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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Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

With the few wounds the transgenics had suffered taken care of, and Margaret Curran safely in Asha's custody. Alec figured he could take some time off and give his own aching body a rest. He hadn't slept in almost 48 hours, and he honestly couldn't even remember the last time he'd eaten.

"I'm gonna go back to my place and crash," he told Max, "if the debrief can wait?"

"We'll talk later," she said, glancing up from where she was looking over some paperwork on Logan's desk.

"About the cult and the prison and Lydecker?" Alec clarified. But then his voice dropped an octave and he added, "Or about us?"

Max glanced fearfully toward the front door. Logan had accompanied Asha and her mother back to Asha's place, wanting to get as much information as he could from Margaret Curran about the underground prison and who else might be down there, while the two transgenics had come straight back to his own apartment. But now, like a moth drawn to a flame, Max was coming toward him, and for the life of him Alec couldn't do what he knew was the right thing ... he couldn't turn and walk away.

They came together in the bedroom doorway, Max melting into his arms as he hugged her to himself, his body screaming Mine!

"You have to tell him," Alec said huskily in her ear.

"I can't," Max whispered, even as his lips found hers and they began to kiss like the passionate lovers something deep inside them craved to be.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alec saw Logan's bed, and he was tempted ... oh, he was so tempted ... Max was unhappy in her relationship, he reasoned. She'd given it a try and things weren't working. She wanted out ... she wanted to be free ... she wanted him!

But the hard-edged sense of reality Manticore had instilled in his X5-enhanced brain wouldn't quite let 494 act on what was, in truth, a fantasy. Fact: Max had never told Logan she wasn't happy. Fact: Max had no intention of ending her current relationship in order to pursue a new one: and Fact: The lady was still in love with the other guy.

This warm vibrant desirable female in his arms wasn't his, and probably never would be, no matter how many wet dreams he had about her or how many times she kissed him on the sly when she thought no one was looking. Max wanted things both ways, and Alec rather despised himself at the moment for letting her get away with it.

Still ... the feel of her against him ...

One last kiss, Alec told himself as he pinned her against the doorframe, and devoured her mouth with his. One last kiss and then he'd end it ... leave TC if he had to ... tell Max--

The front door suddenly opening caught them both by surprise. Startled, the two transgenics looked up to see Logan standing there, his blue eyes wide and dismayed as he saw the woman he loved and a man he considered a friend in each other's arms.

"Oh, God," Max whispered, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as if that would somehow erase Alec's kisses. "Oh, God, Logan--"

One of X5-494's Manticore "gifts" was a sense of empathy bordering on the psychic -- a decided plus when it came to insinuating himself into a situation in order to perform an assignment, but a decided minus when it meant he could almost literally feel the emotional pain of his victims. Alec's handlers had had mixed feelings about his ability -- some lauding it, others believing it to be a major flaw in an assassin.

Right now, Alec had to go with the latter. The look of utter betrayal in Logan Cale's eyes was killing him. He could literally "feel" the other man's pain.

Drawing back ... putting Max away from himself ... Alec said, "Logan, I--" Which is when he saw the gun in Eyes Only's hand.

"Logan, no!" Max said, her brown eyes wide with horror as she, too, saw the 45 caliber pistol that was now pointed directly at them.

His hand shaking, his eyes filled with tears, Logan swallowed hard, sniffed, and said hoarsely, "I knew ... I knew all along ... the way you looked at him ... the way you talked about him ... Damn it, Max! Why? You said you loved me, and that you were happy. You said there was nothing between the two of you!"

"There wasn't!" Alec said loudly, standing now with hands outstretched, imploring Logan to not do something rash. "Just take it easy man, and we'll all sit down and talk about this. She does love you, Logan. More'n me. I know this looks bad, but--"

"Shut up," Logan said, the two words as clipped as anything Lydecker could have uttered.

But that was one thing Alec rarely did. "So," the X5 continued. "You gonna kill me now? Will that make everything all right with Max?"

"Logan," Max said once again. "It's not what it seems like. It's not that bad. I just ... I just got confused."

Alec shot her a sarcastic look. Thanks!

"You don't want to do this," she said. "Put the gun down and I'll do anything you want ... be anyone you want ... just don't hurt him."

"Don't hurt him?" Logan said, his voice notching up an octave and taking on a slightly wild tone that Alec didn't like at all. "Don't hurt him? The guy who's stealing my girl right out from under my nose? The guy who's probably been sleeping with you all along, satisfying those 'needs' of yours that I can't?"

"We haven't been doin' that!" Alec said loudly. "Max and me never ... we wouldn't do that to you!"

"I saved your life back there, Alec!" Logan was shouting now. "I took a huge risk organizing an attack on a maximum security facility just to get you back for her! And how do you repay me? You try and steal her!"

"Nobody's stolen me, Logan," Max insisted, stepping up to stand beside her brother now. "And nobody owns me. Not you. Not Alec. I'll make my own choices and I choose you! Can't you just forget this ever happened? Can't we go back to the way we were?"

"Look," Alec said. "I'll leave. Okay? That way you two lovebirds can go right back to doin' -- whatever it is you do. I'll get out of the way and you'll never see or hear from me again."

They were the words of a desperate man, Alec realized -- a man willing to do anything to get out of a horrible mess ... a mess Max couldn't help him with this time.

Logan's grip on the gun tightened, and Alec's vision involuntarily zoomed in on that trigger finger. This was going to end badly ...

"Logan!" he commanded. "Put down the gun!"

Logan smiled then -- wickedly -- and Alec tensed, ready to move. This had gone on long enough. He didn't really care about himself, but if Logan shot Max--

However, it wasn't Max, or even the man she'd cheated with, that Logan intended to kill. Whipping the gun up with a suddenness that -- once again -- caught both transgenics completely by surprise, he put the gun barrel to his own temple and pulled the trigger.