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

ARCHIVE: No

Photo courtesy of JensenAckles.org

Max wasn't hungry, and refused the food Roger Berrisford offered. However, Sam Carr's words had made her start thinking. There was someone she wished she could talk to ... share her worries and grief with. The question was, would it be a danger to bring her friend here when Colonel Lydecker might be in imminent danger of arriving with guns blazing to take back his rogue soldier?

However, hours had passed since their arrival and there hadn't been a sign of 'Deck. Picking up a nearby phone, she dialed a very familiar number, and when the voice on the other end answered sassily, the X5 couldn't help smiling.

"Long time no talk, girlfriend," Max said into the receiver.

Boo! Where you been hidin'? Original Cindy hasn't seen hide nor hair of you in nearly two weeks.

"I've been around," Max said cautiously. "Kind of busy, but listen. I sure could use a friend right now. Could you meet me, O.C.? It's important.

When and where, Boo?

Max hesitated, glancing toward the kitchen where she could see Berrisford seated at the table drinking coffee, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. "A mansion out in Sector Twelve," she finally said. "I'm staying here for awhile."

Sector Twelve! Girl, you're sure livin' high and mighty all of a sudden. What happened to those squalid TC digs of yours?

"Still home sweet home," Max said with a little laugh. "This is just a visit. I needed a place to lay low for awhile."

As usual. Talk about livin' in style, though. A mansion did you say?

"Robert Berrisford's house," Max clarified. "How soon can you get here?"

Whoa! When you said mansion, you meant big time mansion! I'm on the fly now, sugar. Shouldn't take O.C. more'n an hour to make that fancy address. But please, this time spare this girlfriend the dead bodies.

"No dead bodies this time," Max laughed, hoping her words would be true. "I'll see you soon then."

Hanging up from her call to O.C., the X5 breathed a sigh of relief. She really did need someone to talk to, especially if-- She didn't finish that thought ... couldn't bear to. But there was still one more person she needed to talk to -- badly.

"Hello, Logan?" she said when his answering machine picked up. "It's Max. Listen, I'm going to be out of town for a week or so, so don't worry about me. I'm not in any trouble or anything, but something's come up. And yes, before you ask, it has to do with Alec. He needs me, Logan. I have to help him. So, don't try to find me. I'll be in touch when I can."

She hung up once more, then checked the time. O.C. should be here soon. Maybe then she'd be able to stop shaking.

*****

"What's up with your boy?" O.C. asked as she hugged Max tightly in the foyer of the Berrisford mansion.

Max smiled, then drew back to look into her best friend's face, taking comfort from those sparkling dark brown eyes. O.C. had always kept her grounded in reality, and God knew she needed a dose of that right about now.

"Alec's in trouble," she said in a low voice.

"That boy's always in trouble," O.C. said, one eyebrow sassily cocking. "But that doesn't explain why you had me come out to these fancy digs."

Max glanced back over her own shoulder toward the staircase. "Lydecker kidnapped Alec," she said. "They took him to New Manticore and shot him full of this drug that's made him addicted. He got away, but now he's going through withdrawal. Dr. Carr's with him now, but he had to put Alec into a coma and we don't know if he's ever going to wake up." The last words came out in a rush, followed by a hard swallow.

"Whoa," O.C. said in a soft tone, taking hold of Max and hugging her once again. "Hey, sister," she crooned in the X5's ear. "You know how stubborn that hunky smart ass is. Your boy's gonna pull through. Ain't no way in the world Alec's gonna let mean old Lydecker get the better of him, coma or not."

Max smiled through her tears again, but kept her face buried in O.C.'s comforting shoulder. "That's what I think, too," she said. "Alec's a fighter -- bred and born that way. His body's strong. He has that going for him. And he won't give up." Once more she drew back, then sniffed loudly and wiped the back of her hand across her wet face. "Alec's going to make it. He has to. Because I love him and I refuse to let him go."

*****

The two young women sat in chairs beside the bed, watching the monitors and the young transgenic's peaceful face. Dr. Carr had left to go back to his office for a few hours and Berrisford was in another part of the house.

"You love him?" O.C. finally said, picking up on that rather startling revelation of Max's.

Max shook her head. "I do."

"Since when?"

"For a long time, really," the X5 said. "Although I'd never have admitted it to myself ... or him ... until recently."

O.C. was nodding wisely. "You know, Boo, a lot of us saw this before you did -- the way the two of you kind of fit together ... the way Mr. Egotistical here didn't take any of your high 'n mighty attitude but met you square on. You make a pair, Max. Anyone with eyes can see it, especially the way the two of you run Terminal City together."

"Anyone like Logan?" Max said softly.

"What about Logan?" O.C. asked. "Where does he fit in now? You used to be all about him, remember?"

"I'm still all about him," Max said.

Those dark eyebrows rose again. "And what does that mean, Boo? You tellin' this sista that you're in love with both at the same time?"

Max looked at her forlornly.

O.C. waggled a finger at her, making a tsking sound. "Not fair, lady. Not fair to Alec, Logan, or you."

"Tell me about it," Max moaned, at the same time reaching out to gently take Alec's limp hand in hers. She could feel his pulse -- weak but steady ... a comforting thing ... Then her eyes sought his face. "He's so beautiful," she said wistfully. "And smart and brave and funny and -- in his own way loyal. Of course I've never told him any of this -- wouldn't give him the satisfaction -- but it's true."

"The two of you done the big nasty together yet?" O.C. asked.

"No," Max said quietly. "I wanted to, but Alec wouldn't because I was still with Logan."

Eyebrows went up yet again. "Two points to Pretty Boy," O.C. murmured. "And add integrity to that list of yours."

"But I've loved Logan for so long," Max said sadly. "And we went through so much to be together. I feel like such a shallow person. Now that we're finally a couple, I'm looking somewhere else maybe just because--" She bit her lip before revealing Logan's shortcomings in bed.

"Why is that, sugar?" O.C. gently asked. "Why do you think Alec's lookin' so fine to you right now, his gorgeous ass and assets aside?"

Max shrugged and shook her head. "I've been asking myself that same question," she said. "I mean, in spite of all Alec's good points, he's got a lot of bad ones too. He's a sneaky, lying, self-centered, egotistical, greedy, stubborn know-it-all who lots of times won't listen to anyone else, not to mention he's amoral with the promiscuous streak of a tom cat." She looked at O.C. "I'll never be able to trust him. Women come on to him all the time, and he looks back ... he'll always look back."

O.C. snorted. "Well, short of puttin' a bag over his handsome head I'd say you're just gonna hafta live with that one, Boo. He's as good lookin' as God and science can make 'em, and he'll always be beatin' the fillies off with a stick. But the big question is, does Alec love you? 'Cause if he does, I got a feelin' in my gut that this is one Manticore creation who'd be faithful to the woman he finally gives his heart to."

"I know," Max said, her voice barely audible as she squeezed the male X5's hand tightly. "I know he'd be faithful. And that's part of what scares me. Because once Alec gives himself to me ... once we're really together ... I'm afraid of what will happen with Logan."

"You mean you're afraid the two silly boys are gonna fight for the lady?"

"Not just fight," Max said, her eyes filling with tears again. "I'm afraid one of them's going to die." But then she looked at Alec's still face and added, "if one of them isn't dying already."