DISCLAIMER: All DARK ANGEL characters belong to James Cameron and Charles Eglee (Cameron Eglee Productions) and DARK ANGEL itself belongs to FOX.
ARCHIVE: No
The following scene is based on characters
created for the television series DARK ANGEL,
and is set in the time frame following the Max Allan Collins novel AFTER THE DARK. -- author's note
Wet and broody. Max loved him that way, with his grey t-shirt clinging to lean pecs and those striking hazel-green eyes radiating petulant anger. Alec looked strong right now, as if he could take on the world (and God help anyone who got in his way). It made her glad that he was the father of her baby.
It also made her feel safe.
"What's wrong now?" she asked, forcing herself to relax back on the double bed they shared in the tiny bedroom of their rented house.
Alec sighed deeply as he shrugged out of his black leather jacket, then reached down with both arms to peel the wet t-shirt off over his head. "We're runnin' outta money, that's what's wrong," her X5 lover said tiredly, giving his head a shake causing water droplets to fly from dark blond hair. He wiped rain from his face with the back of his forearm then looked directly at her. She could read the worry in his eyes. "The money Mole and Joshua loaned us will last about another week, then we won't have enough to pay the rent or even buy groceries, let alone meet a doctor's bill."
"I don't need the doctor," Max said quietly. "In fact, I still think it was a bad idea to go to the clinic in the first place."
"Max, the baby's due in less than a month," Alec said, his tone of voice affirming they'd had this argument before. "To quote an old movie, I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies. You'll need medical help when the time comes, and you know it. Hell, we don't even have Normal and his heifer experience around."
She didn't bother disagreeing, partly because she didn't want to get in a fight with him, and partly because she knew he was right.
Alec took her silence for acceptance, and rewarded her with a sexy crooked smile that banished the gloom of the room like magic. "Guess it's time to get out my trusty lock pick," he quipped. "Trouble is, this mountain 'berg is so out of the way I'm not sure there's anything worth stealin'."
"No," Max said quickly, realizing with some alarm just what Alec was proposing. "We wont' break the law. We can't afford to attract attention."
"Max, we're almost broke. Even X5s hafta eat sometime."
"These people have been nice to us," Max replied. "I don't want to start stealing from them. Plus, if we do we'll have to run again. You know darn well the military, the CDC, Lydecker, the Cult, and God knows who else is going over the world every day with a fine tooth comb trying to find us, and if they do--" She didn't finish the sentence ... didn't need to. Both she and Alec knew all too well that to be captured at this stage of the game -- after they'd bolted from so-called "protective custody" which had been tantamount to house arrest in Terminal City -- would mean a lifetime of incarceration for herself and her child, and probably death for the X5 male.
She ... X5-452 ... was the miracle creation of Manticore's founder -- a genius named Sandeman -- who carried the Breeding Cult plague's cure in her precious blood (as did her unborn child). Keeping her alive (or conversely assuring her death) was the priority of a whole lot of people. 494, however -- although the sire of her baby and her natural genetic mate -- was expendable. Considered exceedingly dangerous ... too great a risk to keep captive ... he faced "harvesting" and euthanasia with their future special children conceived through frozen sperm and artificial insemination.
Alec knew as well as she what they were up against, and he also had to know that resorting to his old habits wasn't the answer right now. Maybe someday -- in the future when their child was safely born -- they could escape from the country and once again be a team of cat burglars to be reckoned with. But not now. For now they had to stay legit.
It was cold in the room -- the heat off to conserve fuel and money even though it was only in the thirties outside -- a typical Midwest late winter day. Max saw the goose bumps on Alec's bare arms and chest, although of course he said nothing. Funny, but he seemed to always feel the cold more than her, even with his high transgenic metabolism ... She walked over to the fireplace, took a match from the mantel, then awkwardly knelt. He was at her side in a second.
"Lemme do that," he said, his voice deep and surprisingly caring as he took the match from her hand, struck it, and touched flame to kindling. He pursed his lips, blew a cloud of vapor into the air, then grinned impishly. "My nose is cold," he commented.
"We can't have that," Max teased back, not shying away when he put his arms around her. Together, seated on the floor, they watched the flames rise. Glancing up, she noticed the way the fire reflected in his golden-green eyes. She liked his eyes ... always had ...
"A penny for your thoughts," Alec said quietly, looking down at her.
"Just marveling that you're still sticking around," Max replied honestly. "You're not boyfriend material, Alec, let alone husband or father."
He glanced up at the ceiling a moment, as if searching for the right thing to say, then his eyes collided with hers again. "People change, Max. If we didn't we wouldn't survive. I love you. You know that even if I don't say it out loud very often. And believe it or not, deep down inside I'm a one woman kinda guy. You're it for me, Max, and not just because you're carryin' my son inside of you. Now, I know I'm not the one you really wanna be with--"
She stopped him right there, her fingers on his lips. "Don't," she said, shaking her head. "Don't go there. He's not in my life any more, Alec. He can't be. And, like you said, people change. Once, I thought Logan was the one I should be with, but it wasn't a realistic choice for me to make -- which I found out the hard way. You ... you're real, smart ass. Even if you and me are only for a little while ... Even if it doesn't last ... Right this minute I'm here, in your arms, with your baby in my belly. I really want you to stay with me, but if you didn't I'd still survive. My relationship with Logan taught me that, Alec ... how to keep going even when the one I love goes away ... how to survive on my own again just like I did all those years after I escaped from Manticore."
"I'm not goin' anywhere," Alec said softly, his big hand caressing her hair as he continued looking deeply into her eyes. "Not unless you want me to."
Max took a ragged breath, knowing that now -- at last -- was the time for her to come clean with the young Manticore soldier who'd been so many things to her over the past three years. Friend, enemy, brother, confidante, hero, nemesis, lover ... they'd danced to all of those tunes at one time or another, her and Alec, and the orchestra was still playing.
"Look, ya big idiot," she said. "I love you, too. You know I do. But I also really, really need you right now, Alec. While I'm like this--" She reached down and touched her swollen belly. "--I'm vulnerable. I can't protect myself as well as usual."
"That's what I'm here for," Alec said adamantly, taking her face in his hands and forcing her to keep looking into his eyes so she could see the sincerity of his words. "To take care of you ... to keep you and my child safe ... and for this." He leaned in and his lips touched hers.
She let herself melt into the kiss, accepting it for what it was. Alec was an aggressive sex partner -- but this wasn't lust ... it was love ... a love she once would have never thought him capable of.
After a long moment, he drew back, and she opened her eyes. "I talked to the manager of that farm down the road today," he said softly. "I think I can get a job there workin' in the sales barn." He smiled slightly. "The lady liked my attitude ... thinks I'd be good with customers, not to mention a strong back to do some of the heavy work." He frowned slightly. "Pay's minimum wage though, but it'll keep me close and make the rent."
"There's a 'help wanted' sign at the diner in town," Max said. "They're looking for a waitress."
He stopped her with another kiss. "You don't need to be on your feet all day this late in the game," he scolded softly against her mouth. "Let me worry about the money. After all, that's what husbands and fathers do, right?"
"We're not married, Alec."
"Transgenics don't marry, Max," he replied with mock gruffness. "They mate. Which means just as much or more in my book."
"Mates then," she whispered against the roughness of his beard stubbled cheek as her hands caressed bare skin and he drew her even closer. She lay her head down on his shoulder, relaxing in his arms as he rocked her in front of the fire. Mates.
