Author's Note: Hey you guys! (Goonies flashback) This chapter is quite a mouthful. It starts off kinda sad, but I didn't know how else to get around it. It's background for the first of my two boys being brought into the story, Sebastian. My other, Mason, also gets introduced in this chapter. But only just in passing, for I've got plans for him and his background in the next few upcoming chapters. And just so you know, those two songs by Nickelback, I may have borrowed a line or two and plugged them into my story. It's fairly obvious when you see it if you've heard either song. On with the story!

Music Suggestions: 'I'd come for you' and 'Never be alone' by Nickelback.

Disclaimer: Short and simple: Dark Angel is not mine.

Orange

The color orange was recognized in Terminal City as a symbol for lost children. For so long, it seemed as if parents and parental-like guardians were being killed off daily, leaving young X-generations behind with no one to turn to.

There was no telling how many had been taken away or unable to find TC and abandoned; defenseless in a world that was no closer to giving up its hatred and discrimination than it had in the mid-20th century. Some children wanted to run away. Run away from their problems, not knowing any better as well as unknowing of the pain and influx of new problems they created in the ones they left behind.

At the time she'd first considered it, Max honestly hadn't known what to do. What could they do, how could they determine in an inconspicuous way, which children even wanted to be found if they were alone in the world? She remembered something that people used to do in the late 20th, early 21st century before the crash. They would designate colors to certain groups and affiliations. Pink for breast cancer. Green camo for the army. And so forth. If it had enough support, it seemed to be given a color to represent it. For people to be aware. And to remember.

That had given her the idea. From what she could recall, she couldn't remember seeing orange anywhere. She knew it had something to do with road construction in the past, but since the economy collapsed, there was no need to build or rebuild highways. So the color went into disuse. Until she came along and made it theirs. For abandoned Manticore children. If a child was seen wearing orange or it was painted on a door, the child – or children – were assumed to be orphaned and taken in by someone who would care for them.

The decree caught on quickly. It was practically forbidden to wear the color in any other sense short of Halloween. Personally, she'd never much worn or liked the color, anyway. However, she hadn't realized how saddening the color would become.

Especially on the day they found Sebastian...

"Daddy, why is Bastian sitting on the curb like that?" Pandora asked innocently, balanced on Alec's hip in a tight embrace. She pointed in the direction he and Max weren't looking in, having been in the midst of a heated discussion on their foremost topic of commonality: their daughter.

Shortly after the incident at Jam Pony involving the birth of Gem's daughter, Eve, Cece had confessed to Max that she was pregnant. With Biggs' child. Having had no more injuries or fatalities after Alec had been shot, once they made it to Terminal City, Cece had no idea what to do or where to go. After finding out about Biggs' gruesome and cruel death, Cece having not yet discovered she was pregnant, had expected her demise to not be far behind. Jam Pony happened a few weeks later. During the siege, she had finally put all the pieces together.

Needless to say, she had made damned sure that she would survive. Because it hadn't been just about her any longer. That baby was going to survive. Come hell or high water. Or high-end Familiars, as the case turned out to be.

Eight months and three days later, she had a precious little baby boy to nurture and raise. Just about the most adorable little baby you ever would see. Coal black hair and already the near-identical features of his father, the only feature he carried of his mother was her eyes: the clearest blue eyes that could penetrate the most hardened female and turn her to putty in his hands. Needless to say, the boy was going to break more that a few hearts when he grew up.

That was almost six years ago. And it'd been just her and Sebastian, along with a few close friends, against the world.

"Like what, sweet?" Max asked, returning to the present and looking in the direction her daughter was pointing. Her expression morphed into a mixture of sadness and confusion when she spotted him.

Sebastian was wearing an orange pullover hoodie and matching stocking hat, the hair that usually hung loosely to his shoulders leaving his face exposed as tears leaked silently down his otherwise expressionless face.

"Oh my God, Alec." Max said furtively, gripping his free arm in a death grip as she dragged him across the street to where Sebastian sat forlornly.

"Sebastian! Oh my God, Sebastian!" Max cried out urgently, kneeling down beside him and pulling the hat off his head. "What happened?"

At Max's concerned tone, Sebastian's face crumbled. Springing up into her outstretched arms, he started sobbing into her shoulder. Alec set Pandora down on her own two feet to kneel down beside Max, a frown marring his features. It could only mean one thing.

Cece wasn't coming back and Sebastian was all alone.

"M-mom sent the emergency page code. She's dead and I don't know where she is." Sebastian said, stuttering as he tried to stave off the crying.

Pandora stepped forward, wrapping her tiny arms around his back, and leaned against him as she started to cry as well.

"My mommy and daddy will find your mommy. If she's still out there, they'll find her and bring her back. Because mommies and daddies never truly disappear." Pandora said fiercely. Alec sent Max a pained expression as his daughter attempted to comfort her best friend. The chances of finding Cece alive were slim, if completely nonexistent. In today's harsh world, they'd be lucky to find out what had even happened to her in the first place.

"C'mon. Let's go home." Alec said, pulling everybody back up on their feet. Refusing to let go of his hand, Pandora walked alongside Sebastian with her hand tightly encasing his. Alec and Max stood on either side of the two children, each holding a hand as they turned in the opposite direction back towards their apartment. The air of sadness clung to them the whole way.

They were never able to find Cece. Not even her body.

oooouoooono*ooooaooowo*

A carved out pumpkin appeared in Max's line of vision when she looked up from the paperwork she was consumed in, starting when a voice floated up from behind it.

"Marry me, Max."

"Jeez, Alec! What the hell?" Max chastised, holding a hand towards her chest. Then her face morphed into confusion. "What is with the pumpkin?"

"I want you to marry me, Max." Alec answered eagerly, honestly. "It's been too long already, just over five years and three babies later, and we already live together and everything. What better time to do so than Ol' Hallows Eve?"

"Seriously?" Max asked, amusement evident in her tone.

"Yes, Max. I've been thinking it all out for awhile now." Alec continued excitedly, placing the pumpkin on the table in front of her as he started to pace. "It could double as a costume party and we can dress as a bride and groom. Hell, we can even be undead if you're up for it. We can even hold it at night. But, men know by now how seriously women can take their wedding day, so we could do it Halloween day if you'd like. Come on, Max. It'll be so much fun. Admit it." Alec finished authoritatively, placing both hands on either side of the pumpkin and staring at Max resolutely.

"Alright," Max said begrudgingly, "It does sound kind of cool. And it would save money condensing the two parties, as it were, into one. And I have no problem with it being at night. It's kind of fitting, actually. Being atypical to the norm is kind of what we do." Max then stood up and made her way around the desk, stepping into his open embrace and locking her arms around his neck. Looking up into his gaze impishly, she continued. "You know what? Let's do it.

"But I want a big shiny diamond on my finger before we go anywhere." Max finished teasingly, holding up her left hand and pointing to it.

"I just knew you had a secret thing for diamonds." Alec teased in return, pulling a flat jewelry box from his back pocket and kneeling down in front of her. "That's why I came prepared."

ooooowoooo*oooosooooco*

"Mommy, why can't I dress up like a zombie corpse bride?" Pandora asked in a whiny tone, frowning at the frilly pastel fairy costume Max had just finished dressing the just-turned five year old in.

"Pandora, sweet. This is the costume you picked out, remember?" Max chided, attaching the gauzy wings to her daughter in front of the mirror.

"But that's before I saw your costume, Mommy. It's so much more...zombie-ish. Do I still have to wear this? I look too much like a girly in this costume." Pandora replied plaintively. "Sebastian's going as a pirate and so is Mason." Pandora continued, Mason being Logan and Asha's two year old. "I want to be a pirate. Can I be a pirate instead?"

"No, Pandora." Max refused with a chuckle. "I need my little flower girl to be all light and full of cuteness. You are my antithesis. How I looked before my...undeadness. Can you do that for me?" Max asked seriously, holding back the smile as she knelt down in front of her daughter's pouting face.

"Alright. I guess." Pandora grumbled, looking down and shuffling her feet, pulling at a loose thread on her dress. She then looked back up at Max with a resolute expression, much too serious for a girl her age. "But no more of this girly-girl business henceforth. I've got two boys for friends and a rep to protect." Pandora finished seriously, a firm nod completing the statement.

Max laughed out loud at her daughter's serious declaration. If she only knew. "Come here, sweet. I still need to put your fairy dust on."

ooooaooouo*oooomooooao*

"Who'd have thought we'd end up here today? Together at the altar?" Alec whispered to Max, leaning into her slightly as Cindy, now a certified minister just for the occasion, began the opening words for the ceremony. "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"You're telling me." Max whispered back, a slight smile tugging at her lips. Pure happiness radiating throughout her entire being. "Who'd have thought? The playboy smart-aleck and the frigid ice queen leader of the transgenics. It certainly wasn't a match made in heaven, that's for sure."

"That's what Manticore was for." Alec continued in a hushed tone, half-teasing, half-serious. "They made both you and me and brought us together. Better than fate."

"Would you two please focus? I can't get you two hitched if you're not paying attention." OC said in a chastising tone, shaking her head as she smiled. The large crowd that had gathered for the union all chuckled lightly.

"Can't have that, now can we?" Alec said with a straight face. Max snorted in response.

"Anyway...as I was saying," OC continued seriously, stepping back slightly. "It's time for your vows."

"Ooh, me first." Alec said eagerly before Max could even consider responding first. OC rolled her eyes and gestured for him to go first.

Turning to Max, he turned her to face him as well, taking both of her hands in his. "First off, I have no idea what I'm supposed to say or if I'm even doing this right. But OC advised me to just speak straight from the heart, so that's what I'm gonna do." Alec said, nodding in OC's direction, pausing to take a deep breath to calm his nerves. "For the longest time, I was blindfolded, only seeing what could benefit me. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't let anyone else in. But I always saw you, always listened. Since the day I first met you, you held something over me. I could never figure it out. You told me to stay, to fight when I wanted to run. You told me to be honest and straight-laced when I wanted to lie and steal. And I did what you told me. Because I felt I needed to make it up to you.

"And then my mind and heart started closing. I was losing myself to my past. No one else could have brought me back from that. You did. Because you told me to. Later on, in one moment, I almost destroyed everything. Thought I almost destroyed everything because I wasn't strong enough. As it turns out, it was the best thing that could have happened to both of us." Alec paused again and looked down fondly at Pandora standing beside Max, blowing her hair out of her face and twisting the wings on her back as if they annoyed her. He brought his gaze back up to Max, whose eyes were starting to glisten as if she were about to cry. "Now I know what it means to let someone in. And all I need from life is just one more moment with you. I'll do anything to make sure every moment I still have life in me, you will as well. No matter what gets in my way. I'll always come for you. But only if you tell me to." Alec finished, wiping away the stray tear that had escaped from Max's eye with the pad of his thumb, ducking his head down slightly almost self-consciously.

The entire crowd sat speechless. More than a few gaped with open mouthed expressions. Almost every woman in the room, transgenic, nomaly, and ordinary alike was tearing up and dabbing at her eyes with tissues.

"Oh my God." OC whispered in a hushed tone, staring in amazement at Alec. Nods and words of agreement floated up to the front of the room from everyone else.

"Max?" Alec said hesitantly, his head tilting to one side as he brushed his hand along her cheek. Max blinked slowly a few times as if coming out of a trance.

"Wow." Max breathed out, drawing in a deep breath afterwards. "There is no way I can compete with that." Max continued lightly to break the seriousness settling on the room. Alec smirked slightly in response.

"OC, help her out please." Alec directed at OC.

"Get the lead out, boo. We ain't got all night here." OC ordered, giving Max an impatient glare. Max stared at her impudently for a moment before turning back to Alec.

"Ask me five minutes after I met you whether or not I'd want to marry you someday. And I'd have kicked your crazy ass to the curb." Max began, giving Alec a droll stare. "I couldn't stand you. You mocked everything I believed in. You slept around. You stole whatever you wanted, regardless of who it was from. You lied and cheated constantly. And you just wouldn't go away." Max continued heatedly, the disbelief and impatience from so long ago lacing her words. Alec couldn't stop smirking at her as she spoke.

"But then things started to change. You started to change. And I started seeing just who you were. Believing in you. You were always there when I needed an extra pair of hands. A shoulder to lean on when my emotional roller coaster put me through a loop. We both started opening up. Trusting each other. Then one day you went away, and it felt like my soul was inside out. I didn't understand how my feelings could have changed so dramatically. But they did. And I didn't know what to do about them. So I lied. To you and everyone. I couldn't lose you, by then you meant too much. Slowly but surely, I started closing up, started building the walls up around my heart and my mind. And you let me. Later on, when I asked you why, you said it was 'because you told me to'. It was then that I knew that I was in love with you. Fell for sure right then. It meant that you could see what I was doing. But you knew it was something I wanted to figure out on my own. I should have realized then your love for me. The strength of it. How pure and unrelenting it truly was. But I couldn't. Because I wasn't ready to.

"However, something wonderful happened that neither of us could have predicted. Someone who was determined to set her parents straight." At this, Max paused to look down at Pandora, patting the top of her head to draw her attention from sticking her tongue out at Sebastian, who was relentlessly teasing her about her dress. Pandora smiled up at her mother innocently as Max's finger trailed down her daughter's cherub-like face. Max looked back at Alec, whose face was now completely serious, staring at her intently. "Now I don't know what I'd do without either one of you. You're my world. Time keeps moving by so fast, and now I regret not spending all of it with you. So for as long as I can, I'm holding on with both hands from this moment on. Now that I've got you, Pandora, Chase, and Cameron, I've got everything I'll ever need. Just in case you didn't know." Max finished, scrunching up her nose slightly with a smile as she looked over at Logan and Asha, who were each holding what looked like giant M&Ms. Max and Alec's newest eight-month old additions to their expanding family.

Surprised by Max's rather long-winded speech as well, OC stared on at her closest friend. They had both grown so much. Alec and Max had both come a long way to end up where they were today. And she doubted they'd have it any other way.

"I'm so proud of you both." OC announced, gesturing for Sebastian to come forward. The Jack Sparrow impersonator came forward with the rings, holding them up with a somber expression for OC to take. Pandora smiled at him understandingly as OC passed the rings to Max and Alec.

After the rings were in place, they both looked to OC expectantly.

"Yes, I now pronounce you two officially married. Go on and kiss the bride already." OC said impatiently, stepping away from them with a smile. "Lord knows it took you two long enough."

The world faded around them as Alec's hands cupped Max's face, her hands resting on top of his as they met in the middle with a tender kiss.

oooooooroo*ooooooxooo*ooovooaooe*

Is anyone crying yet? It's alright. It's a happy cry. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed it. The vows came out a lot easier than I thought. I hadn't even planned on writing an actual wedding scene. I can only hope it came off as well I think it did. Yes, I know I got a little sappy. What can I say? I've never actually been to a wedding and I let my imagination get away from me. Subject change. Try and guess where I got the names Chase and Cameron! Oh come on, it isn't hard. (I've been borrowing way too much lately). Anyway. I'm now going to try and shift my focus onto Pandora and her life. I really like how this story is playing out in my mind. So with that...until next time...