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

"What's it gonna take to get this junk out of me?" Alec asked, turning over on the bed and looking up at Dr. Carr with weary, pain filled eyes. He'd donned a hospital gown for modesty and warmth, but that wasn't keeping him from shivering.

"Time," Carr said. "About a week to be exact, beyond the three days you've already gone."

"Seven days!" Alec exclaimed. Then he chuckled deep in his throat and shook his head. "I couldn't even make it through day four the one time 'Deck left me high and dry. I screamed until I couldn't scream any more, and then I went somewhere real bad ... kind of a waking sleep where I could still feel the pain but couldn't move. No thanks, Doc. I'd rather get my gun back."

Max had closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought. But now she opened them. "Hear him out, Alec," she said softly, taking his hand in hers and kneeling beside the bed so she was on his level.

"You mean there's more?" the X5 said sarcastically. He looked at 452 and added bitingly, "Of course there is. There's always more."

"Yes, there's more," Carr said in the tone of a professional. He dug into his medical bag and brought out a large hypodermic needle already filled with a rust colored liquid.

Alec eyed it warily. "What's that?" he asked, his distaste obvious. Then his eyebrows rose hopefully. "Oxycontin?" He actually started to reach for the syringe, but Carr held it back.

"No," the man said grimly. "It's a different kind of drug ... a coma inducing one."

"Coma?" Max said sharply. "You want to put Alec into a coma?"

"Yes," Carr said. "And a deep one. He'll need to be kept under probably for the full week while his body rids itself of the narcotic and then makes repairs. His nervous system will be especially damaged, the pain too much for us to even imagine if he's conscious. However, unconscious, I think Alec just might have a chance at pulling through. If he can survive the agony that would short-circuit his heart and brain, his X5 healing abilities will take care of the rest. And the way he'll survive it is by being all but brain dead."

"What if you can't wake me up?" Alec asked, his eyes now narrowed as he studied the syringe, weighing his options.

"Then you could end up being in a vegetative state for the rest of your natural lifespan," the doctor replied levelly. "I told you this was a slim chance, and that there are great risks. You could also end up only semi-conscious, or otherwise brain damaged." He indicated the hypo. This is a very powerful neural blocking compound usually only used on terminal patients who want to spend their last days at peace but not be euthanized."

"Has anyone ever awakened after being given this drug?" Max demanded, her grip tightening on Alec's fingers.

"No people," Carr admitted. "Like I said, it's only been allowed for terminal patient use. However, in animal studies there have been cases where cats have re-awakened after being under upwards of two weeks, given proper care during the interim."

Max eyed the I.V. bags and various tubes and monitors Carr had brought to add to the collection already in Rachel's room, her distaste evident. "Shouldn't he be in a hospital?" she asked.

"Lydecker, remember Max?" Alec said. "Not that I'd know he'd gotten to me -- apparently." He, too, was looking askance at all the medical paraphernalia that would be needed to keep his body alive while his mind was ... elsewhere."

"What about it, son?" Carr asked. "Are you willing to take the journey?"

"So I can wake up retarded or worse?" Alec said bluntly. Then he looked at Max. "What do you want me to do? 'Cause I figure, if things muck up like they usually do, you're the one who's gonna be left with my mess."

"I want you to try," she said. "You have to try."

"And if I fail?" Alec asked in a smaller voice.

"Then I'll take care of you," Max said firmly.

And Alec knew exactly what she meant -- which gave him the courage to hold out his bare arm and say to the doctor, "Go for it."

*****

She watched his face as he drifted off, those beautiful hazel-green eyes first fluttering, then peacefully closing as his breathing slowed. He looked so young ... like a little boy ...

"I love you," Max murmured in his ear, wanting those to be the words he took with him. "I will always love you, and when you come back to me I'll belong to you."

She didn't know if he heard her ... and she didn't know if what she'd just said was true. However, Max couldn't bring herself to deny Alec what comfort she knew such knowledge would bring -- that she'd leave Logan for him.

After the initial injection, the coma-inducing medication continued to be delivered in a constant drip via one of the two I.V. lines Carr had established. Alec looked so helpless lying there, nearly naked with those tubes in his arms and the diodes on his chest and forehead ...

A hand on her shoulder made Max turn. "He's under," Sam said, his eyes on the heart monitor and EEG machine. "And he's going deeper."

"Will he be in any pain?" Max asked.

"No," Sam said. "Even if something goes wrong, Alec will never know it, nor will he suffer." He sighed. "You did the right thing, Max. Both of you did. It's really his only chance. I doubt even Lydecker has anything that could counteract the drugs in his system without causing damage." His grip on her shoulder tightened. "He'll need a catheter," the doctor said quietly. "Why don't you go downstairs and get something to eat in the kitchen while I see to it."

Max closed her eyes even as they filled with tears. Of course Alec would need that ... other interventions as well ... the ugly side of the treatment. Caressing the fine hairs of her brother's forearm, tracing the tendons down to his wrist, her fingers lingered on the back of the X5's relaxed hand noting the bones and muscles ... the inherent strength in his body's design. He was so beautiful ...

"Max?" Sam said gently. "You need to leave for a little while. Maybe there's someone you could call ... someone who could be with you? A friend?"

Max shook her head. "I'm fine," she said, standing. "I'll be in the kitchen." And with one last lingering look at her Smart Alec's peaceful face, she headed downstairs.