It's in the Genes

Author: Cheryl W.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or any rights to Dark Angel or Supernatural, nor am I making any profit from this story.

Summary: Crossover with DA and Supernatural -AU– It's the Winchesters who break Alec from jail in Hello/Goodbye and then they start road tripping together. No slash.

Author's Notes: Honestly I've reworked this chapter time and time again so I really hope the end product is OK.

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Chapter 6

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Alec didn't expect to be nervous, didn't expect to feel the knot of fear in his gut, to have his adrenaline pumping through him like danger was imminent. It was no big deal, him introducing Dean and Sam to Max, to Joshua, the dog boy, taking them on a tour through freak central, maybe putting them in the middle of a transgenic lynch mob, what with the warm fuzzy feelings going around for "ordinaries". He winced even as the word "ordinaries" went through his head, it was derogatory, was a put down and would never apply to Dean and Sam. Ever. And if anyone so much as gave them one hostile look…

"Alec …nervous?" Joshua asked his friend, watching the usually calm Alec pace back and forth in the sewer tunnel, run his hand through his hair as his eyes continually searched the tunnel for the 'guests' he was inviting to TC.

"What?" Alec gave a fabricated laugh. "Course not." But there was a flicker of fear in his eyes as they finally met Joshua's. Stepping closer to his friend, his eyes straying fleetingly to Max who stood back a few feet talking to Mole about some TC command issues, Alec swung his look back to Joshua. "Josh, these are my…"
"Friends," Joshua supplied helpfully.

But Alec found that the word was suddenly inadequate, painfully inept for describing the relationship he had with the two brothers, the way he felt about Dean, about Sam. Dropping his eyes from Joshua, he looked back to the tunnel, both anticipating and dreading the Winchesters' approach.

Realization came over Joshua and it both warmed his heart and made him feel a stab of jealously. "They are your family, aren't they Alec?" he gently asked, saw the way Alec spun around to face him, his eyes wide as if Joshua had uncovered a secret he had buried in the depths of his soul where he thought no one would ever find it.

"Josh.."Alec said, heart pounding, eyes flickering again to Max and back to Joshua. "They…we….I don't want them hurt because of me…because of what I am."

There was an unexpected level of understanding, of pain in the larger transgenic's eyes. "I know. What we are…it sometimes hurts the ones we want to protect."

Alec swallowed hard at Joshua's words, at the truth of them. Finding his hand sneaking into his pocket, gripping his cell phone, he was ready to call Dean and Sam, wave them off, to tell them that it wasn't the right time, the right place to meet up. Joshua's large but gentle hand settled on his shoulder, drew his attention again to his friend's warm gaze. "I'll help you protect them, Alec. And so will Max."

Some of the tension leaked out of Alec at Joshua's promise, at his belief that Max would also do whatever she could to shelter Dean and Sam from harm. Alec couldn't help but snort at the Winchesters' reaction if they learned that, not only was he trying to protect them, but so was a dog boy and, to coin one of Dean's phrases, a "hot chick".

Thoughts drawn to said "hot chick", Alec stepped closer to Joshua and spoke quietly. "So what's up with Max? What was that kiss me/hit me greeting about?"

"She missed you," Joshua stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Alec gave a bitter laugh. "Yeah, missed me? Max?! Come on, she would rather have all her teeth pulled than admit that." But then he tilted his head as he recalled her words of greeting to him. "Or not. Man, Josh, are you sure these toxic fumes aren't affecting her, making her develop, I don't know, extra personalities?"

"She was different without you around, Alec. Sad."

"Sad she didn't have her own personal punching bag," Alec mumbled, went to turn away and leave the conversation alone but Joshua gripped his arm, stopped his retreat.

"No, sad because she figured out her own heart." Watching the protest form in Alec, Joshua pressed on, knew his friends needed some help facing what was so obvious to him. "The virus, it went done, is gone."

"Ah…so her and Logan have been…" Alec smiled.

But Joshua shook his head, "Logan and Max are friends. Only."

"Right, the whole "we're not even like that" story. Joshua, when women…"

"No," Joshua firmly cut Alec off. He remembered the look on Max's face when she visited him in Terminal City a few days after the virus was gone…after Alec was gone.

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"Oh Joshua it doesn't make any sense! I have everything I've ever wanted now…and I'm miserable."

"Virus gone. You and Logan getting…"

"I couldn't," she breathed, shot him almost an embarrassed look. "I thought that would make everything OK, would make everything alright."

"But everything not alright?" Joshua prodded, though he had an idea what was truly bothering his friend.

"Why is he always ruining my life? Coming back when I got a handle on things, leaving when my happily ever after is in sight."

"Who?" he innocently asked, knew that she needed to say his name. That she had purposefully not mentioned Alec since Cindy had given her the message that he had left town and her face had morphed into shock.

"Alec!" as if Joshua was a fool not to know the bane of her existence.

"Virus gone, Alec gone. Logan still here.." and then he took a step forward, tapped her heart, "but not here." His gentle eyes met hers, saw the truth register in her.

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Caught off guard by Joshua's forceful protest, Alec raised his hands as if in surrender, "Fine, if you understand women better than I do, more power to you, buddy."

"You and Max, you need to talk. And you need to listen…even to what she doesn't say."

"Ah, yeah," Alec sarcastically shot back. "That's the names she actually holds back from calling me aloud. But trust me, I already got them easily figured out from her expressions." Then, picking up a sound coming from down the tunnel, he swung around, breathed out, "Here they come," and wondered how his friends and yes, his family would get along. Sensing Mole's departure and Max slipping to his side, Alex mumbled, as Dean and Sam came into sight, "My first family reunion. This ought to be interesting."

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As they approached Alec, Dean leaned close to Sam, "Told you the big guy looked like Chewbacca."

"Dean.." Sam hissed in warning, felt like he was dealing with a child sometimes when it came to his big brother. "These are Alec's friends."

"Hey I liked Chewbacca! Way better than the Ewoks and Yoda, any day," Dean defended, as if it was Sam who had slighted the tall, hairy man who stood beside Alec. Pulling on a smile as he and Sam finally came to a stop in front of Alec and his two friends, Dean couldn't help worriedly check out Alec. There had been something in the younger man's voice when he called them with instructions on where to meet up.

"Max, Josh, this is Dean and this is Sam," Alec introduced, purposefully omitting the brother's last names. Because, though he trusted Max and Joshua, he didn't want to take any chances of the Feds learning that the Winchesters were adding to their criminal record by consorting with Transgenic mutants…or have it leaked that the infamous Winchesters were holing up in Terminal City.

Sensing how much Alec respected these men, valued what they thought of him..of his friends, Max smiled, greeted them with a warm, "Nice to meet you," made it formal by shaking first Dean's then Sam's hand. But she found it hard not to gawk at Dean, because, crap, it seemed impossible but Alec was only going to get better looking with age.

Joshua, however was less restrained with his greeting. "Alec's family is our family," he said right before he enveloped Sam into a bear hug. He gave Sam a good squeeze to reassure the man that he truly meant his words.

"Thanks," Sam wheezed out as he was released by Joshua, gave the dog man a friendly but awkward pat on the arm.

When Joshua turned to Dean, was about to treat him to the same enthusiastic welcome, Alec blurred in front of his transgenic friend, put his hands on Joshua's chest, halting him. "Whoa, there, Josh. Dean's more the ….handshake kind of guy."

Undeterred by the request, Joshua nodded, "Ok" and side stepped Alec.

Standing still, seeing that the tension he noted in Dean when Joshua hugged Sam hadn't dissipated, Alec uttered up a small plea. 'Ah please, don't let there be bloodshed.'

Though he hadn't given any ground when Joshua had headed for him after releasing Sam, Dean was grateful for Alec's interference. He liked Chewbacca, yeah, didn't mean he wanted to get his ribs broken being hugged by him. Holding out his hand, keeping his polite smile in place, he met Joshua's gaze as the tall, less hairy and dog like man than he envisioned stood before him. He saw intelligence and compassion in the tall transgenic's eyes.

"You're the first…like me," Joshua pointed out.

Dean raised his eyebrows at that, tilted his head, had to expend more effort to keep his smile in place.

"You take care of your little brothers, you took care of Alec," Joshua continued, saw something like surprise flash in the man's eyes who looked so much like Alec but in so many ways was nothing like the transgenic.

Face flaming with embarrassment, Alec came up behind Joshua, put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, well now that the introductions have been made…"

"Course. That's a big brother's job, right?" Dean replied, his smile honest now. Then Joshua laughed and shook his hand, practically pulling his arm from its socket in his enthusiasm.

"Right, you doing your job," Joshua repeated, understanding why Alec obviously liked this man so much, liked Sam so much. Dropping Dean's hand, he stepped back, flanked Alec, a smile still on his features.

Clamping his hands together, Alec said, "Alright then. How about a tour of Freak Central?" as if he were an enthusiastic tour guide.

"Lead on," Dean encouraged with a wave of his hand down the tunnel. Then the five of them began walking toward the underground entrance to TC. Alec shot a worried glance over his shoulder, afraid to see Dean's true expression but the older man was eyeing the tunnel walls, inspecting the "fortifications" with the intensity he devoted to a hunt. Sam, on the other hand, turned to Joshua who walked at this side, and offered up a smile. "Down here you must hit your head a lot. Dean laughs every time he walks under a tree limb and I hit it."

Feeling less like he was going to toss his cookies, Alec returned his look to the tunnel ahead, felt Max's attention on him. "What?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

"Just you," Max answered, a soft smile on her lips.

"Just me what?" Alex pressed, though he knew that was always his mistake with Max, asking her to say what was on her mind, opening himself up for her put down.

Shrugging but not losing the smile, Max returned, "Nothing…just…you with them. It's kinda …."

"What?" Alec demanded, a sharpness to his tone and a warning in his eyes. He would accept Max slamming him but he wouldn't tolerate her badmouthing the Winchesters.

"Well, if you must know, it's kinda… cute," Max admitted, bestowing a smirk on Alec that reached her eyes.

Alec stumbled at Max's words but quickly regained his balance before her outstretched hand could aid him. "Cute?!" he hissed lowly, like she had called him the worst name possible.

"Yeah, in that whole, little-brother-I'm-in-awe-of-my-big-brothers kind of way. If I didn't already have a thing for you, this might have pushed me over the edge," she taunted with a sexy smile before purposefully outpacing him.

"Wait, a thing…you have a thing for me. What's that suppose to mean?" Alec called, speeding up so he could match her pace.

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As far as strategic headquarters, Dean was impressed with TC. Goodness knows, his father's idea of a strategic meeting was giving him a grim smile as they stood outside doors they were soon going to bust down and take out whatever evil lurked inside. Sometimes they even had a plan. He was glad Sam liked plans, that his younger brother rarely bulked against following his lead, was proud that Sam devised a lot of their winning game plans. Now, watching Alec stand in front of the gathered group of transgenics, Dean realized Alec was no slouch in the strategy planning either. No slouch at all.

"All I'm saying is that hiding here won't change anything out there," Alec stated, pointing to the world that beckoned behind the Terminal City limits. "You want to stay trapped here, locked in here, forever. Then fine. But if you want to earn the right to be free, to be out there, you have to make them see that we're not evil."

A heckler called from the crowds, "Yeah, and how do we do that! They take one look at our faces and they run screaming."

Another added, "Course you don't understand that problem do you X5."

"Biggs was an X5, just like me. The only disfigurement he had was the barcode on the back of his neck. And they strung him up, beat him to death. They hate all of us because they fear us. They know we're different and they are terrified we're going to use our abilities against them. We have to prove them wrong."

"How?" Max asked, coming to stand at his side, yearning and challenge mingled in the one word.

"By being what Manticore taught us to be," Alec firmly revealed.

"What?" Max exclaimed in outrage.

But Alec turned toward all the gathered Manticore transgenics, spoke to them. "We were created to help people, to protect this nation, to defend its people against threats, to protect this nation's liberties." Pointing to an X5 male in the crowd, he said, "You were in my unit when we put down that terrorist cell that placed a bomb in that shopping center." Pointing to another familiar, yet lizardlike face, he recalled, "You were the one who was equipped to clean up the nuclear spill two years ago outside New York City." Facing the crowd as a whole he continued, "Manticore recovered five kidnapped persons, stopped nine assassination attempts on the President's life, saved more towns from being wiped out by natural disasters than I could count. We are the good guys here. No matter what we look like. We did heroic, good things and we should be honored for that. And we can do them again."

"Alec…they won't give us a chance to prove ourselves," Max countered. "We leave out that front gate, they'll kill us. No trial, no jury. And White is making sure we're painted out to be horrific killing machines."

"We don't go out the front gate, we go out the tunnels, we don't reveal ourselves as transgenics until we've saved the day. We make them grateful, one natural disaster, one terrorist attack, one cat rescued out of a tree, at a time. I'm not saying it will be easy or quick but it's a start."

"White will undo all the good press.." Max predicted.

"Won't if he's dealing with bad press of his own," Alec returned with a smile, looked over to Dean and the wattage turned up as a thank you for the older man's advice on the matter of White. "The second we're on the news with good press, as soon as White thinks TC is vulnerable because too many of us are away doing the Good Samaritan routine, he'll attack. And we'll be ready for him…with our defenses and a news crew out front seeing their "government" at work, attacking the transgenics who just saved the day."

"We can do this. If we bide our time, see the opening we need, we can start to sway their opinions of us. Maybe start to sway our opinions about ourselves."

For a moment silence reigned and Dean felt his chest tighten, was stopped from speaking, defending Alec and his plan by Sam's hand slipping around his arm. Looking to Sam, he read Sam's lips more than heard his brother's too soft words. "Just wait, Dean."

Standing on the stage, facing Alec, Max knew that her decision would carry a lot of weight, that lives were at stake, not just hers but everyone's in Terminal City, every transgenic's life out there in the world. Turning to the awaiting crowd, she spoke the words that had made their new nation a democracy. "Alright. Let's put it to the vote, people. Everyone up for Alec's plan, raise a hand."

Even before Max could raise her own hand, she saw hands slipping up throughout the room, some boldly, some with hesitantly, until it was a sea of raised hands.

"Opposed," she offered and there were a scattering of votes that way but Max was smiling as she looked to Alec, saw the happiness warring with his new weight of responsibility in his eyes. "Looks like we're a go for Operation Good Samaritan."

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TBC

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Honestly, I know "Alec's" plan is a pie in the sky concept but I believe change and acceptance are earned by single events. I know I've judged people by appearance because we've been taught that that is our first, "best" technique for gauging someone's threat to us. But time and time again I've been proven so wrong,…but I still need proof. I still haven't learned to toss away what seems ingrained in me. But I'm not stubborn enough or foolish enough to not change my mind, value someone who has turned out to be an awesome person…no matter my first impressions of them. Ok enough of my rambling explanation. I just hope you don't laugh me off ffnet for my lame solution to social prejudices….

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

I do promise that the next chapter has more Dean and Sam.

Have a great evening!

Cheryl W.