Alec's eyes followed up to the stage once more, then back at the waitress. "Look, I don't care what you're calling her now, but you better get out of here before she sees you or someone else does. Wouldn't be surprised if you ended up missing pieces --" the waitress looked down, more like nodded down between his legs, that mixed with the sentence she'd just started sent chills down his spine. "--if they find you, back way's still there. But if Nancy sees you, and if you hurt her, baby, you won't have to worry about the big tough men. I'll come after you myself." Last words, then she was gone.
He could take her, and everyone in this place, and he knew it, but for some reason he didn't feel the need to test his strengths tonight. Taking a large gulp of the amber colored liquid, he stood up, flinging a five down on the table and heading through the crowd of men gathered to watch Max's...or Nancy's little show. One actually managed to scare him, he was big, bigger then anything Manticore had ever 'built'. It didn't mean Alec couldn't take him, but he sure as hell wouldn't try if he didn't have too. Finding the door he figured lead out the back, he glanced down at a man sprawled against the brick wall of the building, head bashed in. The sight so bloody, so nasty he felt vomit come up in his throat. Making a dash quickly away, he shook his head, as if trying to shake the mental image out of his brain. Photographic memory..Another thing Manticore should be damned for.
"Dean!" He heard a woman's voice yell, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Max's..Just softer…in a loving kind of way. But there was panic in the voice, he sensed it. Another damned gift, he could sense many more things then he was supposed to, and for some reason...in this place...in this time, it was harder to ignore. He felt the feelings of every man in there when he was leaving, accompanied by his own they were strong and just starting to go off when he turned and saw Max -- Nancy running toward him. "You came back!" A sound of relief in her voice, he wasn't the man she thought he was, he knew it. Now.
--
"I really don't have time for this." Dean (Alec, she still thought.) was grating on her nerves worse then ever after a two hour conversation...or argument that seemed to consist only of "You do" and "I do not's. Sam (if that was his real name) had given up once she was steady and okay and sat on the trunk of the car...a '67 Impala and watched the two argue. He didn't say a word, figuring it was useless as both seemed stubbornly refusing to work with the other one. Many questions were going through his mind, mostly he was examining the woman, watching her every move and memorizing her every feature. By the time Dean threw up his arms with frustration, not really giving up, just doing something with his arms so they didn't reach out and strangle the woman in front of him, by that time Sam knew it wasn't Nancy.
Innocent little Nancy would've never taken on Dean like that. Never. She would never lead him on, not after the crap he put her through. Finally finding a chance to speak when both were just glaring he jumped off the car and in the middle of them. "Dean, she isn't Nancy." The four words seemed to render his older brother speechless. His glare now off of Max and onto Sam.
"Whatdaya' mean she isn't Nancy? Look at her!" He nearly yelled, keeping his voice level only because Sam was his brother, and just joining into the argument. "I am -- I have been, she isn't Nancy. Why don't you look at her?" Dean obliged, again. Turning his head back to the woman. Her hands were on her hips, exactly two fingers, her index and her middle (which she had shown to him once already). Touching bare skin, her ring and pinkie touching the black denim of her tight (very tight) jeans. Moving his eyes down he noticed the blood spots, actually more like flows of stains on her jeans, then the massive black combat boots she was wearing. Scanning his eyes up he looked at the black tank top, another tight fitting item on her until his eyes reached just above her chest where her long dark brown hair ended, then after another scan he finally let his eyes travel to hers. Her chestnut brown eyes glaring at him still, but then he knew she wasn't Nancy.
--
He couldn't stop her before her arms were flinging around his neck, pulling him close. A shock went through his spine, almost as if he were Max herself hugging him. It was one of those things that only happened in his dreams. His arms started to go around her, but with as much control as he could manage, they didn't. Instead his body tensed up, which wasn't the reaction he wanted, but she felt it.
Pulling away from him, she raised her eyes to him, her eyes going large, like a puppy dogs. "Dean," she whispered softly, her tone making her pain obvious. Alec shook his head from side to side, his big hands gently wrapping around the middle of her arms and making her lower them from around his neck. "I'm not Dean." She didn't believe him at first, he saw it...felt it. Then running her fingertips over the corner of his eyes as if feeling for something she shook her head in agreement. "No, you're not. I'm sorry." Her eyes went down as she turned away, making him feel guilty for something that was out of his control, though he had a feeling she didn't mean for him to have guilt over it.
This Nancy...the image of Max to the small little freckles that lined her upper arms, wasn't Max at all besides that. She was softer, kinder, and fragile in a way he'd never want to see Max. "He hurt you bad didn't he?" Alec called out to her, she stopped and turned and looked at him, nodding her head as she walked back towards him. "Yes, and you look--" "Exactly like him, I figured that out. You look like a friend of mine, too." He spoke truthfully, Max was a friend…just a friend...that's all she'd ever be, that's all she'd ever want. He was lucky she considered him that and he knew it. Once a traitor always a traitor...that's what she'd always thought of him. That's what she always would.
"She hurt you too, didn't she?" Nancy flung the question right back at him. Something Max would do, but not out of actual care like he felt coming from Nancy. He shook his head giving his classical cocky smirk, he watched as she flinched a bit, no doubt reminding her of maybe Dean's cocky smirk. He quickly dropped the smirk. "Not in the way I'm guessing he hurt you, Max -- that's the friend, and I are just friends."
"But you want to be more with her?"
"...Yeah."
--
While he was studying her she had been studying him. Everything from his torn jeans to his boots, to his shirt and jacket, finally to his eyes. He was older then Alec, his eyes gave it away. He was broken, but stubborn. He was nearly lifeless and his eyes showed that too. Everything or nearly everything was the same about him image wise, hell even personality wise it seemed. He had a dusting of freckles lining the bridge of his nose, over under his eyes and on his cheek bones. His eyes were the only difference. She had been use to seeing Alec's eyes full of energy and life, bright, even the small hints of light brown -- maybe even gold were shining bright in his eyes. But not in Dean's. His eyes were dull, and while the flakes were still there they were dull too. His eyes looking faded, he was breaking and this Sam guy next to him couldn't even sense it. She could. It scared her looking into his eyes, she couldn't help but see Alec in them…this could be how he ends up...faded, broken, lifeless...
"You're not Nancy."
"You're not Alec."
They spoke at the same time, neither smiling nor laughing. Both drop dead serious. She was the first to break off eye contact, looking around, eying where she was. "I have a Ninja, you know, a motorcycle…where is it?" she asked calmly, the first calm thing she'd said to the man. "Sorry, we only found you, no Motorcycle, and no Alec." He brought out the name, making her eyes snap right back in attention on him. He was jealous...he probably couldn't help it. Who ever he was, she didn't need him right now. She didn't need to see the image of Alec like this. "Fine, thanks for wakin' me up and the nice little conversation." She started to walk off, and he wasn't going to stop her. He had no need to. Sam, however tried.
The tall 6'4 man dashed after her, only taking a few seconds, two maybe until he was at her side. "Look, we can help you." He said, it was almost a plea. His eyes met hers and she rolled her eyes at him sharply. Shaking her head from side to side she kept walking. "I don't need help." She was stubborn, bluntly stubborn. Much like Dean, he saw it -- heard it. She had wanted Dean to be this Alec person and he saw that, sensed it. Whatever he knew it. He followed right beside her. "You don't even know where you are, and you're alone. A lady shouldn't be alone." He was trying to be a gentleman, and now Dean was following in toe behind both of them, his eyes narrowed and his arms and chest buffed out like he was ready for a fight.
Max gave a hallow snort as she turned to face him again, her expression mean, but not totally ungrateful for the offer. "Believe me, I can handle myself --"
"Sammy's right, a lady shouldn't be out here by herself. Especially not when she doesn't even know where she is." Dean shot. He was demanding...he was actually demanding her to let them help her. Fool, was the only word she thought of. They had no clue what she was. An X5. She'd killed men like him before, hunted them. He was trying to use his strength to convince her by buffing out. Turning to face him now, she gave a side smirk. Daring...Challenging.
"I can handle myself, thanks." His eyes watched her, studied her. He knew what she was doing and was damn near ready to call her bluff. Stepping uncomfortably close to her, he looked down and shook his head. "We're not letting a woman go off alone." To her, he'd accepted when he'd come so close. Her hand met the middle of his chest and pushed him backwards, and not just a little bit. He stumbled back a few feet. Convincing himself it was only because he hadn't expected it he walked towards her again, ready for her next move. One hand again met the middle of his chest and pushed him back, this time his butt meet the ground. "Fuck!" he yelled looking up at her. To this she only smirked, looking back at Sam and giving a sarcastic smile, repeating the words she'd already said...and now proven. "I can handle myself."