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

The mansion had been mothballed ... left as a mere ghostly presence to bear witness to the happy lives that had once filled its stately halls. Unable to bear selling the family home, even though his "family" was gone, Robert Berrisford had closed the place up when he relocated to the east coast, but could never bring himself to place it on the market -- or so he'd told Alec during the ride here in the rental car.

In the two years since he'd left ... since Rachel's death ... the house hadn't exactly fallen into disrepair, but dust was thick on the plastic covering its expensive furnishings, and the grounds exhibited a ragged look that spoke of only infrequent care.

Berrisford had told him to stay put -- and for now Alec was complying. Lydecker had to know he'd kidnapped his target. Whether or not the wily Colonel would figure out that the hunted was now an ally of the hunter he couldn't be sure. A TAC team might show up any second at the front gate, swarming the mansion to take back what Manticore thought it owned. Normally, Alec would have attempted to contact Max on his own, but two and a half days had now passed since his last injection, and he was beginning to feel the first faint stirrings of trouble within his genetically engineered body.

He recognized the symptoms all too well by now. First came a restlessness ... a feeling of irritation like an itch he couldn't quite scratch that kept him pacing. Then slowly, in the tips of his fingers and toes, a tingling would begin ... a tingling that over the next few hours would slowly progress to pain and ultimately avalanche into full blown agony.

In a way, the poison stalked him the same way his seizures did ... sneaking up slowly but packing a terrible wallop once they arrived. However, Manticore had a treatment for his seizures ... those blue pills they made him down every morning with breakfast ... the pills he always carried in a small bottle in his coat pocket when on a mission.

They'd allowed him that ... his tryptophan derivative. But not the other.

Alec paused and stared up at the family portrait hanging in the hall, Rachel looking out at him in all her remembered beauty. The beauty that I killed. Taking a deep breath, the young transgenic tried to relax ... to hold at bay the feeling of the poison as it crept through his veins. Glancing at his watch, he noted the time. Berrisford had been gone for almost three hours. What if he doesn't return?

Alec actually knew what he'd do then -- Lydecker or not, he'd get to Max somehow, even if it was too late. He had to see her one last time, to tell her the things he should have told her before he left ... to tell her that -- Logan or not -- she belonged with him.

His keen hearing suddenly picked up a sound -- a car turning into the driveway. The surveillance system was shut down, so the X5 moved to the window and peeked out from behind a curtain, his heart pounding just a shade too fast. Then he saw who it was and relaxed, his knees actually going slightly weak with relief. Berrisford ... and with him was Max.

*****

Berrisford let her in the front door, and she looked frantically first right, then left, and then -- she saw him. Standing framed in the arch of the inner hallway, dressed in a black leather jacket and olive green khakis (Manticore issue), he stared at her, the look in his eyes almost that of a frightened child.

He was uncertain of his reception ... uncertain of how she would react to seeing him again. Max could read the indecision on his handsome face as plain as if it had been written in big letters on the fancy wallpaper beside him.

But there was nothing to decide. "Alec," she said his name, the single word choked by the tears welling in her throat.

He closed his eyes, swallowed visibly, then opened them, and huskily whispered her name in return, "Max."

And then she was across the marble-tiled foyer and throwing herself into his arms while Robert Berrisford tactfully looked away. Rachel's portrait, however, gazed down upon them, although whether with approval or condemnation remained to be seen.

"He told you?" Alec said when his lips were finally no longer plundering hers.

"About the poison?" Max said, looking up into those hazel-green eyes she thought she'd never see again. Inhaling his scent deeply, she savored his warmth for just one more moment before forcing herself to pull back and face the more practical matters at hand. Namely, that she wouldn't have Alec back for long if they couldn't find a way to help him.

"I have a physician in the area," Berrisford offered. "I could make a call."

"Sam Carr's pretty much an expert when it comes to transgenics," Max replied. "But thanks for the offer." She wanted to ask Berrisford why he was helping the man who murdered his daughter, but refrained. Time enough for that later. All that mattered now was saving Alec's life.

"How are you feeling?" she asked the X5, her voice worried as she finally took a really good inventory of his appearance and realized he'd looked better. Alec had lost some weight, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but it was the way he was trembling beneath her touch that really had her concerned. Reaching out with one hand, he braced himself against the archway. "With my fingers," he shot back with a ghost of his old humor.

"What did Lydecker do to you?" Max had to ask -- and she wasn't referring just to the poison.

"Nothing much," Alec said calmly. "Just made me go out and kill people to earn my life back every three days."

"Oh, Alec."

He held up his other hand, stopping her pity. "Don't worry. They were all Breeding Cult goons ... guys we'd probably have killed ourselves if we'd known who they were. Robert here," he glanced over at the older man who was looking up at the portrait of his family, "was the first innocent target they put in my sites."

Glad beyond words that Manticore hadn't forced her good-natured breeding partner back into soulless killing, Max nodded with relief. "How much time do you have?" she asked, feeling his muscles trembling beneath her hands as she hugged him again.

Alec returned the embrace, burying his face in her hair. "Eight hours before things start to get hairy," he whispered. "A day ... maybe a day and a half of consciousness beyond that. Then--" He shrugged, a hopelessness in his green-flecked golden eyes she'd never seen before. My God, they did a number on him.

"Sam will help you," she said firmly. "He has to."