I am so, so, so, so, so, sooo sorry. I've been caught up with work, school midterm, and life in general. I have been meaning to update this chapter for a while. I haven't been able to find a beta. But that's okay. I going to try to edit each chapter as best I can. I literally rewrote this chapter about three times. I think it came out okay. I'll let you guys be the judge of it. :) I want to thank all of my readers for waiting patiently. This is the new chapter of my story. Enjoy ^-^
~~~Terminal City Alec's Apartment (1Week Later) ~~~
Max had been looking for Alec everywhere for over a week now. He had gone missing, and no one knew where he was. It was like he had just disappeared into thin air. Every time she was told where he'd last been seen; she would arrive, but find him nowhere in sight. Max felt as though Alec didn't want to be found. He had never done this before. Just this morning, Mole told her that he had seen Alec heading towards his apartment. Max had first gone there to find him, but he hadn't been there. She never thought to look there twice. She'd imagine he'd want to be away from Terminal City, seeing as he had been for over a week now. She decided she would pay him a little visit, and get a few things cleared out between them. Help clear his mind with a few slaps to his head for not thinking about anyone but himself. But the only thing is she didn't know half the reason for his disappearance.
Max was right outside Alec's apartment. She knocked on the door but there was no answer. She knocked again but still no response.
"Alec? I know you're in there," she said knocking.
Still there was no response. Max banged on the door a little harder. She was getting tired of this little game Alec was playing. She tried the door knob and noticed it was open. It was then her instincts kicked in gear. Alec wouldn't have left the door open.
"Why did he leave the door open?" she thought.
Max pushed the door open and noticed it was pitch black inside. She slowly proceeded inside and what she saw, she couldn't believe. Even in the dark she could see the damage the place was in. Max turned towards the wall and reached for the light switch. She switched the lights on and got a good look around the apartment. What she saw had her stunned. The place was trashed. The furniture was flipped and she noticed broken glass on the floor. As well as a trail of blood that seemed to have no end to it. It was all around the place. Max closed the door to the apartment. She slowly walked inside, making sure not to make any noise to alert anyone who might still be inside. The place looked as though someone had crashed into Alec's apartment.
"Alec?" Max whispered.
She was now worried something might have happened to him. The first person that came to her mind was White. What if he had sent one of his cult buddies and they had taken Alec? But then again Terminal City was well guarded, this was something else. Max continued to walk more towards the living room area, when she noticed something near the window behind the flipped sofa chair. She walked cautiously towards it. That's when she saw more broken glass and blood. Max kneeled and she could also smell what she assumed was scotch.
"What the hell?" Max said.
Just then Max jumped at the sound of her cell phone going off. She noticed it was coming from Jann's cell phone.
"Go for, Max." she said into her phone.
"Max, it's Jann. Alec's here at command center. He just got here about two minutes ago."
"That asshole," thought Max to herself.
"Okay, am on my way. Don't let him leave." Max ordered.
"You got it, but Max..." Jann never got a chance to finish before Max hung up on him.
"He doesn't look to good, Max." Jann whispered into the phone.
~~~~Terminal City Command Center~~~~~
Alec walked towards the infirmary and found Brooke tending to one of the new arrivals.
"Well, look who decided to show his presence with the rest of the world," Brooke said while applying a cooling gel onto a cut on a young kid.
"I was beginning to think you'd turned into a vamp or something. Seeing as you never come out during the day"
"You got anything for headaches?" Alec asked.
"Well…" Brooke finally looked closely at Alec and noticed he looked bad.
"Okay, you're good to go kid." She told the young boy.
The kid jumped off the chair and walked out the room.
"Shit, Alec. What happened to you?" Brooke asked noticing the piece of cloth that was wrapped around his hand. She could see blood on it. She stood up to walk towards Alec.
"Nothing," Alec said backing up.
Brooke saw that he didn't want her to get close to him.
"Okay, I won't push it. Let me see what I have." She said going towards a cabinet near the corner of the room.
"The last medical drive by we did we were able to get some advil. It should help." Brooke said walking back towards Alec.
She handed him two pills for him to take. Alec took them and just swallowed them.
"You want some water with that?" she asked reaching for a bottle of water.
Alec took the bottle and gulped half the bottle down.
"You know , if Max sees you like this, she's going to have a cow. Literally," Brooke said handing Alec some bandages and gaze, so he could wrap up his hand properly.
"That's why am going to go before she comes. Thanks for the pills," Alec said walking out of the infirmary.
"This is not going to end well until they talk?" Brooke said.
Brooke knew that there was something between Alec and Isis. Since Alec had first brought Isis to the infirmary she had noticed how he looked at her. The kind of look one would give to someone they really cared about. Someone…you loved.
Max had just arrived to command and all hell broke loose.
"Where is he?" she asked Jann.
"He just walked out of the infirmary. I think he's heading back to his place."
"Fuck, it's like he's playing a game of cat and mouse. Thanks," Max said running back the same way she just came from.
"Does that make her the cat?" Jann thought to himself.
~~~Alec's Apartment~~~
Alec slowly entered his apartment and locked the door. He set the new bottle of scotch down on the counter. He poured himself some in a glass that was half cracked. Walking towards the window and he stared outside.
"You know, it's not nice to enter someone's home without being invited in," Alec said staring down at his glass.
"Well, seeing as you left me no choice, I thought what the hell," Max said walking out from the bathroom door.
Alec never turned to look at her. He was still staring at out the window, zoning everyone out.
"Alec ?" Max said, but with no effect or response from Alec.
"Alec!" Max said louder.
Alec slowly turned towards Max. His gaze deadly and filled with pain, yet he tried to hide it.
"What do you want, Max?" Alec said slowly running his hand over his face.
"I've been looking for you," Max said.
"Well, you found me. Want a price?" Alec said taking a drink from his glass and walking past Max.
"Alec, what's going on? What happen? This place looks like a bomb went off," Max said turning around towards him.
"That's what happened. A bomb went off," Alec said pouring himself more scotch.
Max frowned. She didn't understand why Alec was acting like this.
"You know…now that you're here. I'd like to thank you." Alec said turning to face Max.
"Thank me? For what?" Max asked frowning.
"For talking to Isis about Rachel," Alec said taking a big gulp from his glass.
Max's frown went away as quickly as it came. Alec noticed and smiled.
"You know, I never expected this from you. Your nothing more than a selfish bitch only carrying about yourself and no one else," Alec spat.
"Excuse me," Max said getting angry now.
"You had no right to talk about Rachel," Alec said in a low, deadly tone.
"I only told Isis about what happened to Rachel, about how..,"Max never got a chance to finish, before Alec hurled his glass to the wall and the glass shattered.
Alec then blurred and grabbed a hold of Max's shoulder and pushed her hard onto the wall.
"You had no fuckin right to talk about her," Alec said in rage.
"Alec, let me go. Now," Max demanded.
"You talk as though you did nothing wrong. It was not your place to talk about her. You had no right to bring her up to Isis." Alec said in rage.
Max saw Alec going to punch her so she dodged it and punched him across the face. Alec then turned and punched her with all the anger he had inside him. Max pushed him off her and delivered a set of punches towards Alec. Alec dodged a few and punch Max back. They continued fighting, till Max landed a kick to the back of his knee, knocking Alec to fall on top of the broken glass that was on the floor. Max saw and she went to help him up when he pushed her hands away.
"DON'T!" Alec shouted.
Max saw Alec trying to hide the pain he was feeling, but she could see that it wasn't because of the broken glass on his back. Alec tried holding it together. The pain he was feeling from the glass didn't compare to what he was feeling inside.
"Just leave me alone," he said in a whisper.
Max couldn't believe it. Alec looked defeated. Something terrible must have happened for him to be like this.
"Alec, what happened?" she asked again, trying to find out what had caused Alec to be this way.
"It was my fault," Alec said slowly getting up from the floor.
Max saw Alec had a piece of glass in his hand. She saw the blood she had seen earlier on the floor was from the wound he had on his right hand. There were bandages that seem to be new, but were now starting to turn a dark shade of red. Alec just reached for the piece of glass and pulled it out. Fresh blood poured out of the new wound.
Max didn't understand why Alec was acting like this. He never reacted like this. Something must have set him off. He'd been acting different since the last rescue mission they had executed. It was than at that moment Max felt a rush of worry go through her.
"Is Isis okay?" Max asked.
Alec turned to look up at Max. He felt this urge to say something. This was eating him inside. But it wasn't his place to say. This was something Isis had confessed to him. Maybe not intentionally, but she had told him a secret. He knew about keeping secrets, so he knew he couldn't tell others.
"Everything that has happened to her…is my fault. I'm nothing more than a screw up," Alec said looking down at the floor.
"Don't say that," Max said.
"Why?" he said quickly frowning at Max as he looked back at her.
"That's what I am, right? A screw up? A smartass that can't do one simple thing right?" Alec said.
"Alec, what did you do to, Isis." Max said walking towards him.
Alec just stood his ground. He laughed at how Max always found him to be the cause of everything that went wrong.
"Just leave, Max. These are my demons, so just don't push it." Alec warned.
Max couldn't push this sensation of needing to protect Isis away. It was strange.
"Just answer one question. Is Isis okay?"
Max could see Alec's eyes sadden but quickly transform back into those Manticore eyes that hid every emotion or feeling away.
"I don't know." Alec answered sincerely.
Max could see he wasn't going to say anything more to her. So, she proceeded towards the door, but stopped before walking out of the apartment.
"I know I've always treated you like you were always in the way. A screw up, a moron, but…you're none of those things," Max said.
Alec stood there listening to her.
" I've always seen something more in you. I just wasn't willing to admit it because every time I saw you…I saw Ben." Max confessed.
Alec turned to look at Max.
"I know I shouldn't, but it was hard for me to look at you and not think about him. But you're not him. You're so different from him and you've proven to be one of the strongest, most trustworthy person... I know." Max said.
Alec stared at Max stunned at her confession. She looked at him and saw he looked broken. She didn't know what she could possibly say to make it all better. But she knew maybe what she was about to say might.
"What Manticore did to us all, is not something we could go back and change. If we could make things better, we might not be standing here at this very moment."
Alec looked at Max. He then walked towards the windows. He looked outside and saw it was starting to drizzle. If he had tried to disobey back then, Isis might have died. Just like Rachel.
Before Max left, she said one more thing that she felt she should say. It was as though it was rushing to get out of her. Like she needed to say it before she left.
"Go talk to her." Max said.
Alec thought about that. Isis must be suffering right now after confessing to him what had happened to her. Here he was drinking himself away trying to numb this guilt and pain he felt. But what he should really be doing is he should be by her side. Holding her and comforting her. Telling her everything will be alright. That he was here. That she had nothing to fear. That he was here and he wasn't going to ever leave her again.
""I don't know what to do anymore, Max." Alec said.
"You're smart, Alec. You'll know what's right. You'll know what to do. You always do." Max said.
And with that she walked out of the apartment. Leaving Alec to think about what he was going to do. He couldn't leave things between Isis and him like this. She had come back into his life for a reason. He wasn't going to let her go again. With that said Alec reached for his jacket and walked out of his apartment.
What'd you think? Where is Alec going to go? I am working on the next chapter. I am planning on updating every Sunday, but I might through in a few Tuesday or Thursday chapters since I don't work that day (but I do have school :( but I'll be writing). It's good to be back. Again sorry for the wait.