filming. He said they're having some trouble finding a vehicle that will work. I managed to track down a map of the area around here, though, and I think I found a route they can use. It should keep them off the main roads for the most part."

Now it was Max's turn to nod, but she felt a pang of disappointment. Not that she'd been expecting Logan to say that their backup was already here and she could skip the whole kissing scene with Alec, but…it would have been nice.

She swallowed hard again.

"Well, filming's gonna start soon. I guess I should go."

"Yeah," Logan said awkwardly.

Her mind was spinning too much for her to notice the longing look he gave her as she left.

She walked down the trailer's steps, her feet automatically carrying her towards the set.

This wasn't so bad really, she told herself.

All she had to do was kiss Alec once. (As long as they didn't want to do a second take, which she refused to even think about.) One kiss. Simple.

Only it wasn't simple.

If she were really, brutally honest with herself, there was maybe, an itty, bitty part of her was just a little curious. But, more than anything, the idea of kissing Alec terrified her.

And that was just stupid, because it was Alec. She didn't have any reason to be afraid of him. She knew he wouldn't step out of line, and she probably hadn't even needed to threaten him. He was a jerk, but not that much of a jerk. If meeting him at Manticore had proven anything, it was that he at least had some standards. Low ones maybe, but still, she'd said no to their "orders" and he'd backed off.

Besides, she'd faced down a whole lot worse without blinking. Really, the idea of kissing Alec should have just been sick, disgusting, and repulsive…but, it wasn't.

Maybe that was why it scared her so much.

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Alec paced nervously inside his trailer, one hand running through his hair, the other clenched into a fist at his side. Realizing what he was doing, Alec forced himself to stop, and growled in frustration.

He'd been at this for the last hour, and he was fed up.

This was just stupid.

It wasn't like he was proposing to Max or anything.

This wasn't a big deal.

It was just a kiss.

Not even a real kiss.

But it was a not-real kiss with Max, and that made all the difference. Things with Max were always different. Max was just…Max.

Max, who, in about five minutes, he was supposed to declare his undying love for.

Alec sighed, running his hand through his hair again.

He might as well get this over with.

Opening the door of his trailer, he stepped outside.

Show time.

TBC…

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A/N: Feel free to throw things at me now, lol. ;)

The next chapter should be up soon!

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

Ani-maniac494 :)