Dragging Alec into it

 

Chapter Three:

Max and Alec pulled up in front of Jam Pony on Max’s Black Ninja. Alec let his arms slide from around her waist…and his hands slide from her thighs to her ass, as he got off the motorcycle.

"That was fun." Alec said with a grin as Max pulled off her sunglasses and slid off the motorcycle.

"Which part? Losing your motorcycle? Punching White? Or my favorite, trying to distract my driving." She tried to sound sarcastic, but she really hadn’t minded and he knew it.

"Oh…I kinda liked the part when we made out in front of Jam Pony until Normal yelled at us." He grinned incorrigibly.

"Cute…we’d be doing extra runs…we don’t have enough time in the day already."

He looked crestfallen.

"I’ll make it up to you later." She added, knowing he was playing her and not caring.

He sent her an evil grin and grabbed her hand.

"Promise?" he asked, kissing her thumb.

"Well, I promise I’ll kick your ass if Normal gives us extra work for PDA." She smiled sweetly.

"Max, I’m crushed." He attempted a serious look of some sort and failed.

She started walking toward the building.

He caught up to her as they went through the door. "So are we on for Crash tonight or do we have to baby sit the Mutants?"

Max smacked him and rolled her eyes.

"Mutants?" Normal came up behind them, handing them flyers for a ‘Transgenic Free Seattle.’

"Yeah, Normal. Alec is afraid of children." Max answered, looking to Alec to confirm her statement.

"Ok, fear is NOT the right word for it, Max." Much as Alec wanted to keep their unique DNA a secret, he couldn’t have it get out that he was scared of children.

"Oh, please, Alec, you practically ran screaming from Michelle’s twins." Who the hell Michelle was, neither of them knew.

"I walked casually from the scene, Max. Walked. Casually."

Normal cut them off. Finally. "You can bicker on your own time, bip bip bip."

"We…need a package, Normal."

"Oh, right." He circled his way back around the desk and looked at his selection.

"Hey, how’d you guys hook up? I mean, really, I thought you hated each other."

They both looked at each other and laughed nervously, remembering the day very clearly.

Max had just told Alec what happened to Ben…

"I’m sorry, Max." Alec softly pulled her toward him and kissed her head, holding her close as she leaned into him. When had this happened? This was Alec? Kissing her head, comforting her when she cried? Max pulled back and looked at him, as though for the first time. She didn’t usually look at him, not really, she didn’t want to see Ben staring back at her from beyond the grave.

But that isn’t what she saw. She saw concern and she saw confusion, but he wasn’t Ben. He wasn’t her brother.

Alec shifted his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot. "You…looking for something in particular, Max?" She had never stared at him for so long…without glaring, that is. This time, she rolled her eyes instead.

"You don’t look like Ben." She said, looking at him still.

 

Alec looked at her incredulously. "I don’t look like my twin?"

Max had to grin slightly at his expression, a mask of pure bewilderment. Her hands moved to his face as she looked into her friend’s eyes. She felt free, relieved of some kind of burden she didn’t quite understand.

She smiled at him. Alec’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline.

"I have to be honest with you here, Max." Alec said softly as he leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "You are completely freaking me out."

Momentarily disturbed by the tingle that ran down her spine at the feel of his breath on her neck, Max pushed away from him and rolled her eyes.

He looked so relieved at her return to normalcy that she had to turn away, shaking her head.

She wasn’t crying anymore. That was a relief.

She was practically laughing. That was disturbing.

She wasn’t glaring at him. She wasn’t yelling at him. She seemed comfortable and relaxed in his presence. Alec became convinced this was a dream.

Tempting as it was to take the opening he had given himself, he was overwhelmed with curiosity about her comment.

"What was different about Ben?" he asked, "Why don’t I look like him?"

Max looked down for a moment but straight back into his gaze a second later.

"Your eyes." She whispered, not really meaning to, "Ben’s soul was tortured and confused…I could see pain in his eyes."

Alec’s eyes flickered then and whatever was trying to get out was pushed back roughly, but Max saw it.

"You’re tortured too." Max stated unnecessarily. Alec took a step back from her and started reading the bottom of his shoes. Max lifted his chin with her finger, "But you aren’t confused."

I don’t want to be like you. Robert Berrisford’s words came back to Alec and he winced, turning his head from her touch. Max frowned.

"Alec…" He turned his eyes back to her sharply.

"Max, let it go." He said, "Don’t feel sorry for me."

"I killed my own brother, Alec." His features softened and he hugged her again.

"You didn’t have a choice, Max, you did what he wanted you to do."

"You didn’t have a choice either, Alec. You tried to save her." He pushed her away immediately.

"I never told you that."

"No, you told her," she whispered, "It wasn’t your fault, Alec."

Alec ran his fingers through his hair and looked around wildly, searching for some kind of escape from the unexpected emotional onslaught. "She’s not the only person who died because of me." He said softly, his gaze moving up to her eyes for a moment to test her reaction.

"You can’t blame yourself for Manticore’s sins, Alec." Max was in pain just watching him, feeling the heat of his anguish radiating towards her.

"I should have tried harder, Max. I just…didn’t." He gave her a look, daring her to deny it, to contradict his statement.

"Rachel loved you, Alec. She forgives you."

"Her father didn’t." he whispered harshly, the words in his head replaying over and over.

"Her father thinks you’re Manticore. I know you’re not and so does she. She knows what happened."

"She’s DEAD, Max." Alec turned around and went to sit on the couch, letting his head rest in his hands for a moment before running both hands through his hair.

Max took a seat beside him on the couch. "She didn’t die until after you talked to her, Alec. Even if she didn’t hear you, she would have forgiven you if she had."

"You’ve never forgiven me for anything." He commented bitterly, "why should she?"

"Oh, God, Alec…I am so sorry." Max took his hand, forcing him to look at her. "I don’t know what my problem is…or was…but it wasn’t you. I think you just remind me of myself. Anyway, none of the stuff that I blamed on you was your fault…" Catching his incredulous sidelong glance and raised eyebrows, she had to grin. "Well, some of it was your fault, but for the record, I forgive you for everything."

"So your argument here." He paused for effect, "Is that since you, who hate my guts, forgive me…then Rachel, who loved me, would DEFINITELY forgive me." He grinned at her slightly and she smiled.

"Well, except for the part about hating your guts."

"Really." He said, playfully throwing an arm around her shoulder.

Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I have no problem with your guts. It is just your…"

Alec quickly put a finger over her lips. "You know, Max, we’re getting along so well here…maybe you could just send me that list later?"

Max smiled slightly at his comment, and kissed his finger.

Alec drew back his finger as though it had been burned…it pretty much had, if the heat rushing through his body was any kind of indicator. He stared at her, eyes wide, at an uncharacteristic loss for words.

Max tried to laugh it off, but the horrendous noise that came from her lips sounded a lot more nervous than she would like. What did she just do? Well, she had kissed Alec’s finger. And while she had expected this to make him move the aforementioned finger in almost the speed he actually had, she had certainly NOT anticipated the electricity that went through her at that simple touch.

"Well…you wanted coffee?" She tried to lighten the mood, recapture the mood…do something with the mood.

"Yeah…" he answered absently, still giving her a strange look.

She tried to get up, but discovered they were still holding hands. She tried to disentangle herself, but somehow, it didn’t work. He looked like he was in a different world. Sitting back down, she tried to get his attention back.

"Alec…?" she asked softly. He stared at her.

"Yes, Max…?" he asked back.

Coughing slightly, she looked pointedly at their hands, which had somehow become interlocked during the course of their talk. Alec followed her gaze and laughed slightly.

"Oh, that." He said, looking back up at her, "It won’t seem like a big deal in a second."

He kissed her.

She stiffened immediately, a charge running through her like lightning. He pulled back, then, looking into her wide eyes.

Max stared at him, trying to recover whatever sanity she had left. There had to be a reason this shouldn’t be happening, but staring into those green eyes, she couldn’t remember for the life of her. She licked her lips.

Like a moth to a flame, Alec couldn’t stop himself. He kissed her again. And then, to his utmost shock and amazement, he felt her returning his kiss. He opened his mouth, tasting her for the first time and wondering how he could have survived without knowing this feeling. He pulled her onto his lap, wanting her closer to him. She didn’t protest, but moved closer into him, caressing him with her hands and delving into his soul with her tongue.

He pulled back and looked at her, eyes dark with passion and lips red from kissing.

"I’m Alec." He said, not knowing why the hell he was stopping to introduce himself.

"Nice to meet you, Alec…now I hate to kick anyone’s ass on such short acquaintance, but if you don’t shut up and kiss me, I might have to." She answered with a smile, looking at his lips with no small amount of impatience.

Alec almost choked, but survived, sucking in a long breath. "What about…" Alec didn’t say his name, he just couldn’t. He waited, looking into her eyes, waiting for them to widen, for her to spring off his lap and start yelling at him.

Max paused, looking down. Alec waited. His heart was racing, but he was convinced it was standing still.

"We’re over."

Alec’s mouth dropped. Sure, she had said the same thing earlier, but convincing herself it SHOULD be over and it actually BEING over were two significantly different things.

"Are you sure?" he asked, pretending not to notice the inviting way she kept moving on top of him. Pulling her onto his lap may not have been the smartest move. He undid it, standing up and pushing her to the side.

"Alec, I can’t be with Logan."

The name was spoken.

"Not now." Alec threw in.

"Not ever, Alec. Logan needs someone who understands him, who…can’t kill him with a touch."

Alec sighed. "Max, I’m not going to be the person that comforts you until you find a cure for the virus. Well, I will…but…" he ran his fingers through his hair, "You know?"

Max had never heard anything inarticulate come out of his mouth before. Fascinating.

"Alec, Logan has nothing to do with what just happened with us." Alec snorted, but Max continued, getting a little annoyed. "I can’t believe you think electricity like that just happens!"

Alec looked at her with a grin, "What was that, Max?"

Max stopped talking, admiring her own home decorating instead.

"Ma-ax…what was that about electricity?" He was enjoying this now, damn him. Fine, she could tease too. He didn’t want to continue this? There were ways of fixing that.

"Oh, I was just talking about the heat that filled my body when you touched me. You know…springing through every limb and caressing like slow, molten lava." She ran her left hand down her right arm, across her stomach and slowly into her pocket. He swallowed hard. This was fun. "But I can understand why you wouldn’t want to do anything about it. Starting something up could wreck the friendship. Oh well, maybe in a few years, huh? You can grab Cindy’s bed, she’s out tonight." She got up and started towards her bedroom.

She felt his hand grab her arm as she passed.

"Max…" he whispered, his breath heating a trail down her spine.

"Yes, Alec?" She turned back to him.

"Our friendship sucked." He crushed her to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Max and Alec stood in front of Normal, smiling at the memory, but they obviously couldn’t TELL him.

"Well, we just found out we have a very intense emotional connection." Alec commented, reaching his hand into Max’s back pocket.

"Fine, don’t tell me…not like I don’t know anyway." Normal turned away, leaving the transgenics wondering if he was going to give them a delivery.

Alec nodded his head toward the back room enthusiastically. Max frowned for a second. Then shrugged.

"Just make sure to leave your cell phone on." She said, grabbing his hand.

Alec’s mouth dropped.

"Hot run, kids. Sector 7." Normal tossed Alec a package, which he looked at in dismay.

Max laughed. "I was kidding, Alec, you look like they cancelled your favorite TV show."

Alec looked at her sharply. "That is nothing to joke about."

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