Artwork courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

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

ARCHIVE: No

This is a stand-alone story in my DARK ALEC series. These stories are my version of Season 4, and incorporate elements not only of the television show DARK ANGEL, but of the novels SKIN GAME and AFTER THE DARK, the book THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER, and information revealed in various cast/writer/producer interviews, chats, and commentaries. -- author's note

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Alec burst through the door of Joshua's Terminal City apartment.

Devon hadn't been awake very long. Dressed in grey t-shirt and sweat pants, he looked up from where he was seated on the edge of the bed, startled at the intrusion (the hour was early). Rubbing sleep from his eyes he exclaimed, "Alec! I was just--"

The fist that slammed into X5-472's jaw splintered bone and knocked the X5 backwards onto the pillows -- a blow that would have killed an ordinary human.

"If you ever touch Max again," X5-494 breathed through clenched teeth, his voice deep and dangerous, "I'll kill you."

Devon stared up at Alec for a moment, his dark eyes wide with shock and pain. But X5s don't stay down for long. Shaking his head to clear the stars from his vision, 472 smiled wickedly, then bounded to his feet and was on top of the other Unit.

The battle had begun.

*****

Lucy Barrett (Age 25)

"Max?"

Max looked up at the sound of her name, raising her head from where she'd been skimming the morning paper. Gem's Diner was at its busiest this time of the day what with Sector Cop shift changes, Jam Pony messengers dropping in on their first runs, and patrons of the Terminal City Artworks Mall needing a caffeine fix before browsing through the just-opened shops. The coffee was always fresh before 8 a.m, as were the doughnuts, and Max had gotten into the habit of breakfasting here, oftentimes with Alec, before starting her work schedule.

"Max?" the young woman said again, regarding the transgenic almost fearfully. "Is it you?"

Lucy Barrett (Age 12)

"Depends on who you think I--" Suddenly, Max's breath caught in her throat. This wasn't a stranger. She knew this person ... or rather had known her as a child. "Lucy?" the X5 breathed softly.

The girl nodded.

Max couldn't swallow. For years -- every since running away from her adopted family after The Pulse -- she'd wondered what had happened to the human foster sister she'd left behind. And now ... here she was.

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

The two stared at one another. Lucy of course looked older, Max thought, and her sister's style was quite different from the dowdy dresses and second-hands they'd both had to wear before. However, in spite of the chic black leather skirt and jacket, and the expensive silk blouse and thigh-high boots -- not to mention that short sassy haircut -- those big blue eyes were just as warm and loving as the X5 remembered them. Some things never changed ...

"Thank God you found me," Max whispered, throwing her arms around her sister who returned her embrace whole heartedly.

Lucy, her face smothered against Max's shoulder, smiled with great satisfaction and murmured in her friend's ear, "And now that I have, Max, I promise I'll never lose you again."

*****

"Guys!" Luke shouted, scrambling through the door into Terminal City's control center. "Come quick! They're killin' each other!"

Joshua, Mole, Dix, and Luke piled out of the room and raced at a dead run down the street to the medical complex building on Murry Avenue where a lot of the transgenics lived. Alec and Joshua shared a former CEO's office on the second floor that had been converted into living quarters -- a reception area that was now their den and the larger main room that served as a bedroom. It also had a bathroom (with shower), and a wet bar (with refrigerator) that sufficed as a kitchenette once you added a propane powered hot plate.

The group heard the fracas even before they pushed into the apartment from the hallway -- crashing, splintering furniture punctuated by the smack of landed blows and the occasional grunt of pain.

When Joshua ran through the door, the first thing he saw was Devon pinning Alec in a corner with a flurry of blurred punches to the face and gut. Both X5s were battered, sweat and blood flying off their bodies as they engaged in frighteningly rabid battle. Alec had a busted lip and a nasty cut just below his left eye, not to mention a gash on the back of his left hand and probably some broken ribs. Devon had a shiner and a huge scalp laceration, as well as what had to be a broken cheekbone.

Each combatant had obviously gotten in his licks, and the two seemed fairly well matched. In fact, before the dog man could intervene, 494 exploded off the wall to shove 472 across the room, over the dining table, and onto the floor. Flying through the air in a spectacular feline leap, Alec then tackled his rival, using his weight to hold the other X5 down while he got his hands around Devon's throat.

But Devon was just as well trained in ground fighting techniques as Alec -- and far more ruthless.

Joshua knew something was terribly wrong when he heard Alec give a choked cry and saw his friend's head jerk back. The determined clench-jawed expression on the X5's face slowly changed to one of shock as his grip lessened on Devon's throat, and he looked down with wide, horror-filled eyes at the six-inch switchblade buried in his side.

Knowing he'd just won the battle, Devon smirked, jerked the bloody knife free, and raised it high in the air for a throat-slashing finish to 494's life -- but suddenly he couldn't move his hand, Looking back, his brown eyes widened in terror at the expression of wild rage on Joshua's face as he held the X5's wrist in an iron grip.

"You ... hurt ... Alec!" Joshua roared. And before Mole could stop him, the dog man lifted Devon into the air above his head and chucked him through the window. The splinter of glass didn't quite mask 472's scream as he plummeted two stories to the street below.

*****

Clutching his side with both hands, blood oozing between his fingers, Alec bit down on his lower lip, determined to stifle the whimpers of pain. This wasn't good. A gut wound, while not instantly fatal, was still more often than not lethal in the long run, especially if you didn't have access to expert medical care -- which the transgenics didn't.

Joshua's arms went around him. "Alec will be fine," the dog man said softly, and then he swept his friend up in his big arms and carried him over to the mattress on the floor that served as his own bed. "Alec ... has to be all right."

"Lemme see," Luke said, his bright dark eyes worried and serious as he pushed past the far larger transhuman so he could take a look at the patient. Well trained in field medicine, Luke was usually the one who served as Terminal City's doctor when a transgenic was sick or injured, and he'd patched up Alec quite a few times in the past.

"How bad is it?" Mole asked, his lizard features pulled into a worried grimace, the cold cigar stub forgotten in the corner of his mouth as he pulled back curtains and looked out the window, trying to see what had become of Devon.

Dix gently forced Alec's hands away and pulled up the X5's black t-shirt. Then he glanced back over his shoulder at the others. "Bad," he said. "Someone better get Max."

"No!" Alec said hoarsely, his fingers clamping around Dix's wrist. "Just ... just patch me up. I'll be fine."

"You won't be fine, Alec," Luke scolded. "You need to get to a hospital and a real doctor."

"No ... hospital," Alec hissed through clenched teeth. He closed his eyes. "Just let me die."

Joshua did a double take at that and looked at the others, confused.

"He and Max had a lover's quarrel," Mole said wryly, as if that explained everything -- which it did. "Princess is pissed at the world right now. Don't listen to him."

"I won't," Dix said. "I'll go find Max."

"Dix!" Alec shouted at him. "Don't!"

"Sorry, lover boy," Dix said, his one good eye not unsympathetic. "But you're not dyin' on my watch. Besides, if anything happened to you, Max would have our hides and you know it."

"Shit," Alec cried, letting his head fall back on the pillow as he bit down on his lower lip once more and tried to breathe through the mounting pain.

*****

It was just like old times, Max thought as she and Lucy sat talking together in the diner. They'd been chatting for almost an hour (Gem had refilled their coffee cups three times), and in a way it felt as if they'd never been apart.

"Where are you staying?" Max asked the young woman.

Lucy shrugged. "Don't know yet. I just got into town this morning."

Max thought a moment, hesitating only briefly before saying, "I'd let you stay at my place, but it's inside the Terminal City hazard zone. There's an apartment you could use just across the street, though. It's real nice. Usually we keep it empty, and the ownership of the Medtronic's building is kind of murky, but I don't think it would hurt for you to stay there awhile until you find a crib of your own."

"Are you sure it won't be a bother?" Lucy asked, taking hold of Max's hand across the table and giving it a squeeze to accompany her grateful smile. "I don't want to be any trouble."

"You could never be trouble, Lucy," Max said firmly. "And no, it won't be a bother. Like I said, no one's using the place right now except Alec who likes to take a hot shower there once in awhile. I'll just tell him the place is off limits for awhile."

"Alec?"

"Just one of the other transgenics," Max said too quickly, not wanting to get into that extremely complex, not to mention personal subject right now. Although, speaking of the Devil ...

Max glanced at the big clock on the diner's wall, then out the window. It was almost ten -- getting late. Usually Alec had coffee here in the morning too, but she hadn't seen a sign of him. Of course he had been pretty ticked off at her about Devon ... had hardly spoken a word to her in fact on the plane flight back from North Dakota yesterday ... and he hadn't come to her place last night either. She supposed he was brooding somewhere, maybe even up on The Needle ...

"Max?" Lucy said. The girl snapped fingers in front of Max's face. "Where'd you go?"

"It's ... nothing," Max said, shaking her head then brushing long strands of dark hair out of her eyes and tucking them back of her ears.

"You looked sorta spaced there for a minute, girl."

Max put on a big smile. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

There was a slight commotion at the door, and Max's attention turned to the entrance where a breathless, agitated Dix was talking to Gem at the register. The X5 pointed down the diner aisle to Max who was already on her feet.

"What's wrong?" Max asked, knowing from the expression on the mutant's face that it wasn't good news. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lucy's eyes widen at the site of the monocled nomalie's mashed potatoe-headed appearance, but to the girl's credit she merely swallowed hard and nodded slightly -- accepting. This was, after all, Transgenic Central.

"It's Alec," Dix said -- the two words Max most wanted not to hear.

She closed her eyes in frustration. "What did the idiot do now?"

"Lit into Devon," Dix said with a quick glance at Lucy. "They mixed it up big time over at Joshua's place." The mutant was watching her closely. "You don't seem surprised, Max."

"I'm not," she said, deliberately not offering an explanation. But she still wasn't sure why Dix was here. "What happened?" She wanted to ask who won, but was bound and determined not to show an inordinate interest, especially not in front of Lucy.

"They'd been fighting awhile when Josh, Mole, Luke, and me got there to break it up," Dix said. "But we weren't quite in time."

"In time for what?"

"In time to keep things from gettin' real ugly."

All of a sudden Max didn't feel so angry at Alec any more. Grabbing hold of Dix's bony shoulders she looked into his good eye. "Alec?"

"He's hurt real bad, Max," Dix said quietly with another glance at the still wide-eyed Lucy. "Devon pulled a knife ..."

"Where? Where is he?"

"Joshua and Mole are takin' him to the infirmary. Luke's doing what he can. I came to get you. He's gonna need more medical help than we can give him."

"And Devon?"

Dix shrugged. "Don't know. Josh tossed him through a window when he stabbed Alec, but when we checked the street he was gone."

"Max?" Lucy asked. "What's wrong?"

"My friend is hurt," Max said tightly, reigning in her emotions. "Lucy, I have to go."

"Can I come with you?" the girl asked, suddenly sounding a little bit desperate. "I ... I don't have anyplace else ... anyone else ..."

Max felt her heart softening in a rare way. "All right," she said. "But you can't stay in TC for long. Let me get this settled ... make sure my .... my friend is all right ... and then I'll take you to that apartment I was telling you about."

Lucy's hand on her arm stopped Max a moment. "He's more than a friend, isn't he?" she said quietly.

"Actually, Alec's my second in command," Max conceded.

"And?"

Max sighed heavily, wondering what Lucy wanted from her. What more should she say about Alec?

"He's not just my friend, he's one of my best friends ... and he's family ... a brother ..." That ought to suffice ...

"And?" Lucy pressed.

Max gave in, although she was squirming uncomfortably. "He's also the guy I sleep with ... sometimes." There. Now she knows.

Lucy smiled, satisfied at last. "Let's go see to your lover boy then," she said simply, getting the entire picture at last.

*****

Luke

"Max, he needs a hospital," Luke said, popping out of the infirmary and catching hold of her before she could enter. He lowered his voice and dragged her several feet down the hallway. "But he says he won't go."

The little grey mutant looked worriedly toward the room that served as TC's medical facility. Located in what used to be a janitorial storage space just off the underground parking garage's first floor, it was all they had by way of a doctor's office or emergency room of their own. It was here that Luke, a well trained field medic, kept his supply of mostly home brew medicines, bandages, and the few surgical instruments they'd been able to scrounge from here and there.

"Why wouldn't he want to go to the hospital?" Lucy asked -- a reasonable question, Max supposed, since the girl knew absolutely nothing about the plight of the transgenics.

"We don't like doctors," Max replied tightly, a simple answer that didn't get into the horrors of their childhoods and how all of the transgenics had been used by the U.S. government for cruel medical experimentation.

But she could tell Lucy still didn't understand.

"Doctors hurt us."

The dark haired girl nodded. "But Alec ... your friend ... if he's injured really bad shouldn't he go anyway?"

Max sighed and turned to Luke. "What's the damage?"

The little grey mutant, looking uncharacteristically grave, replied, "He's bleedin' inside, Max. There's no way to sugarcoat it. Either he gets to an operating room or he's gonna die. His clotting ability can't keep up with that kind of blood loss -- X5 healing factors or not. His pressure's already down to a hundred over forty and dropping."

"I'll talk to him," Max said. She noticed Mole hovering outside the doorway a few yards away, listening. "Mole!" she called out. "Get one of the cars down in the motorpool ready. We're takin' a ride."

"Gotcha!" the lizard man replied with a grim smile of his own. "I knew you'd make Princess listen to reason."

Max pushed past Luke and entered the infirmary. Then she knelt beside the cot where Alec lay with his eyes closed, either asleep or unconscious. He was bare chested and his abdomen was swathed in a bloody bandage. Trying not to panic, she took hold of the X5's hand. His skin felt cool ... almost cold. Not a good sign. Usually Alec's touch was hot ...

"Hey," she said, reaching up and caressing the side of his face.

Alec's eyelids fluttered and then he was staring at her. It took a moment, but finally a faint smile touched the corners of his mouth. "I did somethin' stupid, didn't I?" he mumbled.

"Incredibly. What were you thinking?"

"'Bout you. Max, I-- He touched you. He--"

"Shhh," she said, putting a finger against his full sensuous (and at the moment cut and swollen) lips. "We'll talk later. Right now you've got to go to a hospital, Alec. If you don't, you're going to die."

Dix

He shook his head adamantly causing several long strands of dark blond hair to fall into his eyes. "No."

"Yes. I won't let you leave me too. Not this way."

"No doctors. No hospital."

"Alec," Max tried in a calm reasonable tone, hoping she wasn't going to have to have Luke sedate him, "I'll call Dr. Carr. You know him. And I'll be with you every second. I won't let them do anything to you. I promise."

"No."

"Don't you trust me? Do you intend to die on me now? After all your promises?"

He looked up at her, his green-gold eyes wide with pain and worry, and she saw the answer in their depths. As if I could ever deny you anything ...

"Good boy," she whispered. Then, over her shoulder to Dix who'd been watching from the corner. "Help me get him to the car."

*****

Dr. Sam Carr

"He's got a good chance, Max," Sam Carr said, the first words out of the doctor's mouth when he came through the door into the hospital alcove where Max, Lucy, Mole, and Joshua were worriedly waiting. Middle-aged, his dark hair balding, and his gut on the "Dunlap" side of paunchy (as in dun lapped over his belt), Logan's physician friend might not look like much of a physical specimen compared to the Manticore creations he treated, but his heart was in the right place when it came to transgenics -- a rarity in today's racist paranoid world. And more importantly, Max trusted him. Afterall, he'd saved her brothers' lives in the past -- Zack's and Alec's both ... hers as well -- not to mention all those times he'd come running to the rescue when Logan had been exposed to the virus before it was cured.

Drying his hands on a towel, Dr. Carr sat down in an empty chair and looked her square in the eye. "Alec's young and strong and, as far as I can tell, healthy, Max. His body's just short of miraculous when it comes to healing. There was some internal damage from the knife wound ... bleeding ... but with a little surgical help to stem the worst of the flow his own clotting factors started kicking in. However, we've been down this road before, remember? The gunshot wound he sustained from that sniper after his first city council meeting? He healed then. There's no reason he won't heal now."

Max closed her eyes, limp with relief, and Lucy -- who was seated next to her -- squeezed her hand.

"Sounds like your guy is going to be okay," the girl said quietly, seeing the obvious about her friend's relationship with this "Alec." She smiled wanly. "He must be something, for you to be so upset like this. You must really love him a lot."

"I do," Max murmured. Then she looked up at Dr. Carr. "Does he need blood?"

The physician scowled slightly. "I almost transfused him during the surgery, but I hesitated because I know how different your blood is from ordinaries. Truth is, a pint or two wouldn't hurt him, and would probably speed up the healing process not to mention help him regain his strength."

"Take mine," Max said, getting to her feet.

Carr shook his head no. "You've given a lot of blood during the past few months Max, in order to manufacture the vaccine. Isn't there someone else?"

Max looked around at Joshua and Mole ... thought about other possibilities in Terminal City. Transhuman blood wouldn't be compatible with Alec's feline DNA, but there were other X5s around, or Lydecker could probably supply some. However ...

"No," she said firmly. "Use mine. Mine's special. We all know that, and I want Alec to have the best. It's what we did before and we know I'm a good match for him."

Before ...

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

Max remembered that night all too vividly.

Alec, looking cover-boy handsome as usual, had dressed for his first Seattle City Council appearance in a casual suit of brown trousers and coat with an open-necked blue dress shirt and no necktie. Strolling into the courthouse chambers with hands in his pockets and head held high, he'd paused a moment in the doorway and looked around like he was taking possession of the place. His newly designated seat as the 10th member of the Council had been a chair placed just to the right of the mayor's dais and main table. Although as a non-voting entity Alec had no political clout, the mere presence of a transgenic from Terminal City in an official capacity at the meeting had been a huge triumph for his people -- and the X5 damn well knew it. At least now they had a voice ... a way to be heard before those who were partially in charge of their fate.

When his turn to speak came three quarters of the way through the meeting, Alec had risen to his feet, scanned the crowd with fearless eyes, tipped a head to the ladies on the council, then given a brief, impassioned speech about the plight of the Manticore refugees, the unfairness of their past treatment, and a plea for the city of Seattle to, at worst, not persecute them, and at best, to help them with medical care and food supplies. He also requested that Terminal City be re-integrated into the city's main electrical grid, as well as their water and sewage systems -- no smart remarks, no playing around, just the demands he and Max had agreed on. A natural when it came to persuasion, Alec had played his cards, the hand he'd been dealt, well ...

Of course his requests were "tabled" for future discussion -- council's way of sweeping them under the rug in a polite way -- but at least he'd been allowed to speak and the transgenics had been heard.

Max relaxed in her seat in the gallery after Alec sat down. The boy had done fine, in spite of Logan's foreboding. Eyes Only had been so sure Alec would screw this up, and truth be told, she hadn't been so certain herself that the devious X5 could be trusted with this important job. Luckily, she'd been wrong. Alec had just done them all proud.

And damn, the X5 made a good showing sitting up there in that suit with his dark blond hair neatly combed back, his face clean shaven, his boots polished, and a fuck-authority attitude glittering in those hazel-green eyes. A soldier always at heart, X5-494 had had excellent hygiene habits drilled into him his entire life, and it hadn't taken much to spruce himself up for his political debut. Take the guy out of leather and jeans, Max thought, and voila!, the biker/beach boy turned into a respectable businessman as easy as Cinderella morphing into a princess for the ball.

Afterwards, she met Alec in the hallway where he was working the crowd, pumping as many hands as he could reach while radiating his most charming smile, showing the world that transgenics were really just regular folk after all.

"Good job," Max said quietly from behind him, knowing he'd hear. Alec glanced back at her, and she saw that those two simple words -- her approval -- meant more to him than he'd ever admit.

Just then a beautiful buxom blonde dressed in a tight-fitting blue silk mini dress -- one of the mayor's aides -- sidled up and batted big false eyelashes at Terminal City's handsome alderman. Seeing what was coming -- that Alec was about to "get lucky" -- Max began to bow out. "We'll talk in the morning," she said, looking around for Logan who'd driven her here in his Aztec.

"I thought we'd talk now," Alec said quickly.

"I don't wanna cramp your style," Max said with a meaningful look at the blonde who'd just latched onto Alec's arm, stood on tiptoe, whispered something in his ear, and pressed a piece of paper into his hand.

Alec read the note, then straightened and, with an odd look on his face, turned to his curvaceous admirer. "I appreciate the offer, sweetheart," he said, his voice deep and sexy. "But I'm afraid I've already got plans tonight." And then he'd stared straight at Max who found herself blushing -- not that Alec meant ... that ... but ...

"Oh, and by the way," Alec added offhandedly as he shrugged away the blonde's grip on his arm and took hold of Max's hand instead. "That's not how you spell 'fellatio.'" He shook his head and said low under his breath, "Why the hell can't anyone remember it's with a 't' ? It's just Latin for--"

"We don't need the literal translation, Alec," Max said quickly. To her chagrin, she felt her face blaze crimson. But then Alec, with one of his handsome smiles, was dragging her through the crowd toward city hall's massive double front doors, pushing his way with a shoulder as flashbulbs popped around them -- the local media wanting to record for posterity the transgenics' first official foray into city politics.

Once out on the front steps, however, Max planted her feet and jerked her alderman to a halt. Yanking her hand away from his, she put fists on her hips and snapped, "What the hell was that all about?"

Alec's brows drew down in puzzlement. "What was what all about, Max?"

"You just made it look like we're ... like I'm ... your date or something."

Alec glanced up to the top of the steps where Logan had just emerged from inside. Spotting the two transgenics, Eyes Only began to make his way through the throng of people toward them.

"You got it wrong then, Max," Alec said, his voice growing cold. "Sorry if I gave that impression. I just thought we should go somewhere, get a cup of coffee, and talk about what went on in there." He jerked his thumb back toward the building. "There were a lot of mixed signals goin' on in that room in case you didn't notice. Councilman Hennesy is gonna be a problem. Then again, I can't blame him since we did just take away a big portion of his Sector Seven constituency."

"That blonde wasn't bad looking," Max couldn't help saying.

Alec shrugged. "Too ordinary for my taste."

"Since when did you become a racist?"

Alec stared at her. "You know when," he said softly.

Max looked away, sorry she'd just re-opened that wound for Alec -- which is when it happened.

Later, the police determined the sniper had been lying in wait on the rooftop of a building across the street. The laser-guided bullet was to have been a clean kill for an X5 -- a shot to Alec's heart. But something ... some instinct ... had made Alec glance up and around a fraction of a second before the shot rang out and he'd moved -- not enough to avoid being hit, but enough so that the bullet pierced his shoulder instead of his chest.

Still, it was a massive wound, the teflon-coated projectile tearing a hole clear though his body, rupturing a main artery, and dropping the X5 to the ground like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut, his choked cry as he fell a sound Max had never heard her brother make before.

Screams, panic, a stampeding crowd ... medics ... police ... an ambulance ... the County General Hospital emergency staff refusing to treat a "freak" ...

It had been a nightmare. Max knew that if it hadn't been for Logan calling Dr. Carr and herself there to immediately donate blood they would have lost Alec that night. The hospital staff -- out of sheer ignorance, prejudice, and fear -- would have rather let their Manticore patient bleed to death on the gurney in the hallway than touch his mutant body.

X5-494 had almost died in her arms while they waited for someone ... anyone ... to help him. When Alec had closed his eyes and relaxed against her after trying so valiantly to stay conscious Max had bowed her head on top of his and wept, cursing the unfairness of having another loved one torn from her life (because at that moment Max realized that , in spite of the 'faux loathing' act she put on around him, she did indeed love ... even cherish ... Alec).

But then Dr. Carr had arrived and commandeered an operating room, she'd been summoned to donate blood, and Alec's excellent genetics had kicked in and seen him through.

*****

He glanced up at her sheepishly from the hospital bed. Dressed in nothing more than a sleeveless gown, his unshaven face pale, his hair disheveled and hanging in eyes that were wide and dark with pain, Alec didn't realize he looked so vulnerable that, if he'd just kept his mouth shut, she'd have forgiven him without question. But silence had never been 494's nature.

"Max, I can explain. I--"

"Shut up."

"I'm sorry. I was mad. The thought of Devon and you ... it drove me crazy all the way back on the plane."

"I told you nothing really happened." She tossed her head back angrily. "But then you had to go 'n make a big deal out of it and almost get yourself killed."

"Sometimes a man has to fight for what's his," Alec said.

Her silence was eloquent as to what Max thought about that idiotic observation -- words he couldn't believe had just come out of his mouth -- and Alec realized he was probably being overly melodramatic. "How's Devon?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Last Dix heard he'd gone limping back to Lydecker who flew him to the New Manticore base for treatment of a bad back injury.

"Joshua threw him out the window?" Alec said. His little smile was quickly disguised, but Max saw and scowled.

"He could have died," she said. "You could have too, and all for nothing."

"Not for nothing, Max," Alec said quietly. "For you."

"Oh for God's sake!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "Will you listen to yourself, Alec? You sound like a jealous lover and believe me, it ain't pretty. Logan was bad enough! I don't need this kind of shit from you!"

"I'm over it," Alec said, casting his eyes down. Then he raised them impishly. "I Promise. I'll never doubt you again."

"Liar."

Alec shrugged, conceding the point.

Max studied him through slightly narrowed eyes for a long moment. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Her lover's brows drew down. "Who?" he asked suspiciously, pulling the bed sheet higher over his mid section. His side was aching, and he felt a bit shaky, but other than that he could tell there wasn't much damage to his body. In fact, he'd hoped Max was actually here to spring him from the hospital and Dr. Carr's care. "Can't this wait until I'm back home?"

"It could," Max said. "But she's with me now, waiting out in the hallway. She wants to meet you."

"Again, I say 'who'?"

Max took a deep breath. "It's Lucy."

"Lucy?"

"Lucy. My foster sister. Her family took me in right after I escaped from Manticore. Remember? I told you about it once."

"Oh yeah," Alec said, recalling the conversation vaguely. Max had told him about Lucy and the incestuous stepfather one of those nights they'd gone drinking together when she'd been avoiding Logan. The details were a little hazy -- he'd had half a dozen Scotches by the time the conversation had turned to old times -- but he'd pretty much gotten the gist of the situation. "Lucy didn't bring dear old Dad along with her, did she?"

Max shuddered. "Thankfully no," she said. "In fact, we haven't even had time to talk much so I don't know what happened to the rest of her family."

"Why does she wanna meet me?" he asked.

"Because I told her I'm in love with you," Max replied bluntly.

For some reason the words made Alec swell with pride -- that Max was being so open about their relationship now.

He nodded at the door. "Bring her in."

"Just ... behave," Max warned.

Alec managed a wane grin. "Charm's my middle name. You know that, Max."

"'Charm' my ass. Try 'bullshit'."

"Hey!"

But Max had already walked over to the closed door, opened it, and was calling into the hallway. "Lucy! Come on in."

The moment he laid eyes on Lucy Barrett Alec knew she was trouble. Call it an instinct, ESP, or just a gut call, but he didn't like her. There was something about those sharp blue eyes ... a hardness to her mouth ... a whoriness in the way the lady was looking him over that completely turned him off. If he'd been prowling for a potential lay, a one-night-stand, this girl would have fit his bill. But as for being Max's long lost "sister," all he made her for was bad news.

"Nice to meet you," Alec said politely, nodding but not offering his hand. He glanced down at himself in the hospital bed. "Pardon me if I don't stand up."

Lucy was smiling brazenly. "So you're the guy who managed to win my Maxie's heart."

"One of 'em," Alec said with a cynical little smile.

Max glared at him. Lucy looked intrigued.

"Let's go," Max said, grabbing hold of the girl's hand. "Alec ... I'll see you later, maybe this evening I'll--"

Alec was already throwing the light blanket off of himself and swinging bare legs over the side of the hospital bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Max yelled.

"Goin' home ... with you," Alec said, pressing his lips together against the pain in his side. He reached for his jeans that were hanging on a chair beside the bed. Mole had brought them, along with a clean shirt -- a brown button-front number that had been hanging in his closet -- earlier that morning. "Where are my shoes?"

"Alec, you're not just walking out of the hospital, not after a wound like you sustained," Max argued.

"Max," Alec said firmly, the look in his eyes brooking no argument. "You know how I feel about hospitals and doctors and such. I ain't stayin'." He glanced down at his bandaged side. "Anyway, I'm already healin'. I heard Dr. Carr talkin' to the nurse this morning." A smirk. "Me and my amazing transgenic healing abilities have him intrigued as always."

Lucy was watching the two transgenics arguing with a little smile of her own. "Healing abilities?" she asked.

"One of our gifts," Max explained as she had a tug-of-war with Alec over the shirt. "Our genetics let our bodies repair themselves three or four times faster than an ordinary human."

"I guess there are a lot of things about you I don't know," the girl said. "I saw stuff on the television ... read about you in the newspapers ... but I didn't really think you were that different from me. I mean, you and me lived together for months, Max, and I never suspected you weren't ..."

"Human?" Alec supplied, as he managed to take possession of the shirt.

"Just like me," Lucy amended.

"Well, we're not ... like you," Alec said. Sitting on the side of the bed, he rather gingerly pulled on the jeans, putting his feet on the floor as he hiked the pants up over his butt. He noticed Lucy stared rather intently as he buttoned the fly in front, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye as he stripped the gown off over his head, revealing smooth skin and lean well-muscled abs.

"Ow," he said softly when the movement pulled his stitches.

"See," Max scolded. "You're not ready to get out of bed."

Alec took a deep tentative breath, testing the wound, and still felt like he was going to be all right. "I need to see to some things over at the Artworks Mall," he said. "I've got a couple clients stopping by this afternoon and if Joshua tries to handle the deal we're gonna either give 'em heart attacks or get royally screwed on the profit margin."

Holding the hospital gown in one hand, and the brown shirt in the other, he paused a moment to regard Lucy who was now staring at his naked torso in open-mouthed admiration. "He's gorgeous, Max," she breathed.

A less egotistical man would have blushed at what the lady was obviously thinking, but Alec was nothing if not self assured. He merely raised an eyebrow, accepting the compliment for what it was. "Good genetics again," he simply said. Then he donned the shirt with what started as a flourish (and ended in a grimace of pain), and began looking around for his shoes.

*****

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"What did Manticore do?" Lucy asked as the three of them walked out the front door of the hospital. "Clone movie stars? You guys have unbelievable good looks."

Max glanced at Alec who shrugged. "Rumor had it that, yeah, there were some pretty fancy samples in the Manticore DNA bank -- not just super successful CEO's and genius scientists, but actors and actresses from the late twentieth century, models, and musicians and such lookin' for a way to make a quick buck after The Pulse shut down the entertainment industry." He turned around so he was strolling backwards, facing the girls. "Whatdaya think, Max?" He held his arms wide. "Some people say I bear a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt."

"Personally, I don't see it," she said, breaking his bubble. "Besides, Lydecker once told me that they mostly used regular soldiers for the DNA database -- screened carefully of course -- but chances are, Alec, your daddy was just an ordinary, passably handsome, G.I. Joe."

"Well, I always heard there were actors and actresses in the database too," Alec argued, feeling a bit miffed for some reason.

Max shrugged. "Maybe some starving ones from last century who sold their souls to the Devil so they could keep livin' high in Hollywood, but I doubt Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts or anyone famous like that would let their DNA be used in an experimental soldier breeding program."

Lucy was shaking her head. "Model parents or not, you two look awesome."

"You're not so bad looking yourself, girl," Max chided her friend. Then, to Alec, "If you're so hot to get to the mall, you better go. It's getting late. I'm going to help Lucy settle into Logan's old apartment."

Alec raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything.

"Don't worry," Max said, apparently reading his mind. "I'm sure Lucy won't mind you taking a hot shower there in the morning."

"I'll say I won't mind," the girl replied, giving Alec another appreciative once-over.

Alec just smile politely, then leaned over and bestowed a quick kiss on Max's lips before saying, "Later," and heading off in the direction of where he'd instructed Mole to leave his motorcycle parked, jingling the keys in his pocket as he went.

*****

Logan Cale

"I'm in."

Logan Cale turned around to regard the girl standing framed in the doorway of his uptown penthouse. It was early evening, daylight still brightening the room, but shadows lengthening.

"She welcomed you with open arms?" Asha said from where she was curled up on the couch. Standing, she walked over, the expensive gold bracelets adorning her wrist -- a gift from Logan -- jangling much the way Alec's keys had. "Max doesn't suspect anything?"

"I'm the long lost sister miraculously returned," Lucy replied with a wicked smile. "She's even letting me stay in those fancy digs you used to have over there."

Logan raised an eyebrow, echoing Alec's earlier expression. "I suppose that makes sense," he said slowly. A nasty smirk. "Although I thought Max and Alec probably reserved that for their own personal playground."

The girl shrugged. "Well, the bed sheets were kinda rumpled."

"What about Alec?" Asha said, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"He's gorgeous," Lucy said. "Can't wait to get my hands on him, or at least a certain part of him."

"Gorgeous or not," Asha said coldly, "don't forget what he is. He's not human, Lucy. And he's very, very dangerous -- even moreso than Max because he doesn't have a sibling fetish like she does. More importantly, he's going to be looking to protect Max which means you've got your job cut out for you. Max may be TC's leader, but Alec's the one who sees things more clearly -- all that soldier training he had at Manticore. He'll be a lot harder to fool than our girl."

"Just give me an hour alone with the stud and I'll have him eating out of my hand," Lucy declared. Again the smirk. "Or, better yet, eating out something of mine."

Logan sighed heavily and leaned back in his desk chair, the servos of his exoskeleton whirring. "You're underestimating Alec and the trouble he could cause us," Eyes Only said. He glanced up at Asha who leaned down and gave him a possessive little kiss on the cheek. Logan smiled up at her in a way he used to only smile for someone else.

Asha saw and her own grin lit up the room. "You really want to go through with this, Logan?" she said softly. "You want to take them down completely?"

Logan looked from one woman to the other, fanatical blue eyes narrowing slightly behind the rims of his glasses. "I was wrong about the transgenics," he said slowly. "Very, very wrong. Instead of helping them I should have been using my resources to defeat them ... see them incarcerated or destroyed. Now, they've got a foothold in society that's going to be hard to shake loose. They're breeding. Eventually they'll spread ... infiltrate the world. Within a couple of generations the human genome will be altered ... defiled forever by their animal genetics." His gaze settled on Lucy. "You were fooled by Max long ago. You had no idea what she really was. The X5s especially need to be eradicated because they're the ones that are so hard to detect. They can slip in and out of our populace like an invisible plague, contaminating the human race with their flawed DNA."

"I thought you loved Max once," Lucy said, sniffing loudly. " And she's one of those contaminating animals you're talking about. What happened?"

Asha swallowed hard and looked out the window.

Lucy was far from stupid. "Oh," she said, nodding in understanding, sensing the love triangle that had been involved.

"Let's just say I found a real woman," Logan replied. He took hold of Asha's hand. "Someone like me."

"How did Maxie take the break-up?" Lucy asked, curious in spite of herself as she hiked a leg up to sit on the dining room table. Crossing one curvaceous limb over the other, not the least bit self conscious about all the thigh skin she was exposing below her tight fitting mini-skirt, she pulled a cigarette out of her handbag and started to light it.

"Not in here, please," Logan said quickly, referring to the smoke.

Lucy made a wry face, but put the unlit cigarette down. "You didn't answer my question," she said.

"Max wasn't happy that I found someone better for me than her," Logan replied. "But she didn't mourn the lost relationship for long."

His guest smiled wickedly again. "Meaning our Alec was right there ready, willing, and able to be rebound boy."

"And had been for a long time," Logan added, not trying to hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Max and Alec have always been a pair," Asha explained. "Physically and emotionally." She glanced down sympathetically at Logan, rumpling his hair with affection. "I saw it a long time before he did and tried to warn him, but I guess someone has to learn that kind of thing the hard way. If Logan hadn't left her first, Max would have eventually cheated on him with Alec. Anyone who looked at the two of them together could see it in their eyes. They were destined to fuck. It was ... inevitable."

"But now that Max and Alec are together ..." Lucy's words trailed off.

"We have to destroy them," Logan said. "I can't be too direct about it, though. They have not only Constitutional rights, but New Manticore's backing. Eyes Only has agreed to begin subtly influencing the public against the transgenics in general, but those creatures' downfall will come about a lot more quickly if their leaders are discredited, or better yet ... killed."

"You want me to kill Max, or Alec, or both of them?" Lucy asked calmly. "I'm in position to do either job."

"Why do you hate her so much?" Asha asked, truly curious. "What did Max ever do to you?"

Lucy's smile was ugly this time, her ruby lips parting in a ruthless slash. "She left me, that's what she did," the girl said. "She left me at the very worst moment of my life -- abandoned her sister to unspeakable torture and horrors. My father--" She stopped, biting off the words.

"What about your father?" the question from Logan this time.

"He hurt me ... a lot," Lucy said, her alto voice husky. "Max could have stopped him, easily, with her strength ... her transgenic abilities. But she did nothing. She just sat back and let that monster rape me ... night after night ... a little girl ... while she made her own selfish plans." A frightening look had formed in Lucy's eyes as she talked. "And now, at long last, I'm in a position to pay Maxie back for all the help she didn't give me." Her gaze settled on Logan. "Given a choice I want to hurt him first though ... Alec ... the man she loves. I know I could take him out easy, a bullet in the heart or the head, but I want Max to see him suffer ... die slowly. She really loves him. His agonizing death will hurt her far more than anything else." She glanced up at the ceiling a moment. "Actually, I'd like to fuck his hard dick first ... enjoy my work so to speak ... but he doesn't seem to be the type to stray from his woman. Maxie seeing her boy being ridden all hot and wet by her long lost sister would just be icing on the cake but--"

"Alec's a tomcat when he's on the prowl, looking for a mate," Asha said knowingly ... nodding ... "Part of those feline genes. But he's a one woman man when he's in love. Forget about trying to get in his pants. He'll reject you." She glanced at Logan. "Believe me, I know."

"Just go for the pain," Logan added. "Works for me." He swiveled his chair and reached into a desk drawer. "And I think I have something that will achieve both of our goals." He held up a small glass vial of clear liquid.

"Poison?" Lucy said, her eyebrows rising in surprise. "I was just gonna shoot the guy in the gut."

"He was already stabbed in the side and recovered in less than forty-eight hours," Logan chided her. "Transgenic healing, remember? We need something subtle... hidden ... something they won't be able to counter and that their mutant bodies won't be able to handle that will lead to a slow, agonizing, certain death."

"And Max?" Lucy asked, reaching out and taking the vial from Logan, then holding it up to the light to admire the poison's crystal clarity.

"She'll suffer right along with him," Logan said. "She won't be able to help him ... won't even know what happened if you play this right. He'll die by inches, over a period of days, and no one will be able to ease his suffering."

"And the whole time she'll be dying right along with him," Lucy said, understanding. She looked to her boss. "And when Alec's dead?"

"Only then do you put her out of her misery," Logan said, a hint of sorrow in his voice for the first time. "But Max ... do it quick for her -- a bullet to the head should suffice. And make it look like suicide." He smiled at a memory. "I did love her once. I don't want her to physically suffer ... not like him." He nodded at the vial in the assassin's hand. "She'll be so devastated over losing him she'll never see it coming, especially not from her so-called sister who's been comforting her through the ordeal of losing her mate."

"And once Max and Alec are out of the way, the rest of the transgenics will be fairly easy to take down," Asha said. "Without their leaders, the freaks won't know where to turn ... whom to trust."

"Eyes Only will swoop in to the rescue," Logan said lightly, "and they'll never know until it's too late that they've been betrayed. They'll be persuaded, for example, to accept Senator McKinley's mandatory sterilization proposal rather than fight the legislation. Keep the mutants from reproducing, and within a generation they'll be extinct. Problem solved."

Lucy nodded, her dark blue eyes glittering with anticipation. "Leave it to me," she said, tucking the vial in her purse. "I'm supposed to meet Max and Alec for dinner tonight. I'll take care of him then."

She hopped off the table and started to walk to the door, but suddenly Asha was at her side, her hand on the assassin's arm.

"Asha?" Logan said.

"Wait," Asha stammered. "I was just thinking ... maybe it doesn't have to be this way. Does Alec really have to be put down?"

"He dumped you over a year ago, Asha," Logan said nastily. "Don't tell me you're still carrying a torch for that freak."

"Of course not," Asha said. "It's just ... Alec's a nice guy at heart. He pushed me away for my own good ... because he didn't want to see me hurt. And of course because he was really in love with Max, even though he wouldn't admit it to himself at the time. I knew back then that the two of them belonged together just like you and I--" She smiled at Logan. "Just like you and I belong together too. Do we have to put him through this? Do we have to make him suffer so much? I know he has to die for the good of the world, the S1W agrees with that. But can't it just be a bullet, or a quicker acting poison?"

"If Alec's assassinated outright, Max will go on the warpath," Logan said quietly. "She won't stop until she finds his killers, not to mention going on alert to protect herself. We have to break Max down, Asha, make her look weak to her troops. And the only way to do that is through her lover. She'll be completely vulnerable after watching him suffer for so long, hopefully not even suspecting he was poisoned, rather thinking that he's suffering from some genetic anomaly. We need to psychologically destroy Max, not fortify her. If the two of them are killed by gunfire, they become martyrs to the rest. But if Alec dies a horrible lingering death due to his bastardized DNA, and Max eats a bullet in her grief, the rest of the TC transgenics will be ripe for manipulation."

"I suppose it's the only way," Asha whispered, letting go of Lucy.

"Go," Logan admonished the girl. "Do your job. Half the money we agreed on will be deposited in your account the moment he stops breathing, and the other half as soon as I hear of Max's suicide. And just remember -- I took you off the streets, and I can put you right back there if I want to, or worse, in jail. Those prostitution charges are still pending."

"It's already done," Lucy promised, slipping out the door and heading back to Terminal City.

*****

Artwork courtesy of Jensen Ackles Museum

"I think this proves my point," Alec smirked.

Max, straddling his naked groin and looking down at her lover, shook her head, letting long strands of dark hair sweep his hard chest. She didn't understand. "What point?"

"I once bet Mole I could still please my lady even with a bullet hole in me," the X5 boasted.

She tilted her head and regarded him quizzically, even as his strong graceful hands played with her pendulous breasts as they swayed just above his face. "It's not a bullet hole, you egotistical idiot," she admonished. "It's a knife wound."

Alec shrugged. "Same difference. The point is, I can perform under pressure."

"That feels good," she murmured as his talented fingers teased hard nipples.

"So does this," Alec said, thrusting his hips upwards to deepen his penetration. Overcome for a moment with the pleasure of her stretching around him, he briefly closed his eyes. Max might -- and that's a pretty big "might" -- have had bigger, he thought with self pride. But never in a million years better ... Quality and quantity ...

"I still can't believe we're doing this so soon after you were at death's door in the hospital," Max said, spreading her legs wider for him but at the same time careful to not put any pressure on his bandaged side. "I thought you'd want to sleep for a week after we got home."

"Sleep wasn't what I needed," Alec said honestly as he shifted his hands to her waist, helping her balance. "What I needed was you," he added, his voice a husky purr.

"You've got me."

"Not ... quite ... yet," he said, grinning as he very deliberately increased the tempo and intensity of his thrusts.

"And you never will if you don't shut up," Max chided. "I need to concentrate." It was her turn to close her eyes now as she tilted her head back and focused all of her attention on the sensation of Alec's hard length filling her, sliding in and out, the sense of his swelling, the tantalizing friction of his heat and hair rubbing that well lubricated pleasure spot between her legs.

"Say 'when'," her lover got out through clenched teeth as he tried to control himself. "And, God, Max," he breathed, "make it soon."

"No problem," she said softly as she felt the coiling of an impending orgasm deep within her own sex organs.

His whimper as he came inside her was one of the sweetest sounds Max had ever heard. It thrilled her when she could make the overconfident, egotistical, self-centered X5-494 lose control. Even as the waves of pleasure inundated her own body and she cried out loud, she felt his warm strong hands grasping her wrists, pulling her to himself, holding her captive as he filled her with his seed. His lady ... his mate ... the only female he wanted in his bed or to pleasure his body.

Wounded or not, Alec was as formidable a lover as he was a warrior -- and Max knew damn well how lucky she was to have him.

"I just love it when I'm right about you," Max whispered in Alec's ear as she gently sank down beside the panting, spent X5 to cradle him in her arms while he slept.

*****

As he fell into satiated, contented slumber in his lover's embrace, Alec's mind drifted ...

Logan will be glad we're back a day early, Max said as they took the basement steps up to Eyes Only's Terminal City apartment two at once. This way he'll have even more time to prepare a broadcast to counter McKinley's "sterilize the transgenics" speech he's going to give tomorrow night on the national news."

"Yeah, we've got some incriminating evidence on the good senator all right," Alec agreed. "Of course findin' out he has connections to the Breeding Cult doesn't exactly surprise me."

Max patted the messenger bag slung over her shoulder. "But now we have hard evidence linking McKinley to not only Ames White, but to the asylum operations." She grinned at her partner. "I've gotta admit, Alec. I didn't think you could pull off that office heist, but you charmed your way past McKinley's secretary like a real pro."

"That's because I am a real pro, Max," Alec smirked. "And once inside, his computer files weren't that hard to hack -- not with the program Logan provided."

They'd reached the door and Max opened it. "Logan?" she called out. "Are you here?"

Alec thought the apartment seemed oddly empty considering it was the middle of the day, but then Eyes Only hadn't been expecting his lover to return so soon. Maybe the guy had gone out for a beer. However, then Alec's sensitive nostrils picked up a scent ...

"Logan?" Max called, heading for the apartment's single bedroom.

"Max!" Alec said quickly, reaching for her hand. "Don't!"

But it was too late. Pushing open the door, both transgenics got an eyeful, not just of a buck naked Logan Cale, but of a voluptuously nude Asha Barlow as well -- the two caught in the proverbial "act."

Asha gasped at the intrusion, and raised her head from where she'd been administering to the man of her dreams. A strand of her blonde hair caught in the hinge of Logan's exoskeleton (Alec had always wondered if the guy wore the contraption when he "did it" but had been afraid to ask Max), and she winced even as the servos hummed and her lover flailed on the bed. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, her blue eyes flew to Alec's, almost as if seeking his help.

"Max!" Logan shouted, grabbing a blanket and pulling it over himself and his new girlfriend.

Max. Oh, God, Max. Alec tore his eyes away from the unexpected porn show on the bed and looked at his companion in fear, wondering if he was going to have to step in and prevent a double homicide.

But Max appeared to be anything but angry. Shock best described her expression, Alec thought, her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes huge with horror. And then, without a word, she simply turned around and walked out.

Alec's own mouth opened, then closed again, looking from Logan and Asha to Max and back again -- words for the occasion eluding him.

"Max!" Logan shouted after the woman he'd just betrayed beyond all forgiveness. "Max, I can explain! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--"

"Just shut the fuck up," Alec sneered, finding his tongue at last as he pulled the door closed on the sickening sight and ran after the one person in the world he truly cared about. Instinctively he knew that Max needed him now -- more than she ever had before in her life.

As Alec fell deeper into slumber, his legs twitched slightly, chasing after Max in his dreams.

*****

"You don't like her, do you?" Max said as she and Alec walked side-by-side down Terminal City's main street, headed for the front gate and Logan's former apartment where they were to meet Lucy.

Alec thought carefully before answering. He and Max had just spent a really good night together, and he didn't want to set her off. However, he also wasn't going to lie ... this time at least.

"I'm not sure you should trust her," he finally said.

"Why not?"

"You don't know her."

"She's my sister."

"Foster sister," Alec corrected, "and someone you haven't seen in over twelve years. Even back then, you only knew her for what? A few months before you moved on?"

"I never should have left her like that," Max said quietly. "I should have stayed and helped her." She looked up at Alec. "I didn't understand."

Alec felt an eerie sense of deja vu at Max's words. He'd said almost the same thing to his first love, Rachel, while kneeling beside her deathbed. I didn't understand ... didn't understand how much I loved you ...

"Manticore made it hard for us to connect with people emotionally, Max," he said, offering an excuse for both of them. "It's not our fault that expressing our love for someone is so hard for us to do."

"There she is," Max said, nodding at Lucy who was standing on the steps of the building that housed Logan Cale's old apartment. She'd changed clothes, this time wearing a red leather outfit instead of a black leather one, and Max wondered when the girl had had time to go shopping -- Lucy hadn't had any luggage with her at all when Max had taken her to the apartment earlier that day -- or, for that matter, where the supposedly broke and destitute girl had gotten the money to buy an expensive get-up like that.

"Nice dress," Max commented as she and Alec approached.

Lucy shrugged. "Just something I picked up in a thrift shop a couple of hours ago. I'll go downtown to the bus station lockers tomorrow and get my things, but this'll do for tonight, won't it?"

"It'll be fine," Alec said, playing the gallant since Max so obviously wanted him to get along with the long lost sister. "Chinese all right with you ladies?"

"Sounds good," Lucy said.

"You can ride with me," Max said, pointing back toward the building that housed TC's motor pool where she and Alec kept their motorcycles.

*****

Mei Ling's Restaurant was actually located in Little Korea Town -- a place Alec had discovered shortly after he'd arrived in Seattle two years ago and had frequented ever since.

The shrimp cashew, his favorite, was expensive, but worth it in his opinion, and Max just loved the sweet and sour chicken. Lucy had a big plate of shrimp fried rice, and shared her egg roll appetizers.

When they were done eating, Alec paid the bill, and then the trio were standing outside the restaurant on the street. The moon was just rising. Early yet, it seemed a shame to end the evening so soon.

"Wanna stop by Crash?" Alec asked Max. "It's Saturday night, and you know what that means."

"Sketchy doin' his routine," Max said, smiling.

Lucy looked puzzled.

"Crash is a messenger bar where we used to hang out in the old days," Max explained. "Back when Alec and me were working at Jam Pony and passing as ordinaries. Sketchy's a friend of ours."

"Sounds like fun," Lucy said with a casual shrug. "Lead the way."

*****

They got a table on the upper level and sat watching as some of their old buddies performed biker stunts on top of the bar down below.

"I got twenty bucks that says Sky balances longer 'n Sketch," Alec said to Max, unable to resist the gambling instinct that seemed to have been bred into him along with his soldier genes.

"You're on," Max said easily, laying her money on the table.

"Next round's on me," Lucy said, standing and heading for the bar. "You still drinking Scotch, Alec? Neat?"

"That's my poison," Alec replied with a jaunty grin.

The girl eyed the three empty glasses already in front of Alec. "You sure you haven't had enough."

"Our metabolism is higher than a human's," Max said before Alec could reply. "It takes an awful lot of liquor to get a transgenic drunk."

"One Scotch, comin' up then," Lucy said with a wink. "And another beer for my sister."

Lucy Barrett watched closely as X5-494 raised the glass of Scotch she'd brought him to his lips, took a sip, swirled the brown liquid a moment, studying its color, then drank some more. Scowling slightly, Alec nodded in the direction of the bar down below. "I'm gonna hafta talk to Hummer about his supplier. They used to serve better stuff in here than this." Still, he finished off the drink, downing the rest in a single gulp.

Lucy smiled.

*****

"Max," Alec said as he sat on the side of their bed that night. "You got any Tryptophan you could spare?"

In the midst of taking off her bra, his lady turned around and looked at him. "Don't tell me you left home without it again?"

"No," Alec said. "I didn't. But I already took the six pills I had on me and I think I need more."

Her brow creasing with concern, Max crossed the room and knelt in front of him, taking his hands in hers. They were shaking.

"Six should be plenty to take care of this," she said, speaking as much to herself as to her lover.

"I know," Alec said, trying to make light of it. "Guess I just overdid it the past couple of days what with gettin' stabbed and playin' super stud and all ..."

She stood and went into the bathroom where she kept her own supply of the life sustaining amino acid. Going back to Alec, she opened the bottle and shook four more pills into his trembling hand, then watched while he downed them dry.

"Get in bed," she told him. "You need to rest ... sleep."

"Yeah," Alec agreed. "I've just hit a bad spot ... happens once in awhile, ya know."

"I know," Max said. But the concern showed in her eyes. Alec was young and strong and healthy. He'd had his seizures under control for years. Why would this be happening to him now?

A flicker of pain crossed his face.

"Alec?" Max said, for the first time getting scared. Sitting beside him on the bed she touched his arm, and was alarmed to feel how hot his skin was. Transgenic basal body temperature ran three degrees higher than humans', but Alec was positively burning up.

"You've got a fever," she said. Her eyes went to her cell phone on the bedside table. "I'm calling Dr. Carr. Maybe your wound is getting infected."

Alec wanted to argue with her. She could see it in his eyes. But then he nodded, and his willingness to have her call a doctor frightened Max even more.

Something was really, really wrong with her boy.

*****

By the time Dr. Carr arrived at her apartment, Alec was in the throes of one of the worst seizures he'd ever suffered in his life.

"The Tryptophan isn't helping!" Max cried as the doctor came through the door. She grabbed Carr's arm and literally dragged him to the bedroom where the young X5 lay curled on the bed, his body covered with sweat and his muscles painfully spasming.

"He's got a fever, too," Max added as the physician began checking the transgenic's vital signs.

"It's not the wound," Carr said after taking a quick look at Alec's side. "No sign of infection." He turned to Max. "What's he been doing? Where's he been? Has he been around anyone who's sick? Did he eat anything? Drink anything?"

"Max?" Alec managed to say. Clutching the pillow, he swallowed with difficulty and tried in vain to fight the contractions. "What's wrong with me?"

"Shhh," Max said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed and cradling Alec's head in her lap as she stroked sweat soaked strands of hair out of his eyes. He was panting like a winded animal, his great strength slowly being depleted by the seizures. She knew all too well what that felt like -- the slipping away into oblivion and welcoming it with open arms just to get away from the pain. "Just hang on, Alec. We'll help you, but you've got to stay with me."

Dr. Carr jabbed a hypo into Alec's arm.

"What's that?" Max asked, her eyes widening.

"Phenobarbital," Carr said grimly. "We've got to get these seizures stopped or his nervous system's going to fall into an endless loop of them -- a repetitive cycle that's almost impossible to break out of." He checked the thermometer strip he'd placed on Alec's forehead, and dark eyebrows rose. "Max, his temperature's over a hundred and seven." He looked right at her. "This isn't just a seizure. He's sick or--"

"Or what?" Max demanded.

"Maybe poisoned?"

Max's mind instantly flew back to their evening at the Chinese restaurant ... Lucy getting Alec a Scotch from the bar at Crash.

"No," she said out loud. "That can't be. Why would she--" But two and two always added up to four ... Still, Max couldn't believe it.

"Could it be the comet pathogen, Max?" Carr was asking her. "Have any of the other transgenics in TC been sick lately? We know most of you can get sick with the contamination when exposed. Maybe Alec got into it some way."

"No one's been sick," Max said, shaking her head. "Not lately. Besides, he's been transfused with my blood. That should make him immune."

"Poison then?" Carr asked again. "Do you know of anyone who would want Alec dead?"

Max gave the doctor a cynical look. "Try most of the human population in the world."

"As your alderman, he's a likely target," Carr conceded.

Max could feel the tremors in Alec's body lessening beneath her hands, the Phenobarbital working. "He's coming down," she said, gently stroking Alec's hair and kissing his eyelids as they fluttered. "Alec, stay with me," she admonished him. "Don't go to sleep. Not yet." She gave him a shake.

"Max?" he mumbled. "What's happenin' to me?"

"We don't know," she said honestly. "Alec, how do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"My head," he murmured, raising a hand to his forehead. "My stomach ... everywhere ..." He was shivering now, not another seizure, but as his temperature continued to rise. And then Max noticed the trickle of blood trailing out of his nose ...

"Doc?" she said, her voice tight even as she touched the blood with the tip of her finger.

Carr gently pushed her aside and took a pen flashlight from his pocket. Shining the tiny beam first into one of Alec's eyes, then the other, he looked back at Max and said, "His pupils are sluggish. He doesn't use drugs does he?"

"Of course not," Max snapped.

"It would explain a lot," Carr tried.

"Alec's not a junkie!"

Pumping up the blood pressure cuff, the physician looked at the reading and could only shake his head. "He's almost off the charts, Max. His heart's under a lot of stress. All of his systems are being affected."

Max could see the tiny broken red blood vessels in the whites of Alec's eyes now. "We need to get him back to the hospital," she said firmly, making a decision.

Carr's hand on her arm kept her from rising. Looking earnestly into her eyes, he said, "Max, I don't think they can help him at County General. They won't know how to deal with this. I know you don't want to hear it, but maybe Alec's best chance would be to get a blood sample to Logan who could give it to his friend Sebastian for analysis. I'm betting we're dealing with an exotic agent of some kind here -- perhaps a bio warfare toxin you transgenics aren't immune to -- something newly developed or just imported."

"Lydecker," Max suddenly said, reaching for Alec's cell phone where it lay on the nightstand. "Lydecker can help."

*****

Ten hours later Alec lay in the isolation wing of New Manticore's North Dakota base. In a coma ... on a respirator ... his eyes, nose, and fingernails oozing blood ... his fever and blood pressure soaring as seizures still occasionally racked his abused body ... the attending medics saying the X5-Unit was most likely unsalvageable.

However, they had managed to diagnose and isolate the problem.

"Someone poisoned him, Max," Lydecker said quietly as she stood looking through the glass window at Alec's nude, sheet-draped body where he lay twitching on the bed. " The analysis of his blood shows a prion compound."

"Do you have an antidote?" Max asked.

"No."

Touching the glass with her hand she felt its coolness. Worried about contagion, at first the Manticore doctors wouldn't let her go to him, but since it was a poison she figured they'd at least let her hold him while he died.

Lydecker shifted his feet. "But someone else might have one."

Max swiveled her head and stared at him. "You think whoever did this to Alec has the counter agent?"

The colonel shrugged. "They might," he conceded. "But no one's tried to contact you, offering you the antidote for money or information. This might be a plain assassination, Max. And if it is ..."

"No antidote needs to exist," Max finished for him, her brief hope fading. "But if they wanted to just kill Alec, why not use a bullet ... a sniper ... or a car bomb?"

Again the shrug. "Because they wanted him to suffer? Because they wanted you to suffer?"

"Who hates us that much?" Max wondered. But at the same time she once again thought about Lucy, and how the girl had brought Alec that glass of Scotch at the restaurant. Could her long lost foster sister be bearing a grudge?

She looked in at Alec again, torn ... She didn't want to leave him to die alone, but if there was even a chance she could get an antidote ...

"I need to get back to Seattle -- fast," Max said, making up her mind. "I think I might know who did this to Alec, and if I'm right, they might have the antidote too."

"Max," Lydecker said, "it's cruel to keep him alive like this. They've given him a lot of morphine, but he's still in pain."

"No," she said firmly. "No one's pulling the plug on Alec -- not while there's a chance." She grabbed the front of Lydecker's coat in her hands, clutching him close. "Promise me you won't turn off the machines, not until I come back. I need to be here when-- I don't want him to die alone."

"No promises, Max," the colonel said quietly. "But I will give you a day -- twenty-four hours -- and the use of one of our jets. However, if you're not back by this time tomorrow ..." He didn't need to finish.

"I'll be back," Max said firmly. Letting go of Lydecker, she opened the door of the critical care room and walked to Alec's side. I.V. lines of various liquids ran into both of his arms. There were other tubes as well. Tears filled her eyes as she realized just how close to death her lover's beautiful body was.

"Hang on, Alec," she said softly, leaning over to kiss his hot beard-stubbled cheek. "Don't you dare run away while I'm gone. I'll be back in a few hours, lover, and then you and me are gonna be together again."

Her last kiss lingered on his lips.

*****

"Why did you do that to him? To me?"

Lucy whirled around at the sound of Max's voice. Logan's old apartment was dark, lit only by the moon and stars shining in from the now unboarded windows.

"Max?" Lucy said, not missing a beat. "What are you talking about?"

"You did something to Alec," Max said, advancing into the room.

"Max, you're out of your mind," the girl said, her voice dropping to an uncharacteristic whimper. "I thought you loved me. I thought you'd be glad to see me. Now, you're accusing me of poisoning your lover."

"I never said Alec had been poisoned."

Too late, Lucy realized the huge mistake she'd just made. However, like the brash vixen she really was, she was going to see this through with head held high. Raising her chin, dark blue eyes flashing, her voice was anything but whimpering now. "Serves you right, you know," she said bitterly. "Losing what you never should even have had."

"What are you talking about?" Max had to wonder.

"Alec," Lucy replied, tossing the name into the air so it hung there between the two women. "He was gorgeous, brave, caring, loyal, and you could tell he loved you with all his heart and all his soul. What right do you have to a fairy tale life, Max? Why did you get all the lucky breaks ... the Prince Charming ... when all I got was raped and sodomized by my dad? Why do you get to have superpowers ... be a world celebrity ... have hundreds of your kind worshiping at your feline-DNA-tainted-feet when all I have is a cheap motel room and some john stickin' his dick up my cunt for ten dollars?"

"You poisoned Alec to get back at me?" Max said, incredulous. "Lucy, you don't even know Alec. How could you want to hurt him like this?"

"Because hurting him hurt you," the girl spat.

"Well, the game's over now, Lucy," Max said quietly. "I want the antidote."

Lucy smiled -- not a pretty sight. "Sorry, no can do."

"You don't have an antidote?" Max said, trying not to sound desperate.

"Nope."

"What about the people you got the poison from?"

Lucy shrugged. "I have no idea. But even if he did have a counter agent, he hates Alec just as much as I hate you. No way is he gonna help."

"He?" Max said desperately. "Who are you talking about? Who hates Alec so much?"

And then suddenly, with a clarity that was physically painful, Max knew exactly who Lucy got the poison from. "Logan?" she whispered. "Logan's behind this?" It all made sense now. Logan was the one person who not only knew Alec's movements, but who also had access to that kind of anti-transgenic biotechnology.

"Him and blondie," Lucy said with a self satisfied smirk.

"Asha?"

"I don't know the bitch's name," Lucy said, "but she was kind of hard to convince. I got the feeling that girl might have a little thing for your dearly departed lover."

"Did he think I wouldn't find out?" Max practically shouted. "How could you people imagine you'd ever get away with this?"

"Seems to me we already have -- gotten away with it," Lucy said. "All that's left now is your end of the business to take care of."

"My end?"

And suddenly Lucy Barrett was pointing a snub-nosed 45 pistol at Max. "Driven to madness by grief over the recent death of her transgenic lover, Max Guevera takes her own life," Lucy said, as if reading the lines from a newspaper article. "And then I can collect my other million dollars and be set for life."

However, now it was Max's turn to smile. "Lucy," she said gently. "You really don't know what transgenics are, do you? What we're capable of?"

"I know you're not bullet proof," the girl said, her finger tightening on the trigger.

The look on Max's face was suddenly one of infinite sadness -- just before she blurred.

The gun went off, discharging with a deafening crack into the air, as Max's tackle knocked Lucy backwards into the newly uncovered picture window. In a tangle of arms and legs, both women crashed through the glass into the chill night air. For a long second, they seemed to hang there together in the moonlight, and then gravity took over.

"Max!" Lucy screamed as she fell.

Instinctively, Max grabbed hold of the girl's arm with one hand, while managing to snag the window ledge with the other. And there they dangled -- four stories above the ground.

"Max," Lucy cried out. "Please! I'm sorry! Don't let me die! I don't wanna die! I don't deserve to die!"

Max thought for a long moment, her eyes locking with her foster sister's -- and then she came to a decision. "Alec doesn't deserve to die either, bitch," she said -- and let go of the clinging hand.

Not for the first time Max wished her hearing wasn't so acute. The sound a body makes when it hits concrete from a great height is something that's hard to forget.

*****

He wouldn't ... couldn't survive without her.

In a fever haze, Alec's mind spun in out-of-control dreams filled with images of the woman he loved more than his own life. Although his body was still, the machines hooked to him quiet, his soul fought to remain in the earthly plain of existence ... to remain with her.

But Max was gone. He couldn't find her. And, truth be told -- although devastated -- he wasn't surprised.

He'd always known she didn't love him as much as she'd loved Logan -- he'd seen it in her eyes, in the way she always seemed to be searching for something in his face that just wasn't there.

Now, she'd left him, and he was going to die ... alone.

Max! Don't! Don't go back to him! Please! I love you so much, please don't leave me! I'm scared, Max! I'm scared!

The X5's EEG wave pattern on the monitor jumped -- but no one in the New Manticore ICU unit noticed.

*****

"Why, Logan?"

Logan Cale raised his head at the sound of Max's voice from the doorway, but he didn't turn around.

"Don't you people ever knock?" he said lightly.

"Why Alec?"

"Right back at ya, Max," Eyes Only said. "Why Alec? You always told me you practically hated the guy ... loathed him for being a Manticore assassin. But when the going got tough for you and me--" He finally did turn around, regarding the X5 over the top rims of his glasses. "--you ran straight to his bed, just like you'd wanted to all along."

"Alec and I were just friends, Logan," Max said firmly, defending herself. "I never even thought of him that way until after you and I were through ... until after you betrayed me."

"Betrayed you?" Logan said lightly.

"Were unfaithful," Max clarified. She stepped further into the semi-dark room. "And speaking of unfaithful, how about you and Asha? The two of you were cozy all that time I was back at Manticore, weren't you? It didn't take much for you to turn to her, but I honestly never understood why, Logan. What does Asha have that I don't? Why did you do it?"

"Why did you do it with Alec?" Logan returned.

"Because he's my own kind," Max replied honestly. "And he understood."

Logan just looked at her -- and Max began to understand something herself. "Just like Asha's your own kind," she said quietly. "And understands you. It was what Alec tried to tell me a long time ago -- that we belong with our own people."

"You think you could manage one sentence without including his name?"

The bitterness in Logan's voice made Max wince. "Alec and me would never have happened if you hadn't gone there with Asha first," she said, deliberately enunciating her X5 lover's name. "But all that's in the past -- you and me. We both love other people now. You shouldn't be angry about that, Logan. Couldn't you just have been glad for me instead of--" She stopped just short of the accusation she'd come here to make, giving the man a chance to come clean on his own. Deep down inside, Max still wanted to believe in Logan Cale -- that he could never do this to someone she loved ... someone who'd once been his friend ... to Alec.

However, Eyes Only said nothing.

"Is there an antidote?" Max finally whispered, too impatient to wait his silence out.

"No."

The satisfied smirk on Logan's face was sickening, and Max's heart fell. It was over then -- at least for Alec. However, there were still questions that needed answered before she finished this once and for all. "Did you have to use Lucy?" she said. "Did you have to hurt me even more that way, taking someone I cared about and corrupting them? And did you really pay her to kill not just Alec, but me as well?"

"Lucy was ... convenient," Logan said, his voice surprisingly unconcerned considering the fact that he was about to die. "I ran across her name in the police files while doing a routine records scan and figured she'd be a good way to accomplish what needed to be doing."

"Killing me and Alec?"

"Bringing about the ultimate downfall of the transgenics."

Max felt as if someone had just knocked the wind out of her. And here, all along, she'd thought it was personal ... "You want all of us dead?" she breathed. "Why? You've always helped us."

"I was wrong," Logan said easily. "And Lydecker, ass hole that he is, is right. He always was, and I commend him now for trying to warn me from the beginning. Transgenics don't belong out in the world, Max. You have to be eliminated, if not outright, then by attrition."

Max understood. "McKinley's sterilization plan," she said. "Eyes Only is going to back it, and you need me and Alec out of the way so the others in Terminal City won't fight."

"Can't put anything past you, can I, Max?" Logan said, his eyes brightening.

"But your plan can't work now," Max said. "Alec might be dead, but I'm not. And believe me, Eyes Only is never going to make another broadcast."

And then she saw the small pistol in Logan's hand. He'd apparently had it concealed by the computer terminal for emergencies.

"You won't kill me," Max said softly, certain of it. "We once loved each other more than life itself, Logan. That counts for something. Maybe you could hire someone, like Lucy, to do it for you. But you can't kill me yourself."

Brave words, Max thought, praying they were true.

"I'd rather see you dead than with him."

"I won't be with him any more," Max replied softly. "You've seen to that."

"True. But I still have to get you out of the way, Max. You can't be left to influence your people. Alec will be a martyr and you the grieving lover left behind. You'll have more power than ever. I'm sorry, but this is the only way to--"

Asha Barlow

The sharp crack of the pistol made Max almost jump out of her skin. And then she was staring at Logan as, his eyes wide with incredulity, he looked down at the dart sticking out of his chest. Then the gun slid from numb fingers, clattering to the floor, and Max whirled to see--

"Asha," she breathed.

The blonde S1W member was standing in the bedroom doorway where she'd obviously heard everything. Dressed in maroon slacks and an oversized, dark blue hooded sweater, she looked as waif-like, cool, and collected as ever -- all except for her eyes. They were brimming with tears.

"I'm sorry, Max," Asha said, lowering the dart gun. "I'm sorry for what he did to you to ... for what he was going to do."

"You don't agree with him?" Max had to ask.

Asha sniffed, swallowed once, and shook her head grimly. "Actually, I do agree that the transgenics are a threat to the world and should be eliminated," she said huskily. "But murder isn't the way to go. I want to see laws passed that will contain you people ... keep you under control in a humane way. Logan's intentions are good but ... he's misguided this time. You've saved my life more than once, Max -- you and Alec -- and I can't just let him do this to you ... to him."

To Alec ...

"Alec's dying," Max said. "Back at the New Manticore base. Logan said there's no cure for the poison."

Asha smiled through her tears, then reached into the pocket of her voluminous sweater and came up with a small glass bottle. "Logan lied," she said.

"The antidote?" Max breathed.

Asha nodded, handing the precious vial to her sometimes nemesis.

"But--"

"Consider it a trade, Max. 494's life for Logan's." She arched an eyebrow knowingly. "You were going to kill him, weren't you? Kill Logan for what he did to Alec?"

Max couldn't deny it.

"Alec's good people, Max," Asha continued. "I've always known that. He cares, and he tries so hard to do the right thing even though he messes it up lots of times. He doesn't deserve to die, especially not in such a cruel way." The blonde reached out and clasped Max's shoulders tightly with both hands. "Save him, Max," she said, looking intently into the X5's eyes. "Save him for both of our sakes."

Max bit down hard on her lower lip even as she felt her own tears welling. Then she looked over at Logan slumped in his chair. "What about him?" she asked.

"I'll take care of Logan," Asha said. "As for Eyes Only ..." She shrugged. "I'm afraid that guy has made up his mind to stand by McKinley, but at least you and Alec will be around to fight back."

Max nodded, not questioning ... not pushing her luck ... knowing that what had happened here tonight was just short of a amazing. Then she looked down at the glass container holding the key to Alec's life. "Thank you," she said simply. "For giving him back to me."

"And thank you for not taking him away from me." Asha gestured at Logan's unconscious form.

Max nodded once more in understanding, then she turned and was gone from Logan Cale's life -- again.

*****

"It's gonna be an uphill battle fighting McKinley's bill," Alec said as he and Max sat side-by-side on top of the Space Needle one week later. Pulling the lady into his arms, he rested his chin on top of her head and hugged her close, not taking anything for granted at the moment, knowing full well it was a miracle he was here tonight -- still breathing ... still by her side.

It had been touch and go ...

Max had gotten the antidote back to North Dakota just minutes before Lydecker was about to order the life support equipment shut down on 494. Although the medics had been skeptical, the agent Asha had given Max was, indeed, the counteractive to the prion poison that was breaking down the X5's neurological and vascular systems. An hour after the serum had been shot into his collapsing veins, Alec was breathing on his own -- his transgenic healing abilities finally unblocked and allowed to kick in -- and six hours after that he'd opened bleary bloodshot eyes to see Max's tear stained face hovering over him like a dark guardian angel.

The night air was chill, the wind whipping their hot bodies with cold lashes, and Alec shivered. Max noticed and looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips as she snuggled in his arms. The top of the Needle might be inhospitable tonight, but both had felt the need to be in a place of solitude for awhile away from the hustle and bustle that was their Terminal City world. They wouldn't stay too long, however -- not this time. Afterall, a warm bed was waiting for them to share back at Max's apartment.

"Well, if the bill passes, it means war," Max finally said, her voice matter-of-fact. "No way are we gonna let a bunch of doctors come in and go 'snip-snip' to our reproductive organs."

Alec shuddered slightly and nodded in agreement. But then an odd thought occurred to him and he looked down into her eyes. "Do you ever wanna have a baby, Max?" he asked.

Max glanced up quickly, startled. "Why?" she snapped. "Did your little brush with death last week suddenly give you the urge to procreate while you still have the chance?"

"I asked what you thought, Max."

"And I'm asking you what you think, Alec," she mimicked right back.

Alec shrugged, then looked at her sideways with a sly smile. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a kid," he said honestly.

"Oh," Max said, her shoulders sagging slightly. "So, you don't ever want children?"

"I didn't say that," Alec replied gently, tightening his hug. "Max," he said huskily in her ear as he nuzzled her hair. "If you want a baby, just say so. I know we might not have the luxury of waiting until later. I also know you love kids. I've seen you around Eve and Dalton and the X8s. And now with McKinley breathin' down our necks ..."

"I appreciate your ... permission, Alec," Max said. "But it's not like I need it. If I want a kid, I'll have a kid. It's just that--"

"What?" Alec said, not understanding.

"You've never used birth control with me, have you?" Max asked.

Alec shook his head no.

"Well, I haven't either. And we've been together for months now. It seems to me that if I was going to get pregnant, it would have happened by now."

Alec blinked, the thought that Max might not be able to conceive having never even occurred to him. "No birth control at all?" he asked.

"None," Max confirmed. "Not so much as an herbal spermicide, a dance under the full moon, or a prayer."

"Max," Alec said. "I'm fertile. Manticore checked me out good before assignin' me as your breeding partner."

"I know," Max said. "Which means it's probably me. I probably can't have children, Alec." She searched his face. "Does that matter? I mean a lot? To you?"

"Not at all," Alec reassured her gently. "I'm happy just with you, Max." He managed a cocky grin "And this way, I'll always have you all to myself."

Max smiled at that ... at his devotion ... at the big jerk as usual saying just the right thing ... even as a single tear trailed down her cheek.

THE END