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This is a true standalone story, a scene that occurs shortly after the events of "Freak Nation." It does NOT exist in "The Best Laid Plans" universe. This story has a hard "R" rating (falling just short of NC17), so don't read if you're offended by explicit sexuality. -- author's note

*****

Max had seen Alec sneak out the back door of the common room right after the morning meeting, headed toward the rear streets of Terminal City. There weren't any living quarters down there, or storage facilities -- only the abandoned offices and laboratories they'd already searched.

Normally, she wouldn't have paid any attention to someone going in that direction, but this was Alec, and the fact he was obviously not wanting to be noticed aroused all of her worst suspicions. He was up to something.

"What's wrong?" Logan asked her, turning around from where he was working at a computer terminal.

"Alec," Max said with a heavy sigh.

Logan looked up at her with a tired smile. "Of course," he said a bit too lightly. "Isn't it always? What's he done now?"

"I don't know. And that's what worries me. Alec when he's being yappy and talkative is bad enough, but it's when he goes all quiet that I really get scared."

"You think he's going to cause trouble?"

Max shrugged. "Like I said, I don't know. But I do know I'd probably better check things out before he does something stupid."

"Go," Logan said, motioning with his hand. "You won't rest easy until you find out what our lovable X5 rogue is up to."

Max thanked him with her eyes. Then she headed for the back streets where Alec had disappeared moments before.

Mole pointed her in the right direction, but she still looked through half a dozen buildings before her keen hearing picked up the slight sounds coming from an abandoned genetics laboratory.

Moving quietly, she crept to the doorway, not knowing what to expect. She wouldn't put anything past Alec. For all she knew he was meeting with the Russian Mafia or Ninjas.

But when Max peeked around the edge of the door, she saw he was alone in some kind of gymnasium or exercise room.

For a few seconds she couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then she noted the sweat soaking his grey t-shirt, the bare feet, and the loose fitting pants. Breathing lightly, his eyes half closed in concentration, he was going through the movements of an elaborate high level martial arts kata, third degree black belt if memory served. She, herself, had once known how to do forms like that, but she'd deliberately forgotten the disciplines long ago, part of her determination to be free from all things Manticore.

Max waited silently, not wanting to interrupt his concentration. He really was beautiful, she thought as she watched the muscles of his arms and neck cord as he executed the difficult moves with absolute control. Physically Alec was just about everything Manticore had hoped to achieve with its genetic engineering -- feline and human DNA melded flawlessly into the ultimate soldier capable of preternatural feats of strength and agility. But then he came to a high jump kick and she saw him falter -- not a lot, but enough that if he'd still been at Manticore he'd have been reprimanded.

Ignoring his misstep, his expression impassive, Alec nevertheless continued the kata, ending with an X-block and a bow to an invisible audience.

She clapped before he turned around and saw her, not wanting to startle him any more than necessary.

He whirled anyway, instinctively dropping into a crouch, fists up, hazel-green eyes widening. Then he saw who it was and relaxed perceptibly -- but the deep scowl on his face remained.

Turning his back on her, he walked across the room and grabbed a towel. "I came down here to be alone," he said gruffly as he wiped sweat off his face. He then picked up a water bottle, unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and took a big swig. Max could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, the tendons of his muscular neck standing out, although why that sight so fascinated her she had no idea. Finishing his drink, Alec wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and fixed her with a glare that she actually found rather hurtful.

"Why'd you follow me?"

Max raised her chin a bit higher, deliberately making her voice haughty. "Because I wanted to know what you were up to."

A resigned smile, and a sad shake of his head. "Still don't trust me, do you Maxie. Even after everything we've been through together." He wiped his face again on the towel, then ran fingers back through his sweaty hair, pushing the long strands off his forehead.

"It's not that I don't trust you--" Max began. But suddenly she realized how lame that sounded. "Well, maybe I really don't trust you ... at least not completely. But ... I'm working on it. And it would help if you told me what's going on."

"My business," he said, his voice clipped. He took another drink of water, and stood regarding her coldly, one hand on his hip.

Max nodded at the mats. "You're working out, which I find suspiciously commendable. Why the sudden interest in calisthenics? Some X5 whip your ass recently?"

Alec gave her a dirty look, and she thought he wasn't going to answer. But then--

"Not an X5," he said, his voice low and rough.

Understanding suddenly dawned. "The fight at Jam Pony," Max said softly, dropping the sarcasm. "But you were injured. You couldn't expect to--"

"Hold my own?" Alec interrupted. He threw the towel down and turned away. "If Logan hadn't--"

"I know," Max said quickly, not wanting him to have to say it, knowing how it must hurt his pride that the ordinary Logan Cale had kicked White's uber bitch off him when he was down and probably saved his life.

"I'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

"So you think that means you were out of shape or something? Alec, you were shot. You'd been bleeding for hours."

"You noticed that, huh?"

There was something in his tone that warned her to be careful. "I noticed," she said quietly. "And I also noticed you were doing just fine in spite of it. If you hadn't been there when Joshua and Mole came in with Gem ..." She hesitated, knowing she was treading a fine line here. The one thing Alec hated most in the world was pity, but he wasn't going to tolerate false praise either.

She walked over and stood directly in front of him, making sure he had to look at her. "You know, don't you, that I never questioned your injury that day because I knew you didn't want me to. You've got this real 'guy thing' going on, Alec. This macho pride shit. Maybe I should have ordered you to wait out the fight on the sidelines--"

"With the pregnant girl and the kid, right?" he said, eyebrows raised. An unfriendly smile. "As if you could order me to do anything anyway."

Okay, Max thought. He's getting angry. "That's not what I meant," she said carefully. "What I'm trying to say is I knew that, in spite of your injury, you were Manticore, and that means something. I knew you'd be there for me, no matter what. I knew you'd fight beside me and not back down. I trusted you that day, Alec, more than I'd ever trusted you before. And if anyone had told me a few months ago I'd have that kind of confidence in you I'd have laughed in their face. But you earned it. In some ways you've changed a lot in the past nine months, moreso since we banded together with the others in Terminal City. You're ... more responsible, a leader even." She shrugged. "But then that's what you were bred, born and trained to be, wasn't it? All you needed was the right incentive."

He was looking at her oddly, as if asking himself "Who are you and what have you done with Max?"

"And as for you being wounded ... I did notice. I noticed a lot. And if it's any consolation to you I did worry, but like I said, not too much because I knew you were probably capable of taking care of yourself. I'll admit though--" The words caught in her throat. "Hearing you call out 'clear' after the fight, hearing your voice and knowing you were all right, that you were alive ..." She was having trouble finishing, and took a deep breath. "When I knew for certain you were okay I thanked someone, God or whoever's up there, for at least granting me that small favor, because the thought of you not being in my life hurts, Alec. You're family now, and that means a lot to me."

"Family," Alec repeated the word, eyebrows slightly raised again. "Like Zack?"

"Yeah," Max said, smiling. "I can admit now that you're my brother too, Alec--"

"Your brother," he said, shaking his head. "That's rich, Max. But whatever you have to tell yourself I guess, to define my existence in your neat, categorized little life."

She didn't understand why Alec sounded so pissed. "What's wrong? What did I say?"

"Nothing," he said tiredly. Then he turned around and looked out over the workout room.

"You're not finished, are you?" she said.

"Not really."

"Want some company? I could use a workout myself. I know I'm rusty on a lot of the Manticore training techniques. Maybe you could refresh me on the basics and I could teach you a few dirty tricks."

"Max," Alec said, his voice and eyes a little playful at last. "You mean you know dirty tricks? I'm shocked. A principled young woman like yourself would never fight dirty. And notice I'm admirably restraining myself and avoiding the obvious play on words I could make with 'tricks.'"

"Shut up," she said, jabbing a fist into his shoulder. Only when he winced did she realize it was his sore one. "Sorry," she said quickly.

"No problem," Alec said through gritted teeth. "Why don't you go stretch ... warm up ... and I'll work out a bit on the kickbox bag."

*****

Kickboxing. Alec was a lot more at ease with this technique, the feel of the bag as he clobbered it with a set of roundhouse kicks and corresponding punches oddly comforting. Out of the corner of his eye though he watched Max as she went through a series of extremely graceful, not to mention erotic, stretching exercises. She'd shed her jacket, t-shirt, and shoes, and was wearing only a pair of stretchy jeans and an athletic bra. As for himself, his own shirt was now soaking wet with sweat and without much thought he stripped it off and chucked it to the other side of the room.

Max stole a quick glance at him when he did that, and he looked away, going back to concentrating on his kicking techniques instead of thinking about other things that he could never do or have.

"Joshua helped you afterwards, didn't he?" Max called out as she lifted one leg straight up in the air with her hand on her ankle. Balancing carefully, she was trying to maintain the pose for as long as possible, but he noticed the calf muscle of her supporting leg shaking. I'm not the only one a little out of shape, he thought to himself with some satisfaction.

"Helped me what?" he asked as he danced back and switched legs preparing to kick the bag with his left. Manticore soldiers were supposedly created ambidextrous, but he'd always slightly favored his right side which meant he needed to exercise the left all the more.

"After the fight at Jam Pony, after we came inside Terminal City. You disappeared for awhile and I figured he was patching you up."

"Yeah," Alec said, answering her between strikes to the bag. "I was bleedin' like a stuck pig and the Big Fella got all kinda mother hennish on me. He hauled my ass down to a storage room and made me lie down 'til the bleeding eased up, then he almost smothered me in bandages."

Max smiled. "Joshua really likes you. You're a good friend to him." She was doing practice kicks in the air now. "But it still hurts some? The shoulder?"

"A little," Alec said. He looked over at her. "Especially when a certain someone punches it."

"Sissy," she said under her breath.

"I heard that Max." But he was grinning.

"Ready?" she said, spinning around and facing him.

Alec took up a fighting stand, his weight carefully distributed, fists ready to strike or block. "You sure you wanna do this, Max? Every time before when we've thrown down I've owned your ass."

"You have not!" she said, the expression on her face priceless. "Every time we've thrown down it's your ass that's been kicked."

"Only because I was being careful not to hurt you. I'm a gentleman at heart you know."

"Gentleman my ass! I'm better than you and you know it."

They were circling one another now, each watching for an opening.

"Face it, Max. The only time you've beaten me I've had a handicap in that I have a problem hittin' little girls."

"That's it!" she yelled. Her roundhouse kick would have knocked him cold if it had landed, but Alec ducked at the last second, grabbed her leg in mid air, and tossed her away. Max turned it into a back flip and landed on her feet, breathing a bit hard, somewhat surprised he'd done that.

"Nice recovery," he said.

"Nice block," she returned.

"But see," Alec added as he once more began to circle, green eyes glittering with adrenaline, a cat stalking its prey, "all I have to do is get my hands on you and then it's over."

"Ah, but you've got weaknesses," Max said, not taking her eyes off of him, waiting for him to make a move. "Besides pretty boy, you know what they say about kickboxers. They can't take a punch."

"Weaknesses like what?" Alec said. Suddenly he blurred, grabbed her right arm in one hand, put his other hand on her shoulder, and hooked his leg behind her knee. She went down, landing flat on her back, but when he tried to finish the maneuver, bringing a fist to her throat, she twisted sideways, got a leg over his back, and caught his own throat in a choke hold. An ordinary human would be at her mercy now, but Alec was anything but "ordinary." With a grunt, he leaned forward and neatly flipped her over his head, then grabbed her feet and once more had her on her back. His weight pinning her to the mat, his forearm across her throat, he held her still. Their faces only a couple of inches apart, Alec grinned, figuring he'd just won.

"Weaknesses like this," Max said with a coy smile. And then she kissed him on the lips. Stunned, Alec never saw her hand until she smacked him on the side of his head.

"Ow!" he yelled, grabbing his bruised ear. "Damn it, Max! That hurt!"

"See?" she said with a huge grin as she pushed him off and leaped to her feet. "A pretty girl distracts you every time, Alec. And then you get clobbered."

He was sitting cross-legged on the mat, shaking his head like a dog. "Damn, Max, that wasn't fair."

"I don't fight fair, Alec," she said seriously. "And you can't afford to either."

"You hurt my ear," he said in a little boy's voice.

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

A very dirty look. "I've had enough of your kisses for today, thank you."

Max sat down beside him. "Here," she said. "Let me take a look." She brushed his hair out of the way. "I don't see any blood. Is your hearing all right?"

"It is if all that ringing is normal. Max, you could have broken my ear drum."

"You big baby," she said, but there was a gentleness in her tone that made Alec look at her.

"I'll be fine," he said, realizing he was probably taking the "wounded" act a bit too far. He didn't want her to think he really was a sissy or anything. But then he thought of something. "Hey, Max. Do you realize that's the first time we've ever kissed?"

"Don't get all excited, Alec. That wasn't a real kiss. It was a self defense move."

"Got anymore of those 'self defense' moves you'd like to show me?" he asked, his voice husky. "Frontal nudity's always a favorite. Use that one on me and you might even be able to knock me out."

"I'd like to knock you out all right," Max grumbled.

He stood gracefully and held out a hand to her. With a suspicious look, Max accepted the offer, but as soon as he had hold of her he pulled her close and once again their faces were only inches apart.

"What?" Max said, startled.

"Turn about's fair play," Alec said, his voice dropping an octave. And then it was his turn to kiss her, one hand cradling the back of her head, his fingers caressing her soft dark hair, the other holding her trembling body still.

He was surprised she didn't knee him in the balls. This had been a calculated risk after all, and he knew the price of failure might be excruciatingly painful.

But he was even more surprised when she relaxed in his arms and deepened the kiss.

*****

What the hell am I doing? Max thought as she tasted Alec's lips with her own. Why don't I hit him? Why don't I pull away? I don't want to be doing this.

But she did want to be doing this. She hadn't been held and kissed like this in ... forever. And it felt so very, very good.

Oh God, he isn't stopping -- and neither am I.

The kiss became more intense, and she still didn't resist. Alec was good at this, but then hadn't she always known he would be? Not that she'd ever thought about it before -- or dreamed about it ...

"Max," his voice rumbled in her ear as his lips moved off hers and tickled her cheek. "What are we doing?"

"You tell me," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling one hand in his longish hair. She looked up into a pair of beautiful hazel eyes, green flecked with gold, mesmerizing eyes ... eyes a girl could get lost in.

"Are you gonna hit me again now?" he asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Stop talking," she said, covering his lips with hers again.

He did stop talking, but his hands were busy, roaming over her body, stroking the skin of her bare back, cupping her ass. Alec was wearing nothing but a pair of lightweight workout pants and when he pulled her close the feel of him against her made Max shiver.

He drew back a little, his lips leaving hers. "I'm not your brother," he said, his voice as deep and sexy as she'd ever heard. He began kissing her throat. "Don't ever call me that again."

"Point taken," Max said, swallowing with difficulty. She knew she had to end this, knew she had to be the one to say "no" because in his aroused condition Alec probably wasn't capable of it.

Think of Logan, she told herself. Remember the man you love. This is nothing but lust. You don't love Alec. You don't even like him.

But she did like Alec, and she especially liked what Alec was doing to her -- and that was a big problem. His hand was working its way beneath her workout bra, and Max knew things had reached a point where if they didn't stop they were going to go all the way. Why doesn't that thought frighten me? Why does it seem so natural to be with Alec like this? It's almost as if we've been together before, as if I belong in his arms. Another lifetime perhaps?

In tune with her completely, he said, "Maybe we're supposed to be together, Max. Maybe Manticore was right."

Her answer was to lower one hand and touch him through the damp fabric of his pants.

Now it was Alec's turn to close his eyes and swallow hard. When he kicked her legs out from under her, caught her cleanly, and lowered her to the mat she didn't fight ... didn't protest.

The hell with sanity, she thought. I want this. I want Alec.

It took mere seconds to shed their clothes. And when his nakedness touched hers, Max arched her back and welcomed her non-brother home.

*****

Logan Cale stood in the shadows of the doorway, tears streaking his face. The cavernous room was bathed in gloom, the afternoon sun giving way to evening darkness. He didn't have a transgenic's night vision, but he could still see all too well -- see what was happening -- see a sight he wished he hadn't.

They were beautiful together, Max and Alec, making love on the floor, their bodies glowing white in the falling dusk. He was being so tender with her, so thoughtful, and so very, very passionate, like a man who'd been dying from thirst finally drinking from a life giving spring. And in return, Max, her head thrown back in ecstasy, was reciprocating his every move, writhing beneath him, whimpering in pleasure, giving herself to him completely as she arched and held him to her, in her, with her hands.

I always figured we'd somehow make it, Max and me. He'd spoken those words to Alec not so long ago, when he'd thought Max had chosen to be with the younger man. But then Max had told him she'd only been pretending to have a relationship with Alec. She'd done it because she wanted to protect him, Logan, keep him at arms length due to the virus. And maybe because she loved me?

No. Logan forced himself to think the words. Max doesn't love me. She loves him ... Alec ... her breeding partner ... her mate. It was obvious, the way they were together. But he didn't blame Alec, not really. Max would never have done this with Alec if she hadn't wanted it too. She just wasn't that kind of woman. No. This was happening because the two of them belonged together, always had, always would. One might even say it was Fate.

And as much as he wished otherwise, Logan Cale knew that cursing Fate would do no good whatsoever.

Max's cry jarred Logan out of his sad reverie. And the sound of her screaming his name .. Alec's name ... cut through his heart like a knife. But it was only when the alpha male transgenic moaned her name as he planted his seed inside the woman they both loved, that Logan finally turned and walked away -- defeated, knowing Max was gone forever.

THE END