Author – Nat
Rating – R
Spoilers – Everything up to Freak Nation and my made up
DA world after that.
Pairing – Max/Alec, but its from Logan’s POV.
Summary – Logan watches and Max and Alec fight, flashing
back to previous encounters.
Standard disclaimer applies.
A/N – I started this a long time ago, so long I can’t
remember what the point of the fic was, other than to rub M/A in Logan’s face…
In any event, rather than just let it sit here on my hard drive I’m uploading
it for your pleasure. Or something.
A/N – I’m Australian. My word is set to Australian
spelling… just so you know.
Logan was six floors up, looking down into the building
next to him that had at one time lost most of its roof. The Transgenic’s had
been using it as a training room, a place to spar and work off excess energy.
He could see Max and Alec. They had just walked in side by side as they always
seemed to be these days. Max pulled off her jacket and flung it to the ground.
She was gesticulating emphatically with her right hand saying something that
Logan couldn’t hear. Alec stopped dead still, halfway through removing his own
jacket. Logan could see his jaw moving as Alec replied to whatever it was that
Max had said. She turned to face him and shook her head. Alec ripped his jacket
off and threw it across the room. Even from where he stood Logan could see the
anger roll off Alec in waves.
Max and Alec faced off with about six feet of space
between them. Logan could hear the indistinct sounds of their yelling through
the windowpane he was standing behind. He could see both Max and Alec throw
their hands about as they fell fully into the fight.
Max would take one step forward, Alec would take one step
back.
Alec would take one step forward, Max would take one step
back.
Logan continued watching, he couldn’t drag himself away if his life depended on it.
“Alec huh?”
Max shrugged and refused to look Logan in the eye.
“Yeah.”
Logan nodded, staring hard at the side of Max’s head as
she looked out the window. “This is the guy who I defended for fucking up
everything to start with. The guy who nearly got you to kill me, and was going
to kill me himself.”
Max turned and looked at him then. “He was following
orders.”
“Yeah, well you never did.”
“You’re wrong. Even I followed orders.”
“You escaped!”
“I had things to escape to! He was doing what he had to.”
“So the whole breeding partners thing comes around
again.”
“Oh, come on Logan. It was never set up that way. He was
there to gain my trust.”
“And what better way to do that than by not raping you!”
“You don’t know Logan! You have no idea! I’ve always
played the human for you, for everyone! People at Manticore, they’re the real
monsters. They sent Alec to gain my trust, and you wanna know why it was Alec?
X5 494 twined to X5 493, Ben. Who better than someone who looks exactly like my
big brother? My dead big brother. Throw in all the emotions involved with that
and you’ve got-”
“Max.” Logan spun to see Alec in the doorway. “Let’s go.”
Logan turned to see Max take a deep breath and nod. She
edged around him and slipped past Alec who stood sideways to let her through
the doorway. Logan didn’t miss the way Alec had placed his hand on her lower
back as she went past.
“When are you gonna learn Logan? That every time you do
this, it makes it worse. Every time you send her off on this mission it drives
her further away from you?”
“Well that should make you happy then shouldn’t it?
You’re reaping the rewards.”
“You’re an idiot. Thinking of her like that. First and
foremost I’m her friend. Maybe you should be too.”
And with that Alec left and Logan was by himself. Again.
Logan couldn’t even remember what that particular
argument had been about. There had been so many arguments since the siege had
started. Something to do with Alec. It was always about Alec. Logan watched as
Max and Alec both stepped back and relaxed their arms. Either the argument was
over for them too, or it was the lull before the storm. You could never tell
with them, they both played with their cards held close to their chests. The
perfect poker players.
Logan knew that Max had lied about her being with Alec, and he wanted to believe it, he really, really did. But he couldn’t. She used to turn to him when she was down, when nothing was going her way. Now she turned to Alec.
“God Alec!”
“Don’t start Max.” Logan watched as they entered his
apartment in Terminal City. Side by side, always side by side.
“Well if you hadn’t-”
Alec spun on Max and backed her up against the wall. “I
said don’t start.”
She pushed him back about a foot. About as far as Alec
wanted to be moved Logan was guessing. “I didn’t start this! You did!”
“Oh would you shut up about that already!”
“Guys.” Logan reminded them he was in the room. Alec let
Max up off the wall, moving sideways so there was room for her to stand next to
him. “Max, I just got word from Matt Sung.”
Logan turned from the two Transgenic’s and pulled a few
files up on his computer. “A detective in Portland called him, wanting to get
more information on a man they had just pulled in for trying to jump a sector
fence. Had a barcode on the back off his neck. Does this look familiar to
either of you?”
Logan moved so that Alec and Max got a look at the
monitor.
“216.” Alec read and then looked at Max.
“Caleb.” Max’s eyes went from the monitor to Alec to
Logan. “What else?”
Logan turned and faced them. “He escaped, caught a couple
of bullets but no body has been recovered. He’s probably holed up somewhere.”
“Alec.” Max’s sad eyes were locked on Alec as he put his
arm around her.
“We’ll get him, just like we’ve gotten all the others
Max. No worries. We’ll send Blanket and a few of his unit. They stayed in
Portland for a while.”
Max nodded and they left together with Alec’s arm still across her shoulders.
From Logan’s viewpoint, six floors up, he couldn’t see
Max’s hands shake, he couldn’t see all her muscles tense in preparation of her
flinging herself at Alec. But he saw it when she jumped the distance between
her and Alec, twisting in midair to kick him in the chest with both feet before
she landed again. Alec was kicked back under what little remained of the roof
out of Logan’s site. But he was back within seconds and the fight was truly on.
Kicks and punches flew too fast for Logan to follow, he winced when Alec landed
a kick to Max’s chest that flung her into the wall hard enough for more of the
ceiling to fall in. But Max didn’t flinch, she threw herself at Alec again. The
fight went on, neither really gaining an advantage. They drew apart, standing
within a foot of each other.
Logan watched.
Max said something.
Alec shrugged.
Max said something to which Alec replied.
Max king hit him with all her strength right under the
jaw and he staggered back.
Alec hit her back in exactly the same way and she hit the
floor.
Logan watched as Alec leant over her blocking his view of Max’s face. She must have been alright though cause not long after Alec was standing up and offering Max a hand to help her up. She accepted it.
She reached for his hand and dropped her arm back to her
side before she could actually touch him.
“I can’t.”
“Max-”
“I’m sorry. I-”
“Max!” Alec’s loud voice reverberated around Sandeman’s
derelict house.
“Alec?” Max stepped away from Logan moving towards the
sound of footsteps at the front of the house. “What’s wrong?”
Her voice faded and Logan could only hear the murmurs of
their voices. A sudden cry had him moving out into the open where he could find
out what was going on.
Max was on her knees, Alec had his hands on her
shoulders. “Come on Max, we don’t have time for this. Get it together soldier!”
“Hey!” Logan snapped at Alec, “Don’t speak to her like
that.”
But to despite Logan, Alec’s words had the affect he was
after. Max had straightened her spine and reached up to Alec’s outstretched arm
to let him pull her up. Logan longed to be the one who could make that simple
gesture, be the one to help her up when she was down. In more than one way. In
more than one way he wasn’t capable of either.
“We have to go buddy,” Alec spoke to Logan. “Trouble at
TC.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Not wanting to be left out
of Max’s life entirely he reached out to her in the only way he knew she still
valued, as Eyes Only.
“Nope, we’ve got it covered.” Alec replied as he guided
the still silent Max out of the house and down the stairs to the street. “I’ll
fill you in later.”
Logan tried once again to fool himself into believing
that the hand Alec placed on her lower back didn’t mean anything beyond friendship,
but he knew she hadn’t lied this time when she told him she was with Alec.
And then they were gone, Max and Alec together again, leaving Logan alone, again.
Alec yanked her off balance, and Logan visibly winced as
their bodies crashed together in a different fight. Or maybe not so different.
He could still see the violence in their movements, still see the anger. Max
ripped Alec’s shirt off over his head and attacked his neck and chest with her
mouth. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and Alec grabbed her
backside, lifting her, walking her out of Logan’s site, under the rotted out
roof of the building.
Logan tore himself away from the window, not wanting to
see them if they happened to come out from under the unstable roof. Not wanting
to see what they were doing if the roof finally fell down and cleared a path
for him to look upon them.
Silently making his way down the stairs and out of the
building, he moved in the opposite direction of Max and Alec, not wanting to
see the looks of satisfaction and pleasure on their faces if he happened to run
into them on his way out of Terminal City.
Not wanting to see the look of gratification on Alec’s
face as he basked in having Max’s attention.
Not wanting to see no guilt in Max’s face, not wanting to
see her smile in that way at someone who wasn’t him.