Author's notes: Yeah, I'm back. It has definitely been too long. This is idea I came up with awhile back. You know, the whole "ROYGBIV" business? Here are the rest of the color, starting with red. If any of you have any ideas, for any color at all, please tell me about them. So...on with the story.

Music Suggestions: 'Next contestant' by Nickelback, 'For a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic' by Paramore, 'No one' by Alicia Keys.

Disclaimer: Dark Angel is...not mine.

Red

'One would think that after all this time, other men would learn to back away from what wasn't his and find something that didn't already belong to an entirely too possessive transgenic man,' Alec thought to himself as yet another X5 thought he could take Max away from him. And all this was because he and Max hadn't "exclusively mated" as so many of the transgenic population were terming it these days.

"Back away from her. Now." Alec ordered in a low threatening tone as he came to stand in front of Max, his stance rigid and his eyes staring at the ground before the rogue transgenic Caden that was threatening Max. "She clearly isn't interested." If anyone had any common sense within the Seattle city limits, they could clearly see that both he and Max were the last two transgenics you wanted to deal with. Especially considering their two year old daughter, Pandora.

Because, next to Max, he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that threatened his baby girl.

"I don't believe you have the strength to stand behind such words." Caden retorted levelly, ignoring the cold glint that was glaring at him from Alec's death-inducing stare. "She is not yours to claim. Perhaps the child, but not the female behind you. Sure, you two have had...relations in the past, but there is no mark that puts her out-of-bounds." Caden continued conversationally, circling around Alec and Max as he spoke. "By the way, I've heard she's a real firecracker in bed. As wild as an animal during her heats. And you were always the type to share in the past. Why not this one? What makes her so special?" Caden finished as he came to stand before them once again with a smug look on his face.

"Because this female doesn't like to be owned." Max growled out from behind Alec, surging around him and landing a solid right hook between Caden's eyes as she finished speaking.

You see, sometimes letting boys have their pissing contests worked to a woman's advantage.

"This is funny. I bet you'll laugh when you hear it." Max continued conversationally as she knelt down beside the prone Caden, who moaned softly in response. Max's expression then turned serious as she brought her fist around. It's destination: the family jewels.

It really never did get old.

Caden gasped out, a pained high-pitched sound escaping his lips. Alec cringed and his arms swung up haphazardly in surprise, as if to defend himself from the blow as well. Recovering, Alec then strode over to Max and held his hand out to her.

"Jeez, Max. Couldn't you let me handle a situation just once? I am capable of doing so, you know." Alec asked reproachfully, a smile tugging at his lips in contradiction to his tone as he looked down at her.

Tisking him playfully, she took his extended hand and stood up. "You boys never learn, do you?" Max said haughtily as they walked away from the scene. "Sometimes all you need to settle a situation concerning a man seeing red is a woman's finesse."

ooooooouoo*oooooomooo*

Alec knew by now that the holidays made you do stupid and crazy things you wouldn't normally do. Especially when the woman you were doing said crazy things for was Max. And that for Christmas there was always a Santa required, but did she really think that he looked anything like Santa?

"Come on now, Max. Isn't this a little much? Why couldn't we just pin up a picture of Santa, exchange presents, and be done with it? It's not like there is actually a Santa Claus, anyway. Pandora is smart enough to have figured that out on her own by now." Alec complained as he tugged on the white beard and wig, trailing behind Max as she strode purposefully down the narrow walkway behind the stage in the community hall they'd established.

Max stopped in her tracks suddenly and spun around to face Alec, the red velvety Santa coat and stocking cap in her hands.

"Alec, stop arguing with me on this. I don't care if she knows better or not." Max said in a forceful tone, holding out the coat for him to slide his arms into. "We never had the chance to have all of this. The next generation will. So, go out there and be merry, damn it." Max finished emotively as she jammed the final piece, the red stocking hat, on his head and whirling him back around to face her to push him closer to the stage.

"Don't think I'm doing this just because you're pregnant again. That wasn't a heat cycle and you were the instigator. I just went along for the ride. Well...there was more than one..." Alec argued feebly as Max continued to shove him towards the stage where all the children were gathered.

"Are you kidding me?" Max exclaimed incredulously, her mood cranking up from mildly irritated to full-out pissed. "If you weren't so damned sexy and irresistible, I wouldn't have a problem with wanting to jump you all the time. I don't need you to raise Pandora. I just keep you around for looks. If you would just be..." Max trailed off at Alec's amused expression looking back at her. "Ooh, I can't believe I'm having this argument with you."

Max ended her diatribe with a sound crack to the side of his head, her lips pursing. Shouldn't he know not to work up a pregnant woman? "If I weren't seven months pregnant and unable to lift my legs past my stomach, I'd so kick your ass right now. I'll never understand why you won't just go away."

Alec turned around so that he was completely facing Max, the look on his face openly displaying the love and affection he felt for the woman before him. Placing the palm of one hand against her cheek in a placating gesture while the other rested lightly against her protruding belly, he said softly, "I'll never leave you. It doesn't matter what you do, you can't push me away. I'm just persistent like that." Resting his forehead against hers, he then said with a teasing half-smile, "I was just messing with you, you know."

Max closed her eyes and sighed deeply, the anger dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared. Her eyes reopened to stare up at him, returning his gaze.

"Go on and go now before we start losing them. I swear Manticore must have laced all of our DNA with ADD." Max joked lightly in response, jerking her head slightly in the direction of the stage. Her hand rose up and took his away from her face, squeezing it encouragingly before releasing it so he could move.

He backed away from her with a mischievous smirk and a salute before pivoting around and onto the stage overlooking the room packed with children ranging from three to fifteen in age.

As Max looked out from behind the curtain, she couldn't mistake her daughter's confused voice and laughed to herself as Pandora whispered to a friend, "Why is my daddy dressed so funny?"

ooooooxooo*oooooozooo*ooooooaooo

So...good? Bad? I know it's a lot shorter than "White", but at that time, I'd thought that that would be it and crammed as much in as I could. In later chapters, I intend to introduce two more of my original characters, playmates for Pandora. And I do intend for Pandora to be fully grown by the end of the color spectrum series. Anyway, I believe that's it for now. Until next time...