Perfectly Matched, Chapter 8

 

Max didn’t have to fake the look of illness that came over her as she took the pregnancy test.  It didn’t matter that she was shaking or losing color. 

 

Alec was on his feet the second she came out.  “Are you OK?”

 

Max wasn’t sure if it was even part of the act or he really wanted to know.  Maybe both.  Shaking her head slightly, she leaned into him and he placed her gently on the chair.

 

“When’s the doctor going to get here?”

 

“As soon as we get the results, I’ll call him.”

 

Alec shrugged it off as though they didn’t know what she was talking about, but of course they did.  As soon as they found out if Max was pregnant.  3% chance echoed in Max’s mind.  Her eyes were drawn to Alec’s and held there.  They weren’t acting anymore.  Stomach clenching painfully, Max grimaced and Alec frowned, leaning closer to her.

 

“If you wait too long to call, I swear I will make you regret it,” Alec seethed.

 

When had this become so scary? 

 

The minutes ticked by.  Alec looked at the floor.  Max looked at the ceiling.

 

“Would you just CALL HIM?” Alec exploded, standing up and kicking the wall.

 

Max moaned and he knelt next to her, glaring at the nurse.

 

“OK,” she whispered softly, picking up the phone.

 

Max locked eyes with Alec, grabbing his hand tightly as they listened to the conversation.

 

“The kids Angie sent are legit, you better hurry.”

 

Max closed her eyes, concentrating on her breathing.  This wasn’t happening. 

 

The door opened at the end of the room, “This way, please. 

***

 

Alec scooped Max into his arms, following the doctor as the nurse rushed to follow behind him.

 

“Are you the doctor?” he asked, passing the man at the door and laying Max on the table.

 

“I am, I’ll take wonderful care of your wife, I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” he approached the table, “It’s a security rule.”

 

“Why do you need security?” Alec asked dangerously, “Manticore doesn’t like you cutting out on them?”

 

The doctor’s eyes widened, “How…?”

 

Alec smiled, “That was actually my question for you.  See, you have some files that Manticore wants back.”

 

The man was backing away from Alec, shaking his head.  “No, I didn’t take anything, I swear.”

 

“Really,” Alec smiled, “In that case, my orders are to kill ya.”

 

Blanching, the MD looked at Max, who was putting her hand on Alec’s arm.

 

“I’m not going to let you kill him, Alec,” she hissed.

 

He turned and grinned at her, “This’ll be fun, Max.”

 

She rolled her eyes, but turned sharply toward the nurse.

 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

 

The woman looked as though she was about to faint.

 

“She had nothing to do with it,” the doctor broke in.

 

Max sat up from the table, raising an eyebrow at their prisoner.  “You worked for Manticore, but underneath it all you’re really a tender, sweet guy?  I’m not buying.”

 

The man glared back at her, “So what are you, X5?  How’d you pass the pregnancy test?”

 

They both looked away from him and he raised his eyebrows, “Oh REALLY, Manticore’s doing things the old fashioned way now?”  His eyes flickered from Max to Alec, “You the lucky one?”

 

Alec smiled, grabbed the doctor’s neck and slammed him into the wall.  “I’m going to really enjoy killing you.  So unless you have something worthwhile to say, I’d suggest you start begging.”

 

“I don’t have anything from Manticore, you might as well kill me.”

 

“I’ll let you think about it,” Alec pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his tux pocket, throwing a grin at Max, who rolled her eyes.  He tossed her the other pair. 

 

“If you don’t care about yourself,” Max dragged the nurse over to where Alec was attaching her boss to a sink pipe, “You might want to consider her.”  She cuffed them to the same pipe.

 

Alec smiled, “We’ll be back.”

 

“Bastard,” Max muttered as they left. 

 

“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me kill him,” he reminded her.

 

Max shrugged, “I have bigger things to worry about.”

 

“Are you going back?”

 

The question was irretrievable and hung in the air between them.

 

“No,” she said finally. 

 

“I have to call in tomorrow or they’ll start looking for us.”

 

“Well, let’s get some sleep, we can come back for them tomorrow and decide what to do after that,” Max suggested.

 

452 has Shark DNA, Renfro’s voice echoed.

 

“Yeah, let’s get some sleep,” he agreed, walking toward a rather hideous looking hotel.  “I’m exhausted.”

 

Max said nothing and he knew she wasn’t going to.  Didn’t plan on telling him she was going to disappear.  Fine, then he wouldn’t tell her about the virus.

 

There were plenty of rooms left in the hotel, but it was the type of place that went by the hour and there was only one bed per room.  It was annoying having to pay for the whole night, knowing she was going to jet within the hour anyway. 

 

Alec braced himself as he walked through the door, fully expecting her to complain about the bed situation.

 

“We left our clothes at the store,” she said instead, giving him an annoyed look.

 

He laughed slightly and shrugged out of his jacket, “We can go get them tomorrow, I’m beat.”

 

Max turned away as he undressed and lay down on the far side of the bed.

 

“Night, Max,” Alec hit the lights and dove between the sheets, shifting around for awhile before letting his breathing even out.

 

He didn’t want to think, but it was the only way to stay awake.  The only idea more terrifying than going back to Manticore was running away from it.  Why was that even a temptation?  So Max was pregnant.  He just followed orders.  If he just let her get away, everything would be fine.  There wasn’t anything else he could do anyway.

 

Finally, he heard her slip from the bed and quietly close the door behind her.  Dressing rapidly, he ran to the window, jumping the thirty feet into the alley.  Trying to sneak away from him, he shook his head.  Really.  What was she thinking?  Peaking around the corner, he saw her leave the building.

***

 

It felt good to walk into Logan’s apartment again after so many months.  Max smiled for a second, looking at him.  Still Eyes Only, saving the world…and apparently not shaving.

 

“Hey Logan.  Got anything to eat?” she broke the silence.

 

He looked up, startled.

 

“Max!” he breathed, struggling to stand up.

 

Knowing he would want to be able to stand on his own, she walked toward him slowly.

 

“I wouldn’t touch him if I were you,” a voice broke into her thoughts.

 

Max and Logan whirled to face Alec, leaning comfortably against the wall.

 

“Alec…what…?” Max frowned.  Even provided he WASN’T here to give Logan to Manticore, this would be an awkward introduction at best.

 

“Hey Max,” Alec smiled and turned to Logan.  “So you’re Eyes Only?”

 

Logan opened his mouth and closed it again, looking from Max to Alec.  “What’s going on?” he asked.

 

Alec shrugged, “Well, Max and I were on a mission, but she decided to bail on me and come see you instead.  But seeing as she isn’t aware of everything that’s going on, I thought I’d do you both a favor and tag along.”

 

Logan shook his head, sitting back down in his wheelchair.

 

Max glared at Alec, who appeared to be having a wonderful time.

 

“What, exactly, is this information I’m unaware of?” she asked, hands on her hips.

 

“That injection,” he informed her, “Wasn’t what Renfro said.  It’s a retrovirus specifically targeted to his DNA,” he nodded toward Logan.  “Any skin to skin contact will kill him.”

 

Max’s eyes widened in shock, “But…how…?”

 

“They got a blood sample somehow,” Alec shrugged, turning to Logan, “You know anything about that?”

 

Logan looked apprehensive for the first time.  “I…Lydecker shot me...it was an accident.”

 

“WHAT?” Max asked.

 

Alec nodded thoughtfully, “So they got your blood, whipped up a virus, and figured our girl Max would be willing to deliver it.”

 

“Is there are cure?” Logan asked Alec.

 

“Sure, just set up an appointment with Renfro,” Alec rolled his eyes and turned to Max, “She said she’d give you the antigen if you brought him in.”

 

Max snorted.

 

“You were supposed to have already touched him, though,” he smiled, “Whoops.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Max asked, enraged.

 

“Oh, it isn’t like you were little miss straight forward, wanting to sleep,” Alec countered her anger.

 

“Well, I didn’t want to get you in trouble when you went back.”

 

“Maybe I don’t want to go back!” Alec looked shocked for a moment that those words had flown out of his mouth, but he didn’t retract them.

 

“I can get you papers if you want to head to Canada,” Logan offered.

 

Alec glanced at Logan and back at Max, his eyes narrowing.

 

“Are YOU going to Canada?” he asked Max.

 

She didn’t answer.

 

“Then thanks anyway,” he said to Logan.

 

There was an awkward silence at this and Max was terrified Alec would mention the pregnancy or Logan would figure out something weird was going on.  Max almost laughed at her own ridiculous thought.  What wasn’t weird?

 

“So…who are you?” Logan asked, still trying to piece everything together.

 

“Alec,” he held out his hand to Logan, who shook it, a bit dazed, “X5-494.”

 

“494,” Logan’s brow furrowed as he tried to place the significance of the number.  “Isn’t that…?”

 

“One off Ben’s,” Max supplied, “They were twinned.”

 

“Ben?!”

 

“He’s not psychotic,” Max hastened to reassure Logan.

 

Alec grinned, “Aww, thanks Max.”

 

“He’s just a dick,” she corrected sweetly.

 

“So now you’ve got a new brother?” Logan asked, wheeling away to grab some coffee, unaware of the looks of horror that flitted over Max and Alec’s features as their eyes met in alarm.

 

“He wasn’t in our unit,” Max threw in hastily, shooting Alec a warning glance when he opened his mouth.  She fully intended to tell Logan.   There were just other far more important things to deal with at this point.

 

“So what’s the plan, Max?” Logan asked from the kitchen as Max and Alec followed him in there.

 

“I have to call in tomorrow or they will know something’s wrong,” said Alec.

 

As though he couldn’t stand it anymore, Logan finally asked them, “WHY are you dressed up?”

 

Max and Alec looked surprised, then laughed, “I completely forgot I was wearing this, it was a part of the mission,” Max told Logan.

 

Logan looked away to open the fridge and Max turned to Alec, nodding her head towards the other room.  He rolled his eyes, but complied.

 

“I’ll just let you guys catch up, where’s your TV, Logan?”

 

For a man who had just been kicked out of the room, he was very pleased about the situation.

 

Logan waved toward the next room and sat down at the table.  Max pulled a chair to where she was and sat down as well.

 

“I’m glad you’re alive, I didn’t know what to do,” Logan whispered.

 

“Zack shot himself,” Max whispered quietly, “They gave me his heart.”

 

Exhaling quickly, Logan sat back, stunned.  “Are you OK, Max?  Did they hurt you?”

 

Max smiled, “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

 

“Are you sure he’s on the level?” Logan asked, his eyes flickering to the room where Alec watched TV.

 

Max sighed, “Manticore would be here by now if he wasn’t.”

 

“Maybe he has some other agenda,” Logan suggested.

 

Max frowned doubtfully, “Like what?”

 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged.  “So what happens now?”

 

“The mission continues,” she said, “We bring down Manticore.”

 

She had a promise to keep.