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: Ok, as you've noticed I'm an Alec/Max hopeful. So be warned, I'm not only a sap but a romantic too. And I'm also an action junkie…Do my bad traits never end?!

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Chapter 7

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Leaning in the doorway, Alec watched Dean as he instructed five young X series how to play poker.

Sensing that someone was watching him, Dean turned and saw Alec, gave a slow, 'you caught me in the act' smile. Focusing back to his young students, he said, "Alright, lessons done for today. Tomorrow we'll go over bluffing."

Walking into the room as the younger soldiers shuffled out, abuzz with their new knowledge, Alec drawled, with a smile, "Ah Poker. The combat training Manticore forgot to teach us."

"It's a valuable survival skill," Dean defended with mock gruffness as he shuffled the deck like the card shark he was. "Sammy and I would have starved without it," he added, his smile all swagger and no regret.

Alec smiled but Dean saw that it didn't reach the younger man's green eyes. Setting the cards down, Dean leaned against the table, studied Alec who was now purposefully not meeting his eyes. "Soooo.. You going to tell me what's bothering you?"

Alec's head snapped up at that and he denied glibly, with a smile, "Bothering me? Nothing's bothering me."

"Uh huh," Dean said, nodding his head, his eyes intently on Alec, his disbelief evident. "Sam lies better than you do."

Dropping his pretense and his smile, Alec came to a stop in front of Dean, met the older man's eyes head on. "You and Sam are going to leave soon, aren't you?"

"What? No…" Dean denied. But a second later, he backed down, qualified, "Well not yet." He had to face facts. His time was running out and Sam was starting to pace around like a caged animal with every day that passed, that got him closer to his deal's payment date.

"Sam told Joshua that you couldn't stay much longer," Alec revealed, his steadfast tone and look telling Dean that he wouldn't fall for a half truth.

Abandoning his "relaxed" pose, Dean stood up, sighed. "Yeah, that's true. I was honestly hoping we could help you with the White situation before we left. If we could do some recon, figure out where his compound is…"

Alec gave a smile and spoke lightly but there was steel in his eyes. "See, I remember having this discussion before."

"Yeah and I'm hoping you'll listen to me this time," Dean bluntly returned, his frustration showing.

"That's almost funny because I was thinking the same thing about you," Alec countered, his smile in place but the resolve in his eyes had grown only harder. "We're waiting until White makes a move against TC and when he does…" Dean opened his mouth to protest but Alec's voice dropped to a menacing tone as he continued. "When he does, Dean, you and Sam are going to stay in the command area, manning the radios, watching the security cameras."

"I'm not going to be coddled, Alec!" Dean growled back. "I'm not some green soldier facing his first battle."

"No. But this is my war, Dean. I followed your lead hunting because you were better trained for it. I expect you to follow my lead now. I'm better trained for this war and you know it," Alec stated, felt his heart pounding in his chest, worried that this would be the break in the bond he felt with Dean, with Sam. But he couldn't put them in danger just because he was worried they wouldn't like him telling them what to do, would get their egos bruised if he led them this time.

It had been nearly two years since Dean had obediently followed his father's leadership without question, had given his father respect, not only because he was his father but because he was the better hunter. It was what his father had taught him to do, to always let the more experienced hunter lead, to not let his ego get him killed. And Dean realized that was what Alec was asking of him, to let the more experienced hunter lead. "Fine. Sam and I will stay in command but if I see you're getting overrun…"

Alec smiled, "By all means come bail my butt out of the fire," felt relief surge though him at Dean's unexpected capitulation to his taking up the mantle of leader. "Course you can't do that if you're not here…" he drawled, shooting Dean a look that almost matched the pleading one Sam knew how to level at him when he wanted to coerce his big brother.

Dean smirked, "Well, then start wishing for a natural disaster to rescue the nation from, kiddo, 'cause I'm on a time limit."

Before Alec could press Dean for an explanation for his words, Joshua came running into the room, panted as he spoke. "Ash, fires…Mount Saint Helens. Max says it's…….D day."

Dean looked to Alec with a raised eyebrow, "Dude, that's some strong wishing mojo you got going on."

But there was a tenseness in Alec, a weight that was settling on his shoulders at the knowledge that his plan was going into play, that every transgenic's life was in his hands. When he felt Dean's hand fall onto his shoulder and give it a squeeze, Alec looked at Dean, knew that, though the older man was allowing him to take the lead, he had his back. Would defend him against all comers and do whatever he could to see that his plan was successful, would do anything to keep safe the people Alec cared about most. Alec couldn't help one fleeting worry: that Dean wasn't perceptive enough to include himself in that tally.

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With Mount Saint Helens coming to life again, leaking lava, spewing ash, causing forest fires, burning homes, taking lives, it was truly time for Operation Good Samaritan to go into effect. In the sewer tunnels of Seattle, the team that Max and Alec had quickly put together were gathered with any features that would give them away as being transgenics concealed.

"Well, it's what we wanted," Max said, looking up at Alec, a grim smile on her face. "A big press story. We can't stop the eruption but, since some of our group can withstand pretty much heat, we can help head the lava off at the pass. The rest of us can help put out the fires and help trapped people evacuate. Then when the hallelujahs and standing ovations begin, we'll reveal ourselves, let 'em know that a bunch of freaks saved their butts and they'll just have to deal with that."

"That's the plan," Alec said distractedly, eyes flickering to the gathered team, his stomach churning. Wishing he was going with them even as he feared that the worst battle might be waged right there in TC, that he had miscalculated, was about to get everyone killed. Max's hand on his cheek brought his eyes flying to hers.

"It's a good plan, Alec. The PR stuff and the White trap," Max encouraged, her conviction shining in her eyes.

"If I'm wrong…" Alec began.

"No battle is ever totally won or totally lost for either side. Even if we just keep White at the perimeter and we have to do a hasty retreat after our Good Samaritan stunt, we'll have earned something for ourselves. Pride," Max said, looking up to meet his eyes. "It means a lot, Alec. It's what I couldn't figure out how to give them."

"You would have found a way," Alec assured.

But Max shook her head, "I don't think so." Then her eyes softened as they held Alec's, her hands coming to rest on his chest. "I know I've treated you horribly, Alec, made you think I didn't value your opinions, your experiences… I was fighting you so hard because …I don't even know why. I was so set on me and Logan getting together…"

Alec caught her hands in his grasp and pulled back from her. "Let's not talk about this now, Max."

But Max ripped her hands from his grip, stood defiantly before him. "Then when, Alec? Every time I try to talk to you, you immerse yourself in some training exercise or supply recon mission or…something. I won't break if you tell me that you don't have feelings for me," she stated, but the vulnerability in her eyes contradicted her words.

"Max," Alec gave a lighthearted, but frustrated laugh. "Excuse me if I don't start writing you love poems just because this month you think you're in love with me."

"Think? Think?!" Max repeated back heatedly.

"I get that you and Logan…well it didn't pan out for you two," Alec tried to gently categorize Max's on-again off-again relationship with the cyber journalist. "And now you're feeling … I don't know, a little lost, maybe a bit lonely and then I show up. Me with my charm and my gorgeousness…"

Max punched Alec in the shoulder and began stalking down the tunnel, cursing herself for opening herself up, for allowing herself to fall for a guy that had more perimeter sentries than Manticore. 'Fool will probably get himself killed just to avoid what's between us.'

"Well good luck!" Alec called out, giving a wave to Max's back and shaking the hands of some of the other transgenics as the team started moving out. He gave Joshua a pat on the chest. "Stay safe, Josh," he bade, meeting the taller transgenic eyes, hoping that his friend would heed his words.

"Alec stay safe too," Joshua returned with seriousness, worry in his brown eyes as he reached out, gave Alec's cheek a gentle pat with his huge hand before he started after the departing team.

But as Alec watched the team head down the tunnel, he frowned when Max halted in her tracks. He watched with trepidation as she dropped her bag and stalked back to him. "Great, now what?" he muttered under his breath, bracing for round five thousand five hundred with the hot tempered X5.

"Let's get something straight between us," Max growled, managing to seem menacing even when her small stature was face to face with all of Alec's 6" frame. "I'm not lost, I'm not on the rebound. I broke things off with Logan. Me."

Alec raised his hands in acceptance, "If that's the story you're selling.."

Max reached forward, grabbed the lapels of Alec's jacket. "Listen and listen clearly because I'm only saying this once…today." But then her eyes softened, became the eyes, not of a soldier, but of a woman, a woman in love and her voice came out soft, tender, was a tone she had never used with Alec before, barely used with anyone. "I don't want Logan. I don't want another transgenetic, or an ordinary. I want you, Alec."
"Why? Why, Max?" Alec asked earnestly, a vulnerability in his tone, in his eyes. Max's affection, it was unexpected, had slipped past his barriers, was making him consider resurrecting a part of himself that he had buried after his mission with Rachel Berrisford.

"Because I missed you, because no one makes me madder…or happier than you." A true smile lit up Max's face. "Because you're a jerk and one of the kindest persons I know. Because you're so hard to look at…" she said on a laugh at even the notion of calling him ugly. Slowly, she slipped her hand to his face and gently stroked his cheek. Going up on her tiptoes she found Alec meeting her half way, his kiss gentle, giving, filling a void in her that she had despaired would never be mended. As he wrapped his arms around her, drew her closer, deepened their kiss, she moaned in pleasure, nearly purred.

When they broke their kiss, both of them were breathing hard. Max's smile was blinding as she pulled back slightly, trailed her hand gently down his face before removing her touch. "So how 'bout neither one of us gets ourselves killed today, alright. Give this thing between us a chance."

"Seems like a reasonable request," Alec drawled, but there was a tenderness overshadowing the brazen smile that he offered to her. Giving her a quick kiss, he released her, tried hard to memorize her smile, the smile she had just for him. Then he watched as she turned around, walked away, scurried to catch up with the departing team and took her place beside Joshua.

Alec nearly jumped when Sam spoke behind him.

"Looks like Dean was right. You don't have his charm…you have mine."

Looking to Sam as he came to his side, Alec asked, "Is that the good news or the bad?"

"Depends which Winchester you ask," Sam laughed and Alec knew it was a rare sound of late. "But if you end up with the girl, I think we'll both approve of your methods." Alec smiled and nodded his head but Sam watched as seriousness clouded Alec's green gaze.

"What aren't you and Dean telling me, Sam?" Alec asked without deflection, knew he had a better chance of getting an answer from Sam than Dean.

Sam looked away, wasn't sure how well fortified his walls were to someone who knew him as well as Alec had come to. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Alec stepped closer to Sam, spoke gently because he sensed the topic was something hurtful to the youngest Winchester. "You're scared, Sam. I know that," he watched as Sam bit his lip and bowed his head, not in answer but avoidance. "I'll help…with whatever it is."

Sam shook his head, met Alec's eyes with his own glistening ones. "I wish you could. I wish someone could, Alec."

"Maybe I can if you tell me…"Alec gently began to insist but Sam cut him off.

"Your place is here. These people need you."

Alec stiffened, "You mean I should stay with my own kind?"

"No," Sam refuted quickly. "That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying …you have your hands full with this war, with trying to save…," he stammered, voice catching on the word before he completed his sentence, "these people. Look, we better get back to command and start preparing for White's attack. If we're gone too long Dean will come looking for us," he said as he turned around, started to walk back to TC.

Again Alec was conflicted, torn between old loyalties and new ones, between Max and Joshua and Dean and Sam, knew that there was an impossible choice on his horizon. Because how could he abandon Max and Joshua when they needed him? But he couldn't imagine letting Dean and Sam leave without him, letting them go…especially when he had finally come to understand how badly he needed them.

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The small group gathered around the television set cheered as their fellow transgenics revealed themselves as heroes on national television, with Max as their spokesperson. "We were created to use our abilities to help people, just like we did today, just like Manticore deployed transgenics to do for the past ten years: helping with natural disasters, stopping terrorism and assignations, cleaning up toxic spills. We have always been the soldiers this nation needed us to be. Even when you didn't know we existed, we were out there dying to save your lives. And we're still all on the same side. We don't want to be your enemies."

Dean clamped Alec on the back, "Nice sound bytes and she's not hard to look at."

"Yeah, and she knows it," Alec grinned back.

Dean's reply, however, was drowned out as an explosion ripped though the command area, confirming that they had gotten White's full attention with their Operation Good Samaritan.

Choking, shoving debris off of his legs, Alec looked around, saw the overturned tables, the scattered papers, the sparking electronic equipment that had been destroyed in the blast. But Alec's heart pounded, not with adrenaline but fear, as he saw Dean was lying face down on the floor. As he started to crawl over to Dean, to his relief, he saw Dean moving weakly. Putting his hand on Dean's back, he shoved a piece of chair off the older man's legs. Leaning down over Dean, he practically spoke in the other man's ear. "You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Dean snapped back, pushing himself to all fours. Before he could guess Alec's intentions, the transgenic one handedly pulled him to his feet, yanked him forward and pressed him against the relative safety of the far wall. Realizing that Alec was standing in front of him, in the open, his eyes traveling from his head to his feet, was in fact giving him a quick military trained medical once over, Dean insisted, "I said I'm alright." Then he grabbed Alec's jacket lapel and yanked the other man to his side.

Shoulder to shoulder, they stood behind the wall's protection and simultaneously pulled out their .45 Magnum guns, slipped off the safety and chambered a round. Dean rolled his head in Alec's direction. "Guess White didn't feel like knocking on the front door."

"Or doing a nice, quiet, covert attack. This isn't going to make us look like peace loving freaks…killing G men," Alec pointed out, shaking his head as his plan seemed to be backfiring on him.

"The live news crew out front is documenting that the White drew first blood, not you. That it was an unprovoked attack." Seeing Alec looking at him with hard eyes, Dean shrugged, "OK. So none of that matters to anyone but us. But on the other hand, you wanted to smoke out White. I think this is a real good sign that he's taken up your invitation to come out and play."

Running into the room from the other side, Sam slid on some of the paperwork that littered the ground, stumbled at the sight of the devastation. "Dean?! Dean?!" he shouted, shoving a path through the debris, a frantic, desperation in his voice, in his motions.

"Over here Sam," Dean called, watched Sam's eyes instantly fall upon him and felt a twisting in his gut when he saw the happiness spring into Sam's eyes, the relief…. just at seeing him. As Sam stumbled, crawled and jumped his way across the room to him, Dean couldn't help wondering how he thought for one second that, in a few months time, he could leave Sam without hurting him.

Falling into place against the wall at Dean's side, Sam gave a quick assessing glance to Dean, then Alec. Satisfied that they were alright, he pulled his own gun. "So much for Dean and I hiding out on the back lines of the battle," he said, looking at the destruction of the command room, the perceived 'safe back line' more closely now that his terror had been mollified.

Spotting the transgenics popping up around the room as they recovered from the explosion, Alec began giving orders via hand signals. Watching his orders obeyed without hesitation, Alec knew they weren't simply his fellow mutants, they were soldiers in a war that they didn't want but knew how to fight. In that moment, he knew that the other transgenics were his soldiers. It was a heady feeling even as it was an oppressive one, because he valued their lives, didn't want to see them die …for him or because of him.

Turning back to meet Dean's gaze, Alec said, "I'm going to the south perimeter. You two stay here…unless you hear more incoming heading your way."

"I think we know when it's OK to break rank, General Winchester," Dean replied, a smug smile on his face.

At being given the Winchester name, even in jest, Alec froze, looked to Dean with shock and hope.

"Ah… thought you had someplace to be?" Dean urged with a raised eyebrow, breaking Alec from his stupor.

"Right, I have…I'm going" Alec stammered and then he pushed himself off the wall, used his litheness to make his way out of the room like its floors were bare.

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Taking cover behind a burned out car, Alec heard the plunk of the bullets as they sank into the car's frame. Signaling to the soldiers behind him, he saw them flank out as ordered, grimaced as he saw one soldier get shot. Springing from his cover, Alec swept his arm in a small radius, took out three of White's men as they slipped through TC's short-circuited electric fence. A barrage of bullets intended for him sailed harmless over him as he dove forward, ended up crouching behind a dumpster. Readying himself to make another offensive, the sound of a helicopter stopped him.

Pulling his radio, he announced to his fellow soldiers, "We have a bird inbound." Looking to the sky, he strained his ears to try to predict its approach. "I think it's coming in from the north. Everyone hold your positions. I'll try to take it out."

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Hearing Alec's radio transmission, Dean abandoned his position against the wall, was determined to make his way to Alec when Sam slipped into his path.

"You're not going anywhere, Dean," Sam stated, eyes unflinchingly boring into Dean's.

"He's going up against a helicopter, Sam!"

"He's got his soldiers to back him up."

"And what are we, Sam? Aren't we his soldiers right here and now," Dean insisted and he made to shove past Sam, wasn't prepared to have Sam slam him against the wall, to have Sam pin him there with his arm, to see the desperation, the fear in his brother's eyes.

"No, Dean! We aren't his soldiers, we're not his back up, we're his brothers. He's your brother and he needs to know you're safe." Fisting his shaking hand into Dean's shirt, Sam pressed Dean harder against the wall. "I need to know you're safe! I can't lose you…not in a few months and sure not now. Not yet, Dean. Not. Yet."

Reading the desperation, the fear, the plead in Sam's eyes, Dean put his hand over Sam's, wrapped his fingers around Sam's hand. "Alright, Sammy. I hear you. We'll hang out here, let Alec do his whole super hero gig. Let him lead his army to victory without us."

Sam nodded at Dean's acquiescence, felt like he could breathe a little more freely…until the radio kicked on again with Alec's voice.

"Crap, make that two birds and they are coming in hot." As if to punctuate Alec's words, the radio vibrated with machine gun fire.

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With machine gunfire coming from the one helicopter nipping at his heels, Alec jumped over a steel wall, stumbled back as the bullets went through the steel like it was cardboard, followed him as he moved. Dropping to lay flat on his stomach, he covered his head, felt the burn and heat as bullets almost grazed him as they flew past. "Great. Armor piercing bullets. White pulled out all the stops," he grumbled as he got to his feet, turned and ran back the way he had come. Doing a forward roll out from behind the steel wall, he crouched, and, in one breath, aimed and shot at the helicopter.

Instantly the helicopter reacted to the direct hit to the rudder, began shuddering and spinning and losing altitude. Alec watched with a smile as the bird swung gracelessly out of Terminal City's perimeters. "One Black Hawk down, one to go," he reported over the radio. But then his heart stilled as he scanned the sky. "Anybody got a location on the second copter?"

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Sam caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, was tackling Dean to the ground before he could form words of warning. The bullets that grouped behind the wall where Dean had been seconds earlier said what Sam hadn't: Some of White's men had dropped in from the hole their first explosion had ripped through the roof.

"You were talking about being safe," Dean hissed quietly, nodding his head in an order for Sam to go left while he went right.

Nodding in agreement, Sam crawled away from Dean, gun in hand, his adrenaline flowing and his instincts on high alert. This wasn't their usual type of battle, not against people, people who shot back, whose intent was to kill them. Suddenly Sam was pissed off that yet another threat was trying to take his brother away from him. Poking his head up over a desk, he took his shot at his closest attacker, aimed where his attacker's armor was weak. He watched with grim satisfaction as the soldier went down with a cry of pain as his bullet ripped into the man's arm.

Hearing the crunch of boots stepping on the debris to his right, Dean crawled under the fallen ceiling beam that angled from the ground to the seat of the couch. With his target in sight, Dean squeezed the trigger, smiled as the bullet hit the soldier's ankle, as he heard the man's scream of agony and the crash of his body hitting the ground. Crawling free of the beam, Dean crouched by the back of the couch, tried to get a location on the other intruders. A bullet tore through the couch by his cheek, sent stuffing flying. Not one to take the defensive, Dean stood up, took his shot as he ran for better cover, which consisted of an old jukebox. Though he had hit the soldier dead center in the chest, he knew the man wouldn't stay down, was just recovering from the blow to his bullet proof vest.

The sound of gunfire in the room was loud but Sam knew instinctively which shots were his brother's. Dean was still OK, was busy doing what he did best: taking down evil. Keeping low, Sam skirted the outside of the room hoping to get a better vantage point. What it earned him was a clean line of sight of the helicopter coming to hover overhead the hole in the compound's roof. Rising, he put a round into the side of the helicopter but the consequences were dire as the machine gun in the copter swung his way. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed, diving for cover, feeling plaster and lead filling the air as the bullets shredded the walls around him. Slithering forward, he halted as he ran out of cover when the chair he was about to hide behind was turned into a sagging bag of cotton.

The roar of the machine gun was deafening but it was nothing compared to the fear that overtook Dean as he saw that his brother was the focus of the assault. Breaking cover with ruthless purpose, he didn't flinch as a bullet zinged by, grazed his shoulder. He merely turned and took out the soldier while he kept moving. Leaping over an overturned desk, he crouched behind it and looked up. From his position, he could see the hole in the ceiling, could see the metal gleam of the helicopter, could see the flash of the machine gun but not the weapon itself, not the man making it his mission to kill his brother.

With a growl, Dean sprang forward toward the small set of stairs, took the steps three at a time. Reaching the second floor, he dove onto his back…to land right below the hole. His first shot pinged off the barrel of the machine gun but it got the weapons' focus off of Sam. While bullets ripped through the wire mesh beside him, headed his way, Dean made his second shot. That bullet hit the gun sight. Hoping to avoid becoming swiss cheese, Dean made his third shot while he rolled. Three was the charm as his third bullet hit the trigger mechanism, made the assault weapon a heavy paperweight.

But Dean's roll sent him right off the edge of the second floor. When his back impacted with the unyielding cement of the ground floor, he groaned and grimaced at the pain. Through his pain, he smiled at the beautiful silence of the gun. Immediately he called out, "Sammy, you alright?"

"Are you crazy, Dean!" was Sam's outraged comeback from across the room. But before Dean could reply, Sam yelled out a warning, "Grenade!!"

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Heart pounding, fear and dread burning through him, Alec ran down the hallway toward the command area, desperately hoping that he was wrong, that he had miscalculated the 2nd helicopter's position. Stumbling as the ground shook under his feet from an explosion, he barely registered that Mole had come out of another room, was grabbing unto his arm, was steadying him.

Sharply he remembered it all. The way the ground shook, the heat as Berrisford's car exploded, the knowledge that it was his fault. That he had hurt the first person who had ever dared to care about him. That he had killed the person that he had loved. 'No! No, it can't happen again!' screamed through him and he brutally shoved Mole away. He was not going to be stopped from saving the people he loved, not again, would not allow anyone to stop him from saving Dean, saving Sam, from saving his brothers.

Running down the hallway, he could see the smoke wafting from the command room, could hear the sound of the helicopter. But the worst wasn't what he heard…it was what he didn't hear: the ominous void of the voices that had become, in the past months, so familiar to him, so treasured. He was shouting their names before he crossed the room's threshold. "Dean!! Sam!!"

Even amid the smoke, Alec could see the new devastation to the room, was shaken down to his core at the sight of the room where he had left the people he wanted most to protect. He found himself stumbling over the broken furniture littering the floor, his catlike balance undone by the emotions ripping through him. His voice hoarse, he called again, "Sam! Dean! Answer me!" order and plea mixing together.

"Over here," came from his left and instantly he made his way to the wall, found Sam pinned, facedown, under a section of a table. Bending down, Alec, with a growl, heaved the table off the taller man, ran his hands down Sam's lower back and legs in inspection even as he asked, "Are you alright? Is anything broken? Can you move?" But at his words, Sam's head snapped around and Alec felt caught in Sam's piercing focus, felt somehow that he wasn't the person Sam expected to be his rescuer. Sam's confused, almost croaked inquiry confirmed it.

"Alec?"

"Yeah, are you hurt badly?" Alec asked worriedly as Sam turned carefully around, sat facing him, wearing a look of uncertainty, confusion, fear. Reaching his hand out, Alec intended to touch the bleeding cut he could see on Sam's forehead.

Flinching away from Alec's touch, Sam stammered, "But they radioed that they had you…494. That's you right?"

Instantly Alec choked out, "No," as he came to his feet, as his eyes searched the ravaged room. "No, no, NO!" he shouted, leaving Sam's side, starting to move through the room with frantic purpose. "Dean?! Dean?! Please be here, man. Dean?!" he cried out, shuffling through the debris, scouring the floor. When his eyes flew to the second level of the command room, his enhanced vision perceived the bullet torn metal of the 2nd level's mesh flooring.

Quickening his pace, heading for the stairs, Alec faltered when his foot kicked something lying on the ground. Looking down, seeing what he had kicked, he felt vertigo hit him, fought hard to not let a sob escape him. Slowly bending down, he reverently picked up the silver .45 Magnum. Dropping to his knees, he rested Dean's gun on his lap and ran his shaking hand over the pearl handle, the engraved barrel. His worst nightmare was happening.

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TBC

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I did mention something about being an action junkie right? Hope I did OK writing it. Seeing it in your mind's eyes is so much easier than penning it down! And I've always wanted Dean and Sam to be caught in a horrific gun fight…cause I'm a sadist.

I know, Dean doesn't "look" exactly like Alec but let's face it White's men are doing the ID process in a room full of smoke and with the threat of getting shot making them a little anxious for a hasty abstraction.

And I honestly hoped to get this story all posted before the Season 4 premiere but that's just not going to happen. Therefore this AU is going even more AU as I make up my own ending of Season 3/start of Season 4. I blame the delay fully on the slowness of my muse…(One small shining point…those of you who, like me, avoid reading spoilers won't have to worry about this story revealing any Season 4 plotlines..I know small consolation but it's all I have to offer. )

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!!

Have a great evening!

Cheryl W.