Title: Maternal Wisdom

Chapter Title: Alek Reflects

Author: Shineyma

Summary: "One of these days you're gonna hear something you won't like." [Sometimes Alek speaks prophetic words.]

Characters: Alek Petrov

Spoilers: The whole series, I suppose, but especially All Apologies, Responsible and Beautiful Day. Some of the lines are taken directly from All Apologies and Beautiful Day.

Word Count: 1,771

A/N: I really wasn't going to write another chapter, but Alek wanted to have his say. There will probably be two chapters after this.

Alek was frozen. The world was spinning out from under his feet. He felt that at any moment he would be knocked off balance and thrown…thrown where? Hopefully somewhere far away. He wanted to be anywhere else, but he didn't think he could move.

He was absurdly reminded of his own words, spoken—how long ago? Weeks? Months? Time was so difficult when he was with Chloe: sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow. But he remembered saying it to her, remembered the skeptical, annoyed look on her face. 'Be careful. One of these days you're gonna hear something you won't like.'

He wondered what expression was on her face now. Her voice had been strangely quiet when she'd spoken the words he'd been most dreading. 'I think I'm in love with Brian.' She'd continued speaking, but he couldn't hear her over the strange roaring in his ears. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't feel anything. An assassin could come right in through the window behind him and he might not even notice.

That thought pulled him out of his daze. Regardless of his feelings, he had a job to do. He couldn't protect Chloe when he was stuck in his own head. He tuned back in to the world around him and found that Chloe was still speaking. How long had he been lost in his head? He realized that at some point he'd sat down.

"You're gonna be late."

"I have time," Chloe's mum replied. "I always have time for you. C'mon. Why do you wanna love Alek?"

Wait. What? He was now completely confused.

"Alek—Alek's better." Well, yeah. "That didn't come out right. I just…"

Sounded fine to him, but it sure didn't help his confusion.

Alek listened as Chloe began to recount the events (or at least a highly edited version of the events) of the night the previous week when they'd had to save her friend Vanessa. Hearing Chloe's recollection sent him on his own journey down memory lane: the effort of chasing that bloody car all the way downtown, only to find it empty, grabbing everything he could find then running all the way back to the coffee shop, the look on Chloe's face…

Watching Chloe's expression change from confusion to amazement had given him an undeniable thrill. It was made even better by her compliment. It hadn't exactly been a confession of utter devotion, which certainly would have been preferable, but compliments from Chloe were rare enough that being called sweet had filled him with warmth.

Then Chloe's human had interrupted. She'd gone off with him, and Alek had been left with her friends to try and find out where Vanessa was going. Initially he had only cared because Chloe did, but figuring out that the girl was about to be a victim of human trafficking had been horrible. He'd become immediately invested, and it only intensified when he heard their time limit.

He'd rushed over to the store, Amy and Paul behind him, and found her looking over some sort of papers with the human. He'd grabbed her arm for her attention, telling her they had to go.

And once again the human had to interrupt. Chloe had tried to calm him, but he'd dismissed her. He'd told Alek to get his hands off of Chloe—as if he had any right—and then he'd shoved him. Alek had shoved right back, naturally, and had been rewarded with a punch.

That had made him angry. Very, very angry. This—this human dared to hit him? When Alek was so much faster, better, stronger? He'd been ready to show the human exactly what he was messing with when Chloe said his name. Just his name, a sharp 'Don't!' and a shake of her head. He'd been reminded of their earlier conversation, when he'd made a comment about ripping the human's pretty little face off. Chloe had told him that if he ever hurt the human, she'd never see or speak to him again.

He backed off. The chance to hit the human wasn't worth losing Chloe, although they would definitely being having a talk about his right to defend himself later. He'd been surprised, and pleased, when Chloe rounded on the human. His pleasure had been somewhat abated at the human's words. He'd thought Alek was hurting her? How dare he?

Alek loved Chloe. It felt like he had loved her forever. He'd been drawn to her from the moment he first saw her, his first day at school after moving to San Francisco from London. He'd avoided her, of course—he'd thought she was human, and there was no point in getting close to a human. But, in his infatuation, he hadn't been able to stop himself from showing off a little near her, trying to get her to look at him.

That hadn't always worked so well. Mostly her friend Amy stared at him, while Chloe rolled her eyes and looked away. Then there was that day—that amazing, wonderful day—when she'd seized the basketball from his hands and thrown it all the way down the hall and into a trash can. He'd have been happy enough just having her talk to (yell at) him, her beautiful eyes flashing, but to discover the possibility that she was Mai?

He'd cornered her in the hall later, had touched her and smelled her, and he hadn't been able to resist the urge to kiss her. He knew it was a bad idea, since they weren't entirely sure if she actually was Mai, but if Jasmine hadn't interrupted, he would have.

Since that day, he'd gotten to spend time with her, to speak to her, to stand next to her, and even to touch her, and Alek's infatuation with Chloe had grown quickly to love. It was his sworn duty to protect her, but even if it hadn't been, he'd have laid down his life for hers—no matter that she had many and he had only one. He loved her, and that was that.

So to hear this human, this human who had dared to speak to Chloe, to touch her and laugh with her and actually date her, accuse him of hurting her was enough to enrage him once more. But Chloe hadn't even bothered to address the claim. She'd told the human to get out, and he had. That had brought his elation right back, and they'd gone to save her friend without speaking anymore about the human.

The memory of fighting against those human traffickers was a pleasant one, as well. They'd worked so well together, fighting back to back, using each other for balance and as springboards. It had been amazing, and it had taken all of his strength not to kiss her once they'd locked the creeps up. But he had been uncertain of where he stood with her, and hadn't dared.

Hadn't dared. Hah. Chloe was the only one he had ever backed down for, the only one he ever would back down for. It was ridiculous, really, almost embarrassing. But he'd comforted himself with her obvious enthusiasm for seeing a movie with him, and the memory of the smile on her face when he'd left her the flowers.

He was pulled out of his recollection by the sound of a throat clearing. He started, expecting to find someone in the room with him, but realized after a second that it was Chloe, still downstairs with her mum.

"Brian apologized and I forgave him." Why was that, exactly? She probably wouldn't forgive him so easily for the same thing. "But I can't just forget it. And it's just one of a million reasons why I'd rather be with Alek—why I'd rather love Alek. I just…don't know how."

One of a million reasons? Really?

Alek was feeling a little like a yo-yo at the moment. He couldn't keep track of how fast his emotions were changing. Hell, he couldn't keep track of Chloe's emotions. She loved Brian, but she wanted to love Alek. Why couldn't she, then? It would be so, so much easier—so much better—if she would just love him.

"I think that if you ever did love Brian, you're already falling out of it," Chloe's mum was saying. "You looked very happy when you were telling me about Alek, but when you were talking about Brian, you didn't look much of anything. I bet if I asked you, you could tell me exactly how you felt when Alek said whatever it was that was so sweet."

Well that was encouraging. Alek was filled with a sudden fondness for Chloe's mum. It sounded like she was on his side.

"Do you think I love Alek?" Chloe was asking. She sounded so confused, and although he would definitely prefer that she was sure about her feelings for him, he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the face she made when she was confused. It was sort of adorable.

Then he shook himself out of it. Just because he loved her was no reason to be a sap.

"No, sweetie." What? Was she on his side or not? "I think you care a lot about Alek, but falling in and out of love isn't like changing clothes, Chloe. You can't just take off Brian and put on Alek. You need time. It doesn't matter how well or how badly a relationship ends. When it's over, you need time to heal from it. You can't move right on."

Time, huh? Chloe had said she needed time, he acknowledged. And he supposed, if she was falling out of love with the human, he could give her more. Hell, if it ended with her in love with him, she could have all the time in the world.

He heard Chloe's mum leave, and considered leaving as well. But he wanted to talk to Chloe. He wanted her to know that he'd heard, and that he'd give her as much time as she needed. So he sat there, on her bed, listening as she stood up.

What would he say to her, he wondered as he heard her start up the stairs. Would she be angry that he had listened? He knew that she got annoyed sometimes when he followed her. Maybe it had been a bad idea to stay. She was in the hall still. He had time to leave.

But he needed to let her know that he'd give her time. So he stayed right there as she pushed the door open and entered the room.