A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this fic :) I really appreciate all of your reviews. Now without further ado what you've been waiting for.
Chapter 2
Alec was sleeping soundly when something woke him. He tried to remember what it was but his mind was foggy. Slowing his breathing, he listened for any strange noises but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Feeling the urge to go to the washroom he got up slowly. Without bothering to open his eyes, he confidently walked away from his bed, scratching his butt. He headed towards the door and walked into a wall instead.
"Ow" he mumbled in a daze touching his sore forehead. Where the hell did that wall come from? he frowned.
He tiredly opened his eyes and felt around in his disorientation. Finding the door, he walked through it and headed to the right, towards his washroom. Walking through the door, he looked around the room in confusion. He didn't really need light to see thanks to his night vision but something was out of place. Noticing the room was completely different from what it usually looked like, he took a step forward and stubbed his toe on the side of something hard. "OW! Jeez," he hissed and grabbed his foot.
Suddenly a lamp turned on and his vision refocused. He was looking at O.C. He did a double take and looked around the room in bewilderment. "Cindy?" he asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing in my washroom?" He glanced at everything with fascination. "And…" he paused unsure of himself and asked uneasily, "where is my washroom?"
O.C. blinked and yawned. "Boo, y'okay?" A noise had startled her out of her sleep. She blinked again at the silly questions she was being bombarded with and retorted jadedly, "you're not making any sense. I think you must have been sleepwalking," she surmised. "Go back to bed." Without waiting for an answer she turned off the light.
Alec still puzzled about what was going on figured she was right. I need to get back to bed. I'm dreaminghe shook his head of O.C.? He gave his head another shake and walked back to bed. Hugging his pillow, he buried his face in it. He could have sworn his pillow smelled just like Max. Yep I'm definitely dreaming he smiled and tried to go back to sleep.
Trying being the key word, he tossed and turned for a good hour and finally gave up because his body was extremely alert. He never felt such a strange awareness. It was like his body refused to sleep. He cracked open one eye and glanced around the room. The other eye popped open as he noticed the layout of the room. He finally realized where he was and sat square in bed. iThis is Max's room. What the hell am I doing here? I must have drunk more than I thought./i Only that didn't make sense. With his incredible metabolism it just wasn't physically possible for him to get inebriated.
He had gone back to Crash's his 'hot date' still waiting for him. He had gently let her down when she offered to go back home with him and then spent the rest of the evening drinking with Sketch and the rest of the gang playing pool. He had only been talking to her because she came on to him. He never actually expected her to wait for him.
His night eventually led to him being extremely tired and he went home to bed. At least he thought he had gone home to bed. "What's going on?" he asked out loud. Drugged maybe? he thought, and blinked trying to remember. Then a fresh memory came to mind. He remembered sitting in front of Logan drinking wine. "Logan?" He touched his lips in thought. He could still taste the wine.
He still felt an incredible urge to pee. Getting up out of bed, this time he was careful not to hit anything since he now remembered the layout of the room and headed to the washroom.
Turning on the light, he pulled down the front of his boxers and his entire body froze with dread. "OH MY GOD!" he yelled before he could stop himself. His heartbeat started racing with impending doom. Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god. He opened the door and in a panicked state ran out of the washroom, smack into O.C.
His butt hit the floor and he looked at her in shock. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked with horror. "My" he looked down with fear. "My," he looked up again and swallowed. "Oh god O.C. something terrible happened. "My," he started again his throat constricted around the lump of fear in his throat. "It's gone," he finally croaked, his voice losing its strength.
"Boo you trippin'" she said as she gave her best friend a hand, "y'okay?"
"NO!" he shouted more forcefully than he meant to, startling her. "I mean, yes!" he shook his head in denial and she frowned, confused.
"I mean," he tried to correct himself and looked down with a whimper. "I don't know," he whined. He got up and ran back to the bathroom and slammed the door. Cindy jumped from the loud clack and raised her eyebrows quizzically.
Alec paced the small room and abruptly stopped. He wanted to look again but the horrific thought that he had involuntarily lost his most precious body part kept creeping in his mind. I'm being punished. That's it. I promise I'll be a good boyhe pleaded. He took a deep breath and braced himself. He looked down and dark hair trailed over his shoulders to the front of his chest. He forgot all about looking and cautiously touched the hair and gasped. That's when he noticed his breasts. He turned and finally looked in the mirror.
O.C. was tiredly starting a pot of coffee since she figured Max would probably need to talk in the state of panic she was in. Out of the blue she heard a long shrill scream, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It emanated from the washroom almost making her jump out of her skin. She rushed to the door, "MAX?" There was no answer and she tried again, "Max answer me!
Alec looked into a pair of brown eyes and saw the soft full lips he would recognize anywhere. He touched his face with disbelief. "This isn't happening," his voice was just above a whisper. He looked down again and for the first time realized he was wearing a tight black tank top and skimpy underwear. "Ohh noooo" he slowly moaned at his scanty attire. Closing his eyes, he sighed deeply and tried to erase everything from his memory.
He looked back into the mirror and her face was still staring back at him. "Oh no," he croaked, "please no." He didn't know who he was pleading with…God maybe? But he better answer him and fast. "This is a joke," he told the face staring back at him, only she wasn't laughing. For a minute everything around him seemed absolutely unreal. He touched her face and it was as real as it looked and he let out another anxious whimper. He heard Cindy's knocking but ignored her.
O.C. was now pounding on the door "Max!" She heard Max mumble to herself and then everything went deathly still. Unexpectedly the door quickly opened. Max stumbled out and ran to her bedroom in a huff, "not now O.C."
She heard her rummage through her drawers and a disconcerting laugh erupted, "figured this would be the only way I'd ever get this close to her underwear." In bewilderment Cindy walked into Max's room and crossed her arms.
Max tugged on a pair of jeans, then her socks and started rambling again, "where do I find a damn sweater around here?"
To say Cindy was worried was an understatement. Max was suddenly talking about herself in the third person. She looked back towards the phone in the living room thinking she should call someone…Alec maybe?
She opened her mouth to say something and Max shouted, "YES!" She looked at Cindy with a mad glint in her eyes. She appeared as if every bit of sanity had left her and then slipped the blue hooded sweater over her head. Brown eyes took another fervent look at O.C. and shone. Running past her, she rushed to the door and slipped her running shoes on. Taking one last swift look in Cindy's direction, she opened the door and ran out.
O.C. wasn't surprised by Max's night prowls but this had to be the weirdest display she ever saw. Max's lack of sleep finally made her snap. Shrugging her shoulders, she looked back to the table where the coffee waited and decided to just go back to sleep. Maybe things would make more sense once she was more rested.
Max hadn't slept this well and this much in a long time. Rolling around, she hugged the pillow and nuzzled in its soft, plush texture. She just couldn't seem to stop sleeping. In the back of her mind she was vaguely aware of Alec's scent surrounding her. She was too tired to care and in her dazed mind was actually soothed by it. She closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.
The bed moved and she cracked open an eye, waiting. There was no other movement and she closed it. There it was again, the nudge. She didn't even bother turning around it was probably Cindy. She threw one of the pillows at her. To think, Cindy had the gall to disturb her precious sleep. It just felt so good to finally be able to get some shut eye. "Go away," she mumbled.
"Oh, I'd love to," she heard a familiar voice say. "Let's just say I live here and you're in MY bed."
Frowning she opened her eyes and looked at the foot of the bed. She rubbed the sleep from them and looked back again. "Sam?" she asked sleepily.
There was a choked laugh and Sam walked around the side of the bed approaching her. "Priceless," she said zealously.
This was all too weird and scary. Alec rushed over to his apartment thinking once he got there everything would be okay, but boy was he wrong. He walked in to find himself there, comfortably sleeping in his own bed. Everything right with the picture but that tingling sensation of alarm along his body telling him everything was so wrong.
"Max?" she heard Sam ask slowly, a tinge of hope in her voice.
Max got up on her elbows and answered her slowly, "yeah." She opened her eyes wider, trying to clear the sleep from them. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be in Canada?" And there was that laugh again, it was more a mad cackle.
"Oh this is so not good," she heard Sam whisper in what sounded like a panicked voice.
"Get up!" Sam kicked the bed and Max sat up quickly. "What the hell is wrong with you and…?" She dropped the question and finally looked around the room. "What am I doing in Alec's room? She looked askance at Sam whose lips tugged into a grin.
"This is great, just great." She saw Sam pass her hand through her long mane getting her fingers tangled in her own hair. "Oh, how do you put up with this?!" she said shrilly finally managing to untangle her fingers. Stopping in her tracks, she looked back at her.
"I don't even know where to start." Sam grabbed her head, "I'm going insane," her voice kept rising. Her hands shot up to the ceiling and came back down to slap her thighs in exasperation. "I've been reduced to living the rest of my life in torture," she said sharply and pointed down to her body "this" she waved dramatically "is torture."
Max almost laughed at Sam's display of insanity but confusion stopped her. "Wait, what do you mean you don't know where to start? It's simple Sam. What are you doing here and how did I end up in Alec's bed. She looked down at the rumpled blankets and jumped out of bed as if burned. Why did I sleep here? I'm not in heat.
"Will you stop calling me that?!" Sam yelled out. "It's annoying." She nervously began to play with her hands, all the while pacing near the foot of the bed.
Max visibly shook her head and looked back at Sam. Slowly the slight smell of pheromones infiltrated her brain and she felt her body tingle in reaction.
Alec watched his own body rise out of his bed and actually examined himself with a grin. Damn I look good. He was shirtless and every muscle rippled with his movements. Slowly as if in a dream her body started to feel warmer. He could smell the testosterone and a strange sensation filled him. Then his brain did a 360. I'm checking myself out, oh god could this get any worse? he laughed madly and shook his head, I've lost it.
Max was trying to understand this new sensation. Finally out of annoyance she pushed Sam out of the way and walked out of the room. She spotted the washroom and walked into it. The last thing she remembered was having dinner with Logan they had another argument and then she had felt so tired, she headed home to bed. Or did she end up at Crash? She also remembered a good time complete with glimpses of a blonde woman trying to come on to her. iBlonde woman?i She looked in the mirror.
Alec grinned from ear to ear as he watched himself walk into the washroom, any minute now.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" his deep voice roared from the bathroom. At her reaction, he laughed with madness.
Max was looking at Alec's face. "I've finally lost it, its not enough that I have to handle him day in and day out but now I'm seeing him everywhere." She stared back into a pair of green eyes and blinked. She looked down to the rest of her body and blinked with confusion, she had an erection. "Oh my god," she whispered and then let out a whimper. She glanced back in the mirror and screamed.
In a rush she opened the bathroom door and headed back to Sam. That sensation started creeping on her again and that smell.
"Sam what did you do?" she accused quickly.
"Always blaming me Maxie aren't you?!" she retorted angrily.
Max shot daggers at Sam and then ran back to the bathroom as if looking for a solution. "Oh god, make it stop!" she whined in a shrill voice.
Her brain just wouldn't seem to function. She looked back into the mirror and then it hit her. "NO no no no no no," she repeated the words over and over hoping if she did it long enough she would wake up and realize that this was all just a nightmare. I slept too much she finally concluded.
Alec lost it and laughed hysterically. Finally he watched himself come out of the washroom his face a sad shade of white.
"ALEC?!" she asked piercingly.
She finally made the connection and he threw his hands up in the air, swatting his arms and jumping as if fighting the madness surrounding them, "and she finally gets it!"
"Oh my god Alec, what did you do?" she whispered. Finally she came to the conclusion she wasn't looking at Sam but herself.
"There you go again, always blaming me. I didn't do anything." He was getting sick and tired of her blaming him for everything. "Besides you're in my body now since I'm the usual screw up you should be blaming yourself!"
"And what is this?" she hissed, pointing down at his erection "Make it stop," she ordered with a snap. She was having a nightmare. This isn't happening she rubbed her forehead in disbelief.
Then he smirked, "oh baby I'd love to make it stop but you see I'm just not going there…" He was laughing at her now "that is just so so wrong...on so many levels" He couldn't believe he was giving her lessons in male anatomy. "You just woke up. Leave it… it'll pass."
"Make it stop it's your body!" she yelled desperately and he just smiled at her.
"Oh no, it might be mine but you're at the wheel now, you're in total control so you make it stop!" Then he thought about what he just said. "No wait! On second thought, don't! Don't touch anything you don't know how to work, you might break something."
"Can my life suck any more!?" She cried out, pacing the room. "Why isn't it going away?" she asked him frantically.
Then he realized why. "I'm going to leave the room for a few minutes okay…" he flashed an apologetic smile, "you know to let you pull yourself together."
She waited a few minutes trying to avert her thoughts to sad and gory things. It finally went away and she sighed with relief, "you can come back now." She watched herself step back into the room.
Sadly, Alec was in her body. She should have noticed the difference. She didn't feel so tight, for the first time in a long time her body seemed so relaxed. Only it wasn't her body it was his. "Give me back my body!" she ordered.
"I'd love to," he answered dramatically. He gave a sheepish smile indicating what an idiot he was for not thinking of it in the first place and flourished his hands as if performing a magic trick. She leaned in expectantly and he frowned at her reaction. She actually believed he could comply with her preposterous request. "I CAN'T!" he finally shouted and her face darkened at his horsing around.
"You think I did this on purpose to piss you off? Like I want to walk around in your skin all day," he shot out sarcastically.
He stopped, smiled wolfishly then added "it does have its perks." He wiggled his eyebrows but then his face turned serious again rolling his shoulders. "Max you're like a stretched out rubber band. You're all tight I feel like I'm about to snap!"
She began to access the situation and tried blocking his incessant yammering.
He looked up at himself "you know you're really short," he observed absently.
She reached over and smacked herself upside the head "shut up!"
"Ow what was that for?" he whined.
"Just shut up, I'm thinking." She put both hands on her hips and then realized she had no shirt on. She turned abruptly and started going through his drawers. "Help me find some clothes!" she yelled at him and started rummaging through his drawers.
"Tsk okay wait," he said calmly and tried to move her out of the way. Without thinking, let his hand wander to her chest and she froze and quickly smacked his hand. "You're making a mess," he explained not understanding her reaction and tried to move her again. Just as quickly the smack came back. "Will you quit it!" he barked and she hit him. They fought over the drawer, him trying to push her, she standing her ground, smacking him. "Quit messing around," he warned. "I need clothes now," she ordered and this time he forcefully pushed her out of the way. He finally pulled out a grey hooded sweater and blue sweat pants. "Here," he said sternly and shoved the clothes at her.
Grabbing the clothes he handed her she started dressing quickly.
"Max relax I'm looking at myself remember? Besides you're a man now you can do that," he said in exasperation to her odd behavior. Then he added under his breath, "yeah that sounded weird."
He watched her struggle with his clothes. "Hey!" he snapped realizing something and she looked up. "That's my body you're in; I don't need you being all uptight in it. You'll ruin my karma. So learn to relax it's not going to kill you."
"That's not all I'm going to ruin if you don't shut up!" she said heatedly.
"Are you threatening my body?" he asked in a dangerous tone. "Two can play that game you know!" With that she watched with horror as her own hands crept up her shirt to her breasts.
"Alec," she warned venomously. "Get your hands off me or…"
"Or what?" he asked knowing he was going to get her full wrath this time but was enjoying the banter too much to stop.
Before he knew what happened she punched him across the face. His head snapped back and he touched his lip. "Don't forget this is your pretty face you're hitting!"
He backed up and brought his hands up in fists. Okay so this was going to be a challenge because he wasn't sure of her strengths and weaknesses. Max watched him standing there and a smile grew on her face. "What's wrong? Don't know how to work my body yet?"
"Maxie," he started with a taunt. "If there's something I know how to work it's a woman's body." And he swung out with a roundhouse kick catching her off guard hitting the side of her head.
She tried to block but was a little late, she staggered to the side and quickly retaliated with a left hook. Alec blocked her quickly and crouched down sweeping her legs from under her. She fell to the ground and quickly pushed her legs forward and jumped back up.
She was surprised at the density of his body and how flexible it was. She also marveled at the difference in strength. Her face stared back but she could see in them the glint that was unmistakably Alec. I'm furious and he's enjoying it! , she seethed.
That pissed her off even more and in a fury she lunged at him a blur of fists and legs. Alec managed to block just about every one and in one swift motion crossed his arms catching her fist and twisted his body managing to throw her off. She twirled in the air; gracefully landed on her feet and crouched again in a fighting stance. "How do you like it in there Max?" he smiled at her display of athleticism.
For a moment she grinned in genuine pleasure, but tried to replace her facial expression with a look of annoyance. "I want my body back," she snapped at him but the glint of exhilaration in her eyes never left.
"Come on just admit it, you like being me." He saw that look of pleasure on his own face and knew without a doubt she was having as much fun as he was. They circled each other in a predatory fashion and in a blur she back flipped almost catching him in the chin but he blurred away at the last moment. "It's pretty quick in here Max. Be careful."
He actually enjoyed the stealth of her small form. The only problem with this whole scenario was that he was her and she was him. In all the times they had bickered and fought he always held back. Only Max didn't know that. She didn't know his strength and she obviously wasn't pulling any punches. With a groan he knew he would have to play dirty to get the upper hand. He knew his own body after all.
With a blur he jumped at her. She caught him in mid air and they both fell to the ground. He leaned into her, looked into his green-hazel eyes and smiled. She punched herself across the face wiping off his grin. She tangled her legs in his and rolled him over pinning his arms to the ground. "You know somehow that's not how I pictured this," he laughed at the absurdity of the mental image he was getting.
He tried to squirm free but she was now bigger than he was, and clearly had the upper hand. She leaned in a few inches from his face and his own mischievous grin flashed, mocking him. "What's wrong Alec? Not so quick anymore I see. You're right this does have its perks."
"Okay, okay," he sighed in defeat, "truce?"
She pretended to consider it a minute and grinned at him, "fine truce."
She got up and gave him a hand. They both looked at each other slowly and turned around. Max was the first to speak up. "First we have to figure this bitch out. How in the world did we switch bodies? It should be only logical that we can switch back. We need to do it a.s.a.p. God knows what you'll do if you're left in there too long."
His brow furrowed clearly offended by her comment. He just sighed at her. "Whatever Maxie like you're an angel. You've only been walking around in my body for like two seconds and already you've managed to do something with it I find disturbing."
"That wasn't my fault!" she yelled shrilly, the sudden memory making her groan.
"And I suppose it's mine?" he shot back. He wanted to laugh, of all the possible things to talk about.
"It's always your fault," she griped lamely.
"Max that hurts," he held his chest in mock pain. Her eyes suddenly grew wide and quickly withdrew his hands realizing where they were. "I can't help it if they're there!" he said defensively.
"Just… stop groping me!" she sputtered.
"Hey I'm not exactly happy… about you… groping me either you know!" he sputtered back just as frustrated with the outcome of events. "Sadly I know you're not going to be able to hold back," he wiggled his eyebrows playfully. "Just don't go overboard okay I want working parts when I get my body back."
"I swear Alec, I'm cursed. It's not enough that my life sucks so bad I can barely function but now I have to go through it in your body." She was slowly spiraling into a state of depression.
He felt a pang of guilt but he knew it wasn't his fault. Only as long as he had known her he always tried to take whatever pain he could from her. "I'm sorry Max. I know you hate me and being in my body is probably the worse thing that could ever happen to you but we'll figure it out okay." He turned his back on her and retreated to the kitchen.
She watched herself retreat back to the other room in shock and followed. "I never said I hated you," she stammered.
"You didn't have to," he said softly and then looked in the cupboards. He grabbed a box of pop tarts and walked over to the living room. He opened the box pulled out a package and slumped on his couch. "Let's just retrace our steps and figure out how this happened," he said taking a tiny bite of the chocolate pastry never once looking back at himself. It was too weird.
She walked over to the couch and sat beside him. She crossed her arms and glanced out of the corner of her eye. Do I really look like that when I eat? She finally turned and watched herself nibble around a pop tart. She observed her mouth chew everything slowly. Then her hand lifted and he licked her fingers. Her full pouty lips embracing her index finger then her thumb slowly and then her tongue darted out with a slow lick, lingering on her bottom lip.
There was that sensation again. She quickly got up from the couch and started pacing. Trying her best to keep her eyes averted. "Ok," she snapped quickly. "First of all, until we figure out what's happened we have to pretend that nothing's changed? You're still you and I'm still me."
"You know that's kinda hard since YOU'RE ME AND I'M YOU!" He said in a high pitch squeal. Being in her body was starting to get to him; he was starting to get extremely frustrated. She looked at him with a strange expression and he rubbed his throat. "Okay I have to work on that voice a little," he admitted a little embarrassed.
"That's what I meant. Ugh this is confusing. How are we going to pull this off?"
"Well it's not going to be that hard," he answered sarcastically. "All I have to do is walk around like I have a stick up my ass, smack good ol' Alec a few times and the rest of the time I just have to act like if I can't control everything the world's going to fall apart."
She narrowed her eyes at his condescending words. "Like you're any better, I just have to come on to any girl that crosses my path, act like I'm the center of the universe and not give a shit about anything or anyone else unless it directly affects me."
"If you only knew Maxie… if you only knew," he said sadly starting on his second pop tart.
She watched him start on his next pastry and swiped it out of his hand, "stop that!"
"Stop what? You're such a control freak! And now you're taking the food right out of my mouth. Seriously Max you have issues." He got up and took the pastry out of her hand. Just to prove his point he took a bite and elaborately started to chew in her face and sat back down.
She watched him for a few seconds and resumed her pacing keeping her mind on the problem.
"Fine so we pretend like nothing's happened. We go to work like we normally do and then we go home to bed." She looked back at herself.
"Until we figure what's going on, yeah that's a good plan," he agreed. "You couldn't possibly handle being me around too many people especially at Crash," he concluded seriously.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked affronted.
"Exactly what I said," he said around a mouthful and finished his pop tart. He made his way to the cupboard and sighed with vexation when he had to reach for a glass. He never realized how much shorter she was. He walked to the fridge, took out some milk and poured himself a glass. "Being me isn't as easy as it looks you know," he drank the milk in one gulp.
"Yeah well it's not that easy being me either!" she challenged.
"Whatever Max, let's just agree to disagree on this one." He crossed his arms and let himself drift to lean on the counter. When he did, he turned around and frowned. He wasn't used to the difference in height yet. "I'll make my own conclusions."
"Ugh with all this talking we're not focusing. What did you do last night?"
"Well when I left your place I went back to Crash to have a couple beers and I played some pool with the gang. Then I went straight home."
She knew he was telling the truth because she remembered him going back to Crash. She even remembered winning every game of pool. He felt sorry for Sketch and eventually decided to let him win a few. That strong feeling of remorse became hers, "I remember."
"What?" He walked back to the couch and watched himself in awe. "You remember?"
"Yeah, I even remember that blonde!" She remembered being asked to go home with her but a feeling of sadness and longing overtook her. "I'm flattered sweetheart but not tonight," she said it as if she didn't believe it herself. That would never happen, Alec would never refuse.
"I said that," his mouth dropped open as his own words were repeated to him.
She was confused by his answer, but then went straight back to the fact she had gotten his memories. "Perfect!" it was her time to throw her hands up. "Just perfect! I'm in your body and now I've got a damn slideshow to go along with it?" She sat and started to laugh her shoulders shaking and then she started to cry.
Alec looked at himself crying and blinked. He'd never get used to watching himself that was a fact. He felt her sadness and his eyes watered seeing her so distraught. He could only conclude that it was because he was in a woman's body that it was affecting him so much. He took her hand and sat her down on the couch. He hugged her to him and she just hugged him back tightly. "What are we going to do?" she whispered around the lump in her throat.
He rocked her softly and tried to soothe her by rubbing her back gently. "We'll deal. We always deal right? Compliments of Manticore," he stated simply.
She could have laughed. How the hell was she going to deal with this ridiculous situation they were in? Before any of this happened she had a hard time dealing with just being her and now she would have to do it while being him. "At least I'm not alone," she sniffed into his chest.
"Never," he whispered back to her. He closed his eyes for a moment to picture how this should have really played out. It was just too disconcerting to watch himself through her eyes. "We'll figure it out and then everything will be back to normal ok?" She gave a tight nod and he sighed sadly. We'll go back to you hating me, and me watching you from a distance pretending it doesn't matter.
She looked at him and smiled. She reached up and wiped away the tear on his cheek "This is going to sound really crazy but I'm kinda glad that it was you and not someone like Sketchy. I would die if people thought of me as the Jam Pony idiot without a clue."
He just laughed at her words and she sniffed again. Reaching he wiped her tears. "It could always be worse; you could have ended up being Normal. Bip Bip Bip." She burst out laughing, his rich voice resounding in the air.
She finally stopped laughing and her stomach grumbled. "Give me some of those," she pointed to the box left on the table. He reached over and gave her a pack.
She opened it and was about to take a huge bite when he stopped her. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice a mixture of outrage and horror.
"Eating," she said blankly and gave a strange look at his outburst.
He scoffed, "not like that you don't." He ripped the pop tart out of her hand. "You see, eating these is like a work of art. You have to appreciate every detail." Motioning with his hand, he traced the rectangular shape. "You eat around the edge indulging in the taste a bit. You work your way into the icing, knowing the best is about to come but you can't rush it." He closed his eyes and envisioned eating it. "You tease yourself a little and then when you can't take it anymore you bite into the center savoring the yummy chocolaty goodness at last."
She couldn't help but smile in amazement. In a completely unbelievable moment in their lives he still managed to find joy, even something as simple as eating a pop tart. She would never understand how he did it, how he mastered the simple pleasures of life. Her eyes shone with mirth at his explanation of what he called art. Deep down she thought it was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. She stopped listening to his words and just followed the hand movements as he showed her. Finally she noticed her face was looking back at her as if expecting something. She reached for the pop tart and started to nibble around the edge thinking about what he said. She sat up straight, completely alert, "ART!"
"Yeah that's what I said."
"No Alec, ART! The artifact, remember when we touched it together and it got really hot." She got up in excitement the pop tart forgotten in her hand.
"Yeah that's right!" he said joining in her excitement. "I bet we get that thing back and it's the answer to our problems."
Then she remembered and sat back down in defeat. "I fenced it already, right before I went to Logan's last night. Who knows where it is now."
"I bet Logan could probably help us track it down," Alec offered hoping that would cheer her up. At least the thought, having hope should lift her spirits.
Max slumped in the couch and Alec took up her place and started pacing the room. "Question is, which one of us goes?" He looked at her with a mischievous grin on his face.