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
Alec didn't want to open his eyes ... come back. On some primal level he was afraid that if he moved ... acknowledged consciousness ... the agony and terror would return. However, the blissfulness of a fading coma was rapidly receding and his mind, albeit sluggish, was filling in the blanks all on its own.
There'd been a gunfight at the gates of Terminal City, the Art Mall and its denizens attacked by military forces riled due to a string of murders in Seattle blamed on the Freaks. That much he remembered all too easily. He'd been trying to change positions ... find new cover that would give him a better vantage point for returning fire. However, he'd miscalculated and gotten his ass caught out in the open. He'd heard Max scream his name a second before something that felt like a sledge hammer struck him in the back. The broken pavement of the street had hurt when his knees buckled, his palms scraping as he tried to break his fall, his gun flying from suddenly numb fingers to skid away out of reach.
A roaring had sounded in his ears then, drowning out the gunshots and yells, overwhelming his senses even as his vision darkened and his mouth and nose filled with blood. He knew he should be choking ... gasping for breath ... but oddly he felt nothing ... not even fear ... until suddenly the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his life shot down his spine and through his limbs. He tried to look up, raising his head as he cried out and collapsed on the ground, and his eyes caught sight of Max peering out from behind the cover of a trash bin in front of the Mall. For just a fraction of a second their eyes connected as he silently pleaded with her for ... what? Help? Mercy? Pity? Forgiveness? And then the pounding of his own heart intensified along with the blackness as it swept his consciousness completely away, and he began to fall for what seemed like forever. He never felt Joshua scoop his bloody form up in his arms and carry him to safety, a heroic deed that imperiled the big guy's own life ... never knew how his family rallied around and viciously beat back the attackers ... how they risked all to save their beloved brother and leader ... how Max sat vigil all night long at his bedside and cried when told he probably wouldn't survive.
But that was then. This was now.
He could hear things again ... normal world things ... the steady beep of a monitor of some kind ... the ticking of someone's watch ... breathing, his own and others ...
Eye slitted and nose crinkling slightly at the antiseptic smell, Alec peered into the gloom of a room he recognized as Terminal City's infirmary. Luke was fussing in the medicine cabinet on the wall, his jerky movements betraying the little mutant's agitation. Turning his head slightly, the X5 realized that the weight he felt on his legs was Joshua, asleep with his shaggy head resting on arms and blankets as he kept vigil over his wounded brother. There were tubes everywhere ... I.V.s in both of his arms, up his nose, another taped in his chest, even one-- Alec's mind skittered away from that, medical necessity that he knew it probably was.
And oh hell, he hurt, all over ... inside and out ... every inch of his genetically enhanced body throbbing with pain. But at least he could feel, which meant he was alive.
Glancing up without moving his head, Alec saw a figure standing in the open doorway -- Dr. Samuel Carr. Noticing his patient awake, the exhausted looking physician smiled with relief and came forward, his dark-circled eyes lighting up as he took Alec's wrist in hand and checked the X5's pulse.
"Welcome back," Sam said softly as Luke grinned broadly in the background. "We thought you'd decided to leave us there for awhile. Gave your friends quite a scare."
Friends? Alec once more looked at Joshua, and only then noticed that Mole was sitting slouched in a chair on the other side of the room, head back, sawed off shotgun in lap, and lizard lips open in a silent snore as he slept. Obviously it had been a long night ... for all of them.
Alec wanted to ask how bad he was, but Dr. Carr read the question in his eyes and quickly added, "You took a bullet in the back that collapsed your left lung and embedded behind your heart. She was afraid to take you to the hospital, so she called me." A wan smile. "Thoracic surgery isn't my speciality, but looks like between luck and your kick-ass Manticore physique we managed to get you through it." He eyed Alec closely. "Your heart stopped three times, son. Guess that feline DNA of yours come complete with nine lives."
"Guess so," Alec rasped, the words spoken with difficulty because his throat was so sore, probably from the breathing tube he knew must have kept him alive through the surgery. He took a cautious shallow breath and looked down at the I.V. in his right arm. The tube was flowing with red, and realization dawned. With difficulty, Alec looked up and to the right to see Max lying quietly on a gurney next to his, her eyes closed in sleep.
"She insisted it be her," Sam said quietly. "Wouldn't hear of it being any other donor." He checked the I.V. line and then his watch. "Almost done now," he added. "Two pints should suffice."
Blood? Alec wondered. Max had given him her own blood?
"She loves you, you know," the doctor added as he began undoing the line. "Even if she never tells you, she does love you. A woman doesn't act the way Max did last night unless her heart is involved." He gently slid the needle out of Max's arm and she murmured softly in her sleep before shifting slightly and cradling her cheek on her hand. "She needs to rest now," Sam said. "And so do you." He glanced over at Joshua and Mole and smiled. "You've got good people in your life, Alec ... people who care. Cherish that, along with the second chance you've been given."
Alec didn't know how to respond to that ... was too doped up and exhausted to think about it right now. However, as he drifted off to sleep he kept his eyes on Max's face, and his dreams -- contrary to reality -- were sweet.
