Alec let his head drop back down into his hands and cursed in a whisper. He had known he should've kept his mouth shut and not get involved in this. Why was he even trying to solve the mess Logan had created? He didn't owe it to him.
Well, yeah … but he did owe it to Max. She had always been there when his ass needed saving. The least he could do was return the favor. Only, he was far better going on heists to get supplies or get rid of enemies, he was worthless when it came to personal stuff. And he had no idea what to do to make a girl happy for Christmas, this was his first Christmas outside after all.
He decided to go to Gem and ask her for advice when he realized this was beyond his expertise.
Once he got some sleep and had a quick lunch, he turned up on Gem's door. She was surprised to see him again.
"What brings you here?"
"I need advice." He pushed his hands in his pockets, rocking on the balls of his feet.
It was obvious his reply surprised her more than a little, but she stepped aside and let him in.
"What can I help you with?" she asked doubtfully.
Alec hesitated for a second before he replied. "It's Max."
"Something happened to her?" she asked worried.
He shook his head. "No, it's just … she's been feeling so down lately and she's working too much."
Gem stared at him, trying to guess what he was getting at.
"I just want her to relax a bit, you know. It's Christmas and all. But she just doesn't seem to be all that into holidays, so I don't really know how to cheer her up. I was hoping you could suggest something …"
He hoped he didn't look as awkward as he felt.
"Oh!"
She started pacing the room, thinking about his words.
"You're a girl and you'll know better what to do … I'd probably just get myself into trouble if I tried anything …"
She grinned at his words. "Probably."
"Did you have any ideas? Anything at all?" she asked after a while.
He shrugged. "Not really. I put up some Christmas lights in her office but she didn't seem to appreciate it all that much," he made a face.
"Oh, so it was you then. Dalton told me about that," she added when she saw his expression. She thought for a second, then she said, "You know, maybe she just didn't want to admit that she liked it. She's a bit touchy that way. She thinks she has to be tough and all that, so she too often forgets her own enjoyment."
"You think that she liked them?" he asked. When he heard his own hopeful voice he cringed inside. He sounded like a lovesick puppy.
But Gem didn't seem to notice his discomfort. "How about a cake? She liked the one I made yesterday. I could make another one for Christmas and you'd give it to her."
He didn't know how he felt about that. It didn't feel right for Gem to make it and then pretend it was his gift. Not because he'd feel particularly bad about Gem working and him taking the credit, but he just knew Max would figure it out and get pissed at him.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll think about it."
He took off soon afterwards and the whole way to his place he deliberated whether he dared make a cake himself. If he succeeded Max would simply have to be proud of him. Seriously, she couldn't get pissed if he made her a cake, could she?
Now, the only problem was, he'd never even tried making one. Moreover, he'd never even thought about making one.
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Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Alec was nervously pacing the hallway in front of Gem's place. He'd come to her to ask her to help him make the cake, but she wasn't home. He decided to wait for her, this was too important to postpone it.
He'd seen Max this morning coming out of her office. He suspected she slept there because her clothes looked all crumpled. She was tired and pale, even her beautiful hair seemed to have lost some of its shine. His heart ached when he watched her like this. At first he'd took this 'mission' of his more as a joke, to try and cheer her up. But he was beginning to realize it was far more serious than that. He was desperate to make her happy again, even if that meant he'd have to go get Logan and drag him here. Just to see her crack a smile, or even just to see her get back to her usual bitchy self. Because he had to admit it, he'd miss it, her spunk. He couldn't watch her so sad anymore. It broke his heart and that was something he tried to avoid at all cost because this aching reminded him of other feelings he preferred to keep hidden.
"Hey, Alec."
He jumped at the voice. He'd been so deep in thoughts he didn't hear Gem coming.
"Hey, me again."
"The cake?" she grinned, knowing precisely why he was here.
"Yeah," he said awkward. This was so stupid. He had exceptional skills, strength, speed and all that; but he couldn't make a simple cake. Stupid, stupid!
"Come on in," she said and opened the door. She was wearing a robe, she was obviously returning from the showers down the hall.
"If it's a bad time …"
"No, it's okay. Come in."
Reluctantly he entered into her room. He saw the baby sleeping on the bed and reminded himself to speak quietly so as not to wake her.
"So, want me to make it for you?" Gem asked.
When she didn't keep her voice down he glanced at the baby. "Won't she wake up?"
"Don't worry, she sleeps like the dead," Gem chuckled.
"Oh," he was relieved. He really didn't want the little devil wake up and start screaming her head off.
"I was thinking … Could you just make that thing … in the cake, you know …"
"Thing?" Gem was confused.
"Yeah, the … dough or something, you know, the firm parts of the cake." He felt like the stupidest person alive.
"Oh, the layers!" Gem laughed.
"Yes, that's it. If you could make that and I could decorate it myself? Like with chocolate … I just don't want, you know, to give Max your cake."
"Sure, no problem. Even less work for me."
He cleared his throat, he didn't know what to say, this was beyond ridiculous. Why couldn't he have thought of something else and not a cake? He could've bought her new parts for her bike.
"Hey, she'll appreciate your effort," Gem said when she saw his worried expression.
"How do you know? She wasn't too thrilled with the lights."
"Like I said, she thinks she needs to be tough and cool. Give her some time. With Logan deserting her like that, it's hard for her. Even harder than usually."
He nodded and lowered his eyes. "I know. I just doubt she'll appreciate it coming from me, you know. She'd much rather be with Logan and get the cake from him."
Gem was silent for a long moment, before she said, "Well, maybe the cake won't be a surprise only for her. Maybe you'll get a surprise too."
He didn't understand but she didn't say anything more. Instead she asked him when he needed the layers to be finished and he told her he thought of making it that evening to give it to Max on Christmas Eve.
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When he left Gem's he walked towards the HQs. The place was bustling with people, some were putting up decorations, others were just joking around, talking, drinking something which looked suspiciously like Mole's homebrew.
He heard Joshua's voice through Max's office door.
"That's not funny, Joshua. Take it down," he heard Max protest. What was going on? When did Joshua ever do anything against Max's wishes?
"Not funny, serious business. Traditional," the dog-man replied. Huh?
Alec opened the door without knocking and he nearly crashed into Max. They were both shocked at the surprise. Alec could hear Joshua chuckle somewhere in the background. He became confused when he saw the look of panic on Max's face. What on earth was going on?
"Kiss! Kiss!" Joshua chanted.
He was completely befuddled until he followed Max's glance upwards. Mistletoe.
They both jumped apart at the same instant. Alec was certain his expression must've reflected Max's panic.
"Not right!" Joshua complained. "You must kiss, otherwise bad luck."
"That's just a superstition," Max scoffed and looked away from Alec. She was embarrassed, but not more than him.
He reminded himself to knock next time. Joshua kept springing these surprises on them. You could never know what he'd come up with next. Sometimes it almost seemed like he considered himself a matchmaker and was intent on getting them together. The dog-man had some seriously whack ideas, Alec thought.
"Don't be foolish, buddy. Mistletoe is for kiddies and girls," Alec grinned at Josh, trying to forget the awkwardness of the moment.
"Hey, girl here!" Max protested and pointed to herself.
"Sorry," Alec shrugged. "I'm trying to ignore your sex and just see you as our commander. Otherwise you'd yell at me for being sexist."
She grumbled something unintelligible and walked back to the door now that Alec moved into the room and it was safe again to stand under the mistletoe. She stepped onto the tips of her toes but she still couldn't reach the sprig of green on the ceiling.
"Dammit, Joshua!" she said annoyed when she couldn't remove it.
"Here, let me get that," Alec offered while Joshua observed them amused.
They made sure that Max walked all the way back to her desk before Alec stepped towards the door and pulled the mistletoe from where it hung above the door.
"Problem solved!" he said proudly, showing the sprig to Max.
"You two are no fun," Joshua complained and walked out the door. Despite themselves, Max and Alec started laughing at his sour face.
When they stopped, they stared awkwardly at each other. They didn't know what to say.
"Hm, okay, I'll just go … talk to Joshua," Alec finally suggested, forgetting what it had been that he came here for in the first place.
"You do that. I think we upset him," Max agreed, regretting already how she reacted at Joshua's idea of the mistletoe. It wouldn't be that hard to kiss someone for fun, to make big fella happy. Besides, it was just Alec. He'd understand it was only to satisfy Joshua and not … something else.
Don't even go there, she scolded herself when Alec left and closed the door behind him.