DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.

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Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Alec didn't remember much after the fourth hour except being in unimaginable pain, and he didn't remember anything at all after the sixth. Every nerve in his body was on fire with no possible relief. He writhed, and he cursed, and then finally he started screaming until convulsions choked off his cries. Eventually everything had simply gone mercifully black.

When he woke up he was still in blackness, and for a moment thought he'd gone blind. Then he recognized the feel of cold stone beneath his bleeding fingertips and naked body. Solitary ... isolation ... sensory deprivation ... "The Hole" they used to call it. No food, no water, no sights, sounds, or smells other than his own body odors and the mold and mildew on the damp cement walls, although somewhere along the way he must have been given the poison's temporary antidote because he wasn't dead.

An X5 could go six days without food or water. Later -- looking back on it -- Alec figured they'd left him there for seven. Finally, however, the iron door creaked open and blinding light poured in around Lydecker's silhouette.

"Are you ready to be mine, 494?" he asked softly.

Alec squinted up at the man who had conquered him, and in a voice barely above a whisper mouthed the words he knew would save his life. "X5-494 reporting for duty, sir."

After all, what else could he do, Alec thought. Die right here, right now? And what good would that do anyone? At least this way, by cooperating, maybe he could figure out a way to escape.

Escape? his mind mocked. And then what? You'll die in three days then too, you idiot!

However, while lying in solitary delirious with thirst, Alec's feverish brain had kept coming back to one hard fact. He should never have left Terminal City ... his friends and family. And most of all he should never have left Max, the woman he now knew he loved more than his own life. I should have stayed and fought for her. I should have claimed what's rightfully mine.

Max. Max would help him, Alec knew, if only he could reach her. However, that was going to be the trick.

The medics countered his severe dehydration with I.V.s. Twenty-four hours and three good meals later, Alec's X5 metabolism had already gone a long way toward repairing the damage to his systems and he was ready to be discharged from the infirmary.

"Get dressed," Lydecker ordered, tossing khakis and a t-shirt onto the foot of the bed. "Then report to my office for a briefing. You've got a mission, soldier."

*****

Weeks passed -- six of them, and Max's resolution to find the one she truly loved grew weaker as her anger grew stronger. She even tried to make it up to Logan. After all, Alec was gone, not even bothering to say good-bye. Why shouldn't she find companionship with the man she'd loved first?

However, telling Logan how sorry she was, and that she loved him dearly, couldn't repair the damage that a single passionate forbidden kiss had caused. Eyes Only now knew that she also had feelings for another man, and that those feelings were unresolved. True, Max was placing herself in his arms again, but at night ... in the dark ... whom would she really be thinking about?

The situation was untenable, and she wasn't surprised when Logan politely but firmly asked her to stay away. Maybe in time, he said. Maybe someday he would be able to forgive and forget. But not now.

In a way, she admired Logan's honesty and forthrightness. After all, Max reasoned, what would she, herself, have done if she'd found Logan kissing Asha? Forgiveness would have been the last thought on her mind. (Although, admittedly, suicide wouldn't have crossed her mind either. Homicide maybe ... but not suicide.)

However, Logan seemed mentally stable now, although the man was obviously depressed. Still, Max knew that it wasn't up to her to babysit Logan Cale. He'd made that abundantly clear when he'd changed the locks on his doors and not given her a new key.

She'd lost them both now, although -- funny as it seemed -- Alec was the one she missed the most, and not just from an emotional point of view. Terminal City was having a hard time adjusting to the loss of one of its key players, not to mention the Art Mall. Business was plummeting at the market, Joshua had "artist's block," and Alec's Seattle City Council seat was going unfilled because the only "taker" who'd volunteered was Mole and Max just couldn't quite see that happening.

In all this time, she hadn't heard a single word from the smart ass, and try as she might she couldn't get Alec out of her mind -- which is when Max finally ordered Dix and Luke to start searching for some sign of their missing brother. Max knew she might never see the big jerk again, but that didn't mean she had to lose all track of him. Chances were -- knowing Alec -- he was leaving a trail (of broken hearts if nothing else).

Of course Logan's help would have been greatly appreciated, but Max couldn't bring herself to ask for the man she'd betrayed to help find the man she'd betrayed him with.

"Keep an eye on world news," she told Dix that Monday morning in the control center. "Scan for thefts or scams that Alec might pull, or any activity indicating an X5 could be involved."

"Assassinations?" the mutant asked.

"No," Max replied adamantly. "He wouldn't-- Just ... no. Keep it to larceny and grand theft."

"There's a casino heist in Monte Carlo," Dix said, perusing the week's headlines, "and someone tried to steal the Crown Jewels in London."

Max smiled tiredly. "Start smaller," she advised him. "Check local newspapers in the countries where he speaks the language."

"That would be a lot Max," Dix complained. "I once heard Alec say he was fluent in fourteen languages, not counting local dialects. It's like lookin' for a needle in a haystack. Our boy could be anywhere in the world doing anything. He might even have gone legit -- be a bartender in Soho or Timbuktu for all we know. Hell, he might even be in Canada!"

"You say that like it's another planet," Max teased.

"Isn't it?" the nomalie replied, gazing up at her through his monocle.

"Alec wouldn't go to Canada," she said with certainty. "Or Timbuktu. He likes bright lights and lots of people. Just find me a clue, Dix. Please? I just need to know that he's all right."

"I'll get on it, Max," her friend said, shaking his head at the impossibility of what she was asking, although, truth be told, the little guy was actually glad to be doing something that just might relieve the general worry everyone in Terminal City had with regards to Alec's fate.