That night, Alec was feeling well enough to get up and move around. I was impressed at how fast he recovered. Or at how well he hid the pain. Whichever it was, I followed him closely, trying to make sure he didn’t overdo it. My own wound was feeling much better, although definitely not one hundred percent. But what pain there was was of a manageable sort. So, I helped Alec pull on a shirt and followed him closely to HQ, looking for Kira and Max.

“Oh, Maxie!” Alec called as he walked in.

Max was standing at the head of a table lined with transgenics including Kira and Krit. Papers were scattered across the tabletop, almost obscuring the wood surface entirely. She looked up at Alec, her face a war between annoyance and relief.

“Having a meeting without me? I’m hurt.” Alec pouted, walking over.

“Exactly. Which is why you weren’t invited.” Max snapped, turning back to the others, “So...I want a new security detail procedure. We need more people at every section of TC. If we give them an opening, they’ll...”

“Max,” Alec interrupted, “We know. Some of us were even trained in it.”

“Alec.” Max growled through clenched teeth, her eyes glaring hatred down at the papers in front of her.

“Yes, Max?” he asked brightly.

“Shut. Up.”

Alec rolled his eyes. I could see he was enjoying being able to torture Max without the risk of her trying to hurt him. She would never hit him in his current condition.

“Sorry, guys.” Alec said apologetically to the rest of the group, then continued in a loud conspiratorial whisper, “Max is just a little cranky because she hasn’t gotten any in forever.”

Max whipped around towards Alec, her face a mask of rage. Her hands were clenched in fists and it was obvious that she was struggling to maintain her control.

“Alec, this way. Now.” she ordered in a low growl, jerking her head in a direction away from the group.

Without waiting for a reply, Max stomped across the room. Alec shrugged carelessly and followed. All eyes in the building watched the pair curiously.

“What’s up, Max?” Alec’s casual question rang out through the now silent building.

“Alec, I’m glad you’re feeling better, but if you don’t knock it off, I am going to kill you!” Max replied, her voice raising steadily into a yell.

“Knock what off, Maxie?” Alec asked innocently.

“Knock what off?” Max asked incredulously, “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe you could knock off the completely disrespectful comments about me in front of everyone. Or maybe you could try not interrupting me. Or maybe you could even stop being such a jerk period! And don’t even give me that look. I know about you and Syl. How could you be such an asshole? We all know that you like Jess, so why the hell are you trying to screw everything up by being such a horny bastard? Can’t you do anything right? Do you like pissing people off, hurting people? And by the way, if I ever hear you breath another word about my sex life, I’m going to fucking castrate you!”

Max’s scream echoed off the walls and slowly died. Alec’s face was expressionless as he stood, facing her angry accusations. I was still stuck on the part about everyone knowing that he liked me.

After a full minute of silence, broken only by Max’s deep breaths as she reigned in her temper, Alec spoke.

“Okay.”

It seemed that everyone in the room had been expecting anything but that one quiet word. It would have been much more likely that Alec would yell back at Max, or lash out with some smart ass comment, or blow her off with a ‘whatever’ and a roll of his eyes. It was definitely not like Alec to simply give in. Even Max did a double take, blinking slowly and looking momentarily confused.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“Okay, Max.” Alec repeated.

Max faltered, apparently not sure of what to do now that she’d won the argument.

“O...okay, then. Right. Good. Well, I’ve got to get back to the meeting. If you’re feeling well enough, you and Jess can join us.” she said, shifting her weight back and forth.

“No, thanks. I think I’d better take it easy, you know?” Alec said, without any of his usual sarcasm.

“Uh...good idea.” Max replied, then beat a hasty retreat back to her meeting.

I looked over at Kira and quickly signed that I’d find her later and that I was doing okay before heading over to Alec who was already turning to head outside.

I walked silently next to Alec for a little while, but then became worried by his silence. This wasn’t like him.

“Alec, are you alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” he said quietly in the same slow, humorless voice he had used earlier with Max, “I’m always fine.”

“Alec.” I persisted.

“Really, Jess. I’m okay.” Alec insisted.

I stopped and Alec stopped, too, looking at me for an explanation. I picked at my clothes, partly because of the humidity and partly because I felt uncomfortable.

“Tell me what’s wrong.” I urged.

“I told you already, nothing’s wrong.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Obviously.” he said with a hint of his normal attitude, “But it doesn’t matter because even if there was something wrong, I don’t want to talk about it.”

I could think of no reply to that.

“Can we go now?” Alec asked.

I continued to say nothing, but starting walking. Alec fell in beside me. I was quiet until I made to turn for the infirmary and Alec didn’t.

“Aren’t you going back to the infirmary?” I asked.

“I’ve had enough of that place. I’m going back to my apartment.” Alec replied.

“Mind if I come with you?” I asked, hoping that maybe he’d change his mind and open up to me.

“Suit yourself.” Alec answered.

We fell silent again and I reflected. Max’s words were still foremost in my mind. Everyone knew that Alec liked me. Everyone, but me. Was it true? Or was it just something Max had said to tick off Alec? And if it was true... I thought guiltily of how I had enjoyed being kissed by Krit. It had been nice to be openly wanted without any weird history or dark secrets about my true nature to worry about. Plus, Krit was nice, attractive, everything I could want. Except that he wasn’t Alec.

I almost outwardly blushed at that thought, but managed to keep the emotion from showing thanks to years of training in that area.

We were now at Alec’s apartment building. I followed him inside, noticing with narrowed eyes that his hand was inside his shirt, pressed against his wound. He was hurting, after all. I cursed myself for not noticing sooner and sprang to his side to help him up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” he demanded as I put an arm around his waist and grasped his bicep in my other hand.

“Helping you. You’re hurt, remember?”

“I’m fine.” Alec said, attempting to jerk his arm out of my hand.

But as soon as he tried, he gasped in pain and fell back against the wall, both hands moving to the site of his injury.

“Or not.” he said, trying to grin, but managing more of a grimace.

“Come on.” I said, stepping back into my former position and helping him slowly up the stairs, “You should probably lie down.”

It seemed to take forever to reach his apartment door, but I forced myself to be patient. I didn’t want Alec to land himself back in the infirmary. We would need him well for when CAT made their move.

Alec’s door was unlocked so I opened it and swung it open wide so that we could enter without me having to leave his side. I kicked the door closed behind us and began to head for the bedroom when my senses alerted me to the fact that someone else was in the room. I could hear breathing and the room felt off. I looked around and my eyes fell upon Alec’s recliner. The back was to us, but I knew there was someone in it.

“Who’s there?” I demanded.

The recliner spun around, revealing a short, blonde girl. She smiled brightly at us.

“Syl?” Alec said, clearly confused.

“Hi!” she replied, “Thought I’d drop by. Figured you’d be sick of the infirmary and when I dropped by there you weren‘t there. So, I figured I could catch you here. Oh, and the door was open, so I thought I’d make myself at home.”

Her face transformed into a pouty expression.

“You woke me from my nap.” she complained.

“Sorry.” Alec said, his eyes gaining some of their usual sparkle, “Should I knock next time?”

I couldn’t help but feel angry at him all over again. I let go of him abruptly and turned to leave.

“Wait, Jess!” Alec called after me, “I thought you were going to stay awhile.”

“You have company.” I said emotionlessly.

“Stay.” Alec insisted.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I want you to stay.”

“Kira’s waiting for me.”

“Why are you...?” Alec began in frustration.

I cut him off.

“You know why.”

“You know what, fine. If you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you.”

Alec turned to a curious Syl who’d been watching the conversation with interest, her eyes going from Alec to me as if she’d been watching a tennis match.

“Look, Syl. You’re great. Just the kind of chick I’d normally go for. But I think it would be best if you left.” he said.

Syl frowned and looked from Alec to me again. Her eyes suddenly widened and she got a knowing look on her face.

“I get it. Sorry. My mistake. I’m usually more perceptive. It’s cool. See you guys around?” she asked, not phased in the least.

Alec smiled, obviously glad she’d taken it so well.

“Yeah.” he nodded.

Syl headed past us towards the door.

“Oh, and Jess.” she said, and I turned towards her, “Don’t worry. I’ll break it to Krit.”

She was gone before I could think to ask “Break what to Krit?”

“Believe me now?” Alec demanded.

I nodded, “I’ll stay.”

“Good.” Alec said, then winced, “Cause I think I might need some help into bed. Wow, I’ve never said that before.”

I rolled my eyes at him and helped him into his bedroom, lowering him gently onto the mattress. Alec, I noticed, also had a real bed like in the infirmary. I tested the mattress with my hand after Alec was in place and noted that the bed seemed very comfortable. It would be good for Alec to rest in it for awhile.

Alec was still clutching his wound. I pulled up the hem of his shirt and pried his hands away so I could look at the bandage. It was stained quite red and I shook my head, knowing I shouldn’t have let him overdo it.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” I asked.

“Yeah. In the bathroom. But you don’t need it because I’m fine.” Alec said hastily.

“Nice try. I know it hurts, but you’ve got to keep fresh bandages on it.” I scolded him.

“But mom...” he teased.

I punched him lightly in the arm.

“Never call me that.”

He grinned at me and I went to retrieve the first aid kit. I, like all X-5’s had had a basic training in field med. Changing a bandage was a simple task. The difficulty was to keep the patient distracted to minimize the pain. I returned to Alec’s side, determined to keep him in conversation while I did the job.

“I appreciate what you did.” I told him as I sat on the edge of his bed and began to undo the old bandage.

“Good. Cause, you know, I don’t have a whole lot of friends. Joshua, I guess. Maybe Max on her good days. I don’t want you to think that I’m going to dump you the second I see a pretty chick.”

Friend. I frowned.

“So, I’m your friend, huh?”

“Sure.” Alec grunted as I pushed him onto his side, “Why not?”

I changed the subject.

“So how long do you think we have before CAT shows up?”

“Who knows? They probably wouldn’t have shown that broadcast if they weren’t almost ready to go. They wouldn’t want to give us too much time. Are you worried?”

I lowered Alec back down and slipped the bandage out from under his other side, quickly pulling it back across his torso to repeat the process.

“Yeah.” I admitted, “I’d be crazy if I wasn’t. It’s just that Kira...”

“Has had years of training and knows how to take care of herself.” Alec finished for me.

“You don’t understand.” I shook my head, “I was the one who brought her out here, out of Manticore. It would be my fault if something happened to her.”

“Faulty logic.” Alec said immediately, “How could it possibly be your fault when one, you have no control over what happens out here and two, even if you hadn’t taken her out of Manticore, she’d be on the outside by now anyway since Manticore was destroyed.”

“I know.” I agreed, but I still felt the same.

“Besides,” Alec continued, “I’m going to take care of you guys.”

“Oh, really?” I asked, a smile sneaking onto my face.

His protectiveness was amusing.

“Yeah. I mean, back when I took that mission to bring you guys back to Manticore, I accepted that you two were my responsibility. You still are.” he sucked in his breath quickly when I peeled the last layer of bandage from the wound. It was sticky with half-dried blood, “Ouch.”

“Sorry.” I said offhandedly, more interested with inspecting his wound.

The area was turning a deep shade of purple from the damaged rib. It also appeared that the wound had closed over, but Alec had reopened it. I remembered the look on his face as he leaned against the wall on the stairs.

“You need to be more careful.” I admonished him, cleaning up the blood.

“Obviously.” Alec snorted.

I wetted some cotton with alcohol. Alec saw the bottle and his eyes widened.

“Ah, shit.” he swore.

“Sorry. It’s for your own good.” I said, then quickly pressed the wet cotton onto the wound.

Alec’s face scrunched up in pain and he made some hissing noise, but that was all. I felt bad for causing him so much pain, but I knew that it would ultimately help the wound to stop bleeding and heal faster.

Next, came rewrapping his stomach. My eyes drifted over the tight muscles in that region as I prepared the bandages. He had perfect abs, of course, and it was extremely tempting to run my hands over them.

I yelled at myself and focused on the task at hand. Pushing Alec gently onto his side once again, I wrapped the new tightly around his body. The rib that had been hurt was the lowest one on his ribcage, luckily, so none of his other ribs had been effected. But I thought suddenly that if the wound had been higher I could have run my hands over his chest.

I suddenly realized I wasn’t distracting him, but merely becoming distracted myself.

“So why do you pick on Max so much, anyway?” I asked quickly.

“Me? I’d never!” Alec said in mock outrage. He grinned slightly, “I don’t know. It’s just the relationship Max and I have. I annoy her, she kicks me. That’s how it works.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know. Lots of reasons, I guess. But you know, I think that deep down she really...can’t stand me.”

I shook my head at him.

“Max needs you.” I corrected him.

“Yeah, right.”

“She does. I can tell. She depends on you. She cares about you. In fact, according to what they taught us in Situation Assessment in Regards to Tactical Evaluation, I would think you liked each other. You fight like little kids who have a crush, but can’t admit it.” I smirked at the thought of Max and Alec on a playground somewhere, fighting.

Alec colored at my comment and I looked at him shocked.

“You don’t...like Max, do you?” I was afraid I let hurt creep into my voice.

“No!” Alec said almost too quickly.

I bit my lip and kept my eyes focused directly on the white bandage. My eyes started to blur and I looked down to try and hide my face from Alec.

“Oh, please don’t do that.” Alec said, reaching out and lifting my chin.

He gently wiped away beads of moisture from my cheeks. I couldn’t believe I was crying. I frantically tried to force myself to stop, but the more I tried to stop, the more I couldn’t.

“I’m sorry.” I said, my voice sounding choked, “Alcohol’s making my eyes water.”

Alec smiled at me sadly and I knew he wasn’t buying my lie.

“Don’t cry.” Alec persisted, “Look, I’ll level with you, but you have to stop crying.”

I sniffed, wiping frantically at my eyes. I took a few deep breaths and managed to get myself under control again by the time I‘d finished with his bandage.

“Alright. About Max. Max and I have never been anything more than friends. She’s got this whole thing with Logan that’s too confusing to get into. But yeah, I cared about her. I still do. Max gave me freedom. And she kept me from throwing it away, too. I owe Max a lot. And I guess that I was sort of drawn to her. She’s just so passionate, so not Manticore. She’s beautiful, smart, wicked sense of humor. We’re really a lot alike. And I think for awhile I might have been falling for her. Apparently, I enjoy pain.” he quipped with a wry smile.

His words felt like an icy blade, piercing my flesh and twisting in my chest. Here I had just won out over Syl, just to lose to Max. I remembered Alec comforting her, an arm around her shoulders, telling her everything would be okay. I bit my lip and closed my eyes so Alec wouldn’t see the tears welling up again.

“Then, something happened that turned my already fucked up life upside down. I ran into you. Since then, it’s like everything’s changed. Every time we’ve kissed, the time you said you liked me, even when we’re fighting I’m still kind of happy just because you’re here. It’s weird. I just...I’m...well, scared because I think that I’m... I just don’t want to lose you like I lost Rachel.”

Now, Alec was the one who’s eyes were welling up. A few tears escaped down the sides of his face before he buried the emotion.

“You won’t lose me.” I promised.

“I can’t.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. I let myself be pulled down, resting my head on his chest and pulling my feet up onto the bed, carefully resting my injured leg on top of my good one. He wrapped his arms around me. I felt like if I spent the rest of my life in that position I could die happy.

“Stay here.” Alec muttered into my hair.

“I will.”

We fell quiet and I began to feel sleepy. Maybe it was because I felt so secure that I subconsciously began to let my guard down and welcome sleep. Maybe it was because my body was still recuperating. Maybe it was just because I’d had a rather emotionally straining day. Whatever the reason, I closed my eyes and started to drift, letting Alec’s soft breathing lull me to sleep.

“You know, I have the weirdest luck with girls.” Alec said, but his voice faded into obscurity as I faded into the dark of sleep.