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

ARCHIVE: No

Artwork courtesy of Valjean & JensenAckles.org

*****

"So," she said to Alec when the meeting was over and everyone was getting second and third cups of coffee. "I hear you and Cade are an item now."

Alec -- still seated -- glanced over at her and steepled his hands, the look in his eyes both curious and cautious. "Now where'd you hear that?" he drawled.

"Mole," Max said honestly.

494 shrugged broad shoulders, sprawled lazily back in the chair, and unzipped the front of his grey leather jacket, his nimble mind obviously racing. "Why the sudden interest in my love life?" he asked bluntly.

"I just wondered if you'd hooked up with anyone permanent-like," Max said, stammering only slightly. "It makes a difference ... when you're with someone," she added lamely. "You know ... how you think and act on missions so I just wanted to know if you were--"

"In love?" Alec supplied.

"Yeah."

Mole, Luke, Dix, and Joshua had left the area, most of them headed back to their morning business leaving the two X5s alone at the table. Still, Alec glanced around to be sure there wasn't anyone within earshot. "Does it matter to you?" he finally asked. "If I'm in love with someone?"

"Like I said, it affects--"

"No," Alec interrupted her. "I mean does it matter to you? As in personally? Not as a mission status."

"I'm happy for you," Max said softly. Cade's a good woman ... a good match. She's sweet and pretty and--"

"I'm not in love with Cade."

"Oh." Max wasn't sure what to say next.

"Just 'cause I sleep with a girl doesn't mean I'm gonna marry her," Alec added. "But you of all people know that about me, and probably condemn me for it, too."

"I don't condemn you," Max said softly. She looked around at the room which was still too crowded for a conversation like where this one was headed. "Look," she said. "I need to talk to you -- in private."

"About my love life?" Alec said, his hazel-green eyes alight with dark humor.

"No," Max said bluntly. "About mine."

*****

The Space Needle had been Max's place of solace and privacy for many years. More recently, it had also become a refuge for Alec when he wanted to be alone -- once he'd been assured that Maxie didn't mind occasionally sharing the high wind-swept deck with its breathtaking view of the ocean and Seattle skyline. They both felt comfortable here, and in spite of the brisk cold breeze that ruffled their hair and chilled their faces, the two transgenics had naturally gravitated to its heights when something of this nature needed to be discussed -- something personal.

"Logan and I aren't together any more," Max said quietly as they sat side-by-side gazing out at the city's darkening evening horizon. It had been a busy day, and this was the first moment the two of them had been able to steal together.

There were few times in his life that Alec had actually been floored by information -- and this was one of them. He'd had no idea ... "I thought Logan was just out of the state on some kind of business," he said, thinking quickly back to just how long Eyes Only had actually been absent from the Terminal City scene. "You mean he's gone for good?"

Max shrugged. "Don't know about for good," she said. "But when I last talked to him he said he needed to get away for awhile ... get away from Seattle ... from transgenics."

"He's been gone for three weeks," Alec said.

"We broke up a month ago."

"Dare I ask why?"

Max took a deep shuddering breath and hugged her knees more tightly. Alec wondered if she'd talked about this with anyone before. Maybe Original Cindy?

"Logan wanted to take me away," she finally said.

"From Seattle?"

"From my family." She looked over at him, smiled a little bit, and added softly, "from you."

"From me?" Alec actually did a double-take, for the second time in five minutes bowled over by what Max was saying. "Oh, don't tell me," he breathed, full lips pursing as eyes narrowed and his handsome face clouded with dismay. "The guy's still jealous. I thought we had that all straightened out. Hell, Logan knew there'd never been anything between you and me like that. Why bring all that crap up again now?"

"I swore to him that we were just friends," Max said, the anguish apparent in her voice. "And partners on missions, but he just wouldn't let it go. Logan knew we were together a whole lot ... that we're alike in so many ways ... and he was jealous."

Alec took a deep breath and looked up at the rapidly brightening stars overhead. "So it's my fault he left you?"

"Not at all," Max said, her voice still quiet. "For once, you're innocent."

"For once?" He glanced sideways at her, lips twitching in a small smile.

"A rare occurrence I admit," Max replied teasingly.

"Why'd you wonder about me and Cade?"

"Because I need an escort for that big formal party the Mayor's throwing tonight," Max said, "and I didn't wanna mess things up for you if you're seeing someone else. By the way, do you think I'm pretty?"

"I'm not seeing anyone," Alec said, surprised at the way his heart had just speeded up. "And of course I think you're pretty -- not that it has anything to do with anything -- but then you know that already -- that you're pretty -- so it just seems redundant for me to say it." He was babbling, knew it, and shut his mouth.

"So, you'll take me?" Max then looked away before adding, "I mean, it's not like it's a date or anything. It's just ... logical and convenient."

"Logical and convenient," Alec repeated, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll take you."

Max smiled. So did Alec. He couldn't help it. But then came the "catch."

"How come you never asked me before ... out I mean?"

"Because you were with Logan," was the X5's immediate -- and totally honest -- answer. "You were another guy's girl."

"And your high sense of ethics wouldn't let you horn in on someone else's territory?" she asked, her dark eyebrows rising with skepticism. She was being sarcastic, and Alec knew it, having always been a situational "ethics" kind of guy. But with Logan it was different. He'd considered the man a friend ... still did for that matter ... part of his Unit. And one thing an X5 soldier never did was betray a Unit-mate. It was also why he'd never betray Max ... why he hoped she knew it.

"Yeah," Alec answered quietly ... seriously ... "My high sense of ethics." A though occurred ... a question he knew he needed answered before he and Max took even one more step together (because "together" was where they were headed and they both knew it, definition of "date" not withstanding). "Max," he asked, his voice dropping an octave. "Do you trust me?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I know you didn't used to, not back right after you took down Manticore."

"You betrayed me not once, but twice," she pointed out.

Not the answer he wanted to hear. Alec looked away. Even after all these years, he still inwardly squirmed when reminded of the part he'd played in Max being injected with a virus that would be lethal to Logan, the man she loved, or the fact he'd almost been willing to kill her to save his own skin. When all was said and done of course he'd actually laid down his life at her feet -- literally -- but that part Max tended to forget.

"I've changed," he said, his voice still low.

"I know." She regarded him carefully. "How's this?" she finally said. "I trust you with my life, but not with my money. Does that make you feel any better?"

"How 'bout with your heart?" Alec asked quietly, the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Max stared at him. Alec knew wasn't playing fair ... knew she'd never intended their conversation to go this far. "Never," she whispered. "I'd be a fool to ... a tom cat like you ... you've got a different girl in your bed every night."

"Not true," Alec said, shaking his head in denial. "In fact, I think my reputation with the ladies has been a blown a bit out of proportion."

"How many girls have you slept with?" she asked boldly.

Alec thought for a long moment. "This week?" he asked, the corner of his lip twitching in amusement as he deliberately baited her.

Max hit him in the arm -- hard.

"Ow!" he said, laughing and rubbing what was going to be a bruise. "All right, all right, I suppose maybe twenty or so, but mostly right after I got out of Manticore. I pretty quickly learned to be more ... discretionary, if you get my drift."

"And the last one?" Max asked, still being rudely inquisitive.

"Cade," Alec admitted. "Ten days ago."

"How come not since?" Max asked, obviously not understanding.

"Just 'cause I sleep with a girl, doesn't mean I'm in love with her, or even gonna ask her out again," Alec said. "Sex is just sex so far as I'm concerned -- nice but no big deal -- and I don't like gettin' a woman's hopes up. I'm not the settlin' down kinda guy, but then you know that 'cause you're not the settlin' down kinda gal as Logan seems to have found out."

It was the truth, and Alec saw in Max's eyes that she didn't have an argument. They were two sides of the same coin -- something 494 had always known on some level. They were also bold words ... words that might very well anger the lady. It's a long drop to the ground from the top of the Space Needle a little voice chided in his head.

Max was watching him closely. "You know," she finally said. "Logan once told me he thought that aggression was your problem."

"Aggression?" Alec said, not understanding the turn the conversation had suddenly taken.

"Yeah," Max said. "As in you have both too much of it and not enough."

He still didn't understand.

"You're aggressive enough to make you dangerous, but not aggressive enough to be one of Manticore's killing machines," she clarified. "Logan said that was why you are like you are."

"Sex, charming, and talented?" Alec tried.

"Sly, egotistical, and a pathological liar," Max deadpanned. "Although I'll grant you bonus points for a laser sharp wit. He thought you never quite made the grade at Manticore ... something I suppose Lydecker said to him or else because of the Berrisford mission ... and that made you feel like a failure. To compensate, you inflated your ego and began to lie. It was either that or self destruction."

"To compensate for the fact I don't enjoy killin' innocent people in cold blood I became a good liar, yeah," Alec admitted. "I had to in order to fool psy-ops, but as far as my ego goes ... I think I was born with that. I mean, he glanced down at himself, "what's not to be proud of?"

"Ben was the same way," Max murmured. "Proud of himself physically, but not what he was psychologically, even though your decisions ... both of yours ... selfish as they sometimes seem on the outside deep down inside come from a good place. And no matter what Logan thinks, you're not a sociopath. A sociopath has no conscience ... feels no remorse. I've seen you cry, Alec ... cry over the people Manticore made you hurt."

"Okay," Alec said, not sure he liked the turn the conversation was taking. Ben and Rachel weren't exactly "up" topics with Max, let alone things he wanted to be discussing with her right now. "Max," he said, needing to be perfectly clear on something. "Are you sure you wanna open this door with us?"

"I'm sure," she said, so fast he wondered if she'd rehearsed the answer.

"Fair warning," Alec replied. "I may be a tom cat when I'm playin' the field, but when I fall in love I'm a real one-woman kinda guy."

"You sayin' you're in love with me?" Max asked teasingly, obviously not believing him.

"Not yet," Alec said, dead serious. He shook his head. "I'm not that much of a masochist, to fall in love with another guy's girl."

"I'm not another guy's girl any more."

"I know."

Max scrambled to her feet, ending the conversation. "Pick me up at seven tonight for the party," she said, reaching down and offering him her hand.

Alec took it, jumped to his own feet, but then held onto her fingers and looked deeply into her eyes, trying to sense her emotions. "Will you be ready?" he asked, the question double-edged and both of them knowing it.

"I'll be ready," Max promised, her eyes meeting his boldly. "In fact, I think maybe I've been ready for longer than either of us realize."

*****

That evening Mole spotted his buddy in the TC garage. However, Alec wasn't wearing his usual biker/beach bum leather and jeans attire. Rather, he was "dressed to the nines" in -- of all things -- a formal tuxedo. Standing beside his lime green motorcycle, the handsome X5 looked not only out of place, but positively incongruous.

"Uh," Mole tried. "What's goin' on? Hot date?"

Alec flashed his friend a big grin as he adjusted a cuff link. "You might say that," the transgenic replied carefully.

"You know," Mole continued, "Cade was askin' 'bout you this afternoon. Said if I saw you to see if you wanted to hook up Saturday night."

Alec cocked his head to one side, mouth open to reply, when suddenly he caught sight of Max descending the dirty trash littered stairwell. The dress she was wearing was a skin tight, slinky ruby red silk number that showed off her figure to its fullest -- and he did mean fullest. That cleavage was to die for. With her long dark hair clean and upswept in an elaborate 'do,' those high-heeled sequined shoes, and the perfect touch of make-up on an already flawless face, his X5 partner looked every inch an exotic princess. Never in his life had Alec seen a woman so beautiful. And tonight -- no matter what Max chose to call it -- she was, indeed, his date.

Turning to Mole, he saw that the lizard man was also staring at the vision of loveliness. "If you see Cade," Alec said quietly, "tell her it's a no for Saturday night. Tell her ..." Again he looked toward Max, biting down on his lower lip. "Tell her I'm sorry, but I'm already seein' someone."

THE END