Author: Restive Nature (aka Bavite)
Rated: NC-17
Disclaimer: All characters within this fiction are the property of Cameron/ Eglee. I just like to play with them.
Timeline: Six weeks after FN.
Pairing M/A
Summary: An unexpected accident causes Max to think about the future in a new way.
Chapter Nine
Little Moments Bring Big Realizations
"So when do we eat?" Max demanded softly as she nudged Alec in the side. He mumbled against her prodding, but she continued, knowing he wouldn’t sleep well later if he didn’t get up now. She’d slept, as near as she could figure, for half an hour. And darn it, she was hungry. Alec sleepily brushed her hand away and rolled to his side.
"No eat," he mumbled. "Sleep." Max regarded his broad back for a moment before an evil smile spread across her face. Using the knowledge she’d gleaned earlier, she let her fingers creep over his hip, right into the juncture where pelvic bone met leg bone. A slight wiggling of her fingers was all it took to have him flying upright. "Jesus Maxie!" he bit off, glaring at her. "I hate when you do that."
Max stared at him a moment stunned by his reaction. Certainly it wasn’t what she’d expected. The sudden fury on his face was frightening. She felt her lower lip tremble as she pulled away from him. Alec noticed and sighed heavily, running a distracted hand through his hair, absently trying to soothe the bed head he’d developed. "I’m sorry Maxie," he whispered as she ducked her head. "You know I just hate being tickled there." His hand reached to cup her cheek, but instead of nuzzling it, she turned away.
"No, I’m sorry," she whispered back, drawing in a hasty, unsteady breath. He leaned a little closer to her. "I should have remembered," she murmured bitterly.
"It’s okay," he assured her slowly. "Just please don’t do it again." She nodded, still not looking at him. She pulled away, upset with herself more now than she’d been all day. She clambered off the bed, towards her robe. Picking it up, she wrapped it around herself, jerking the tie sharply, an armor against his startling anger.
"I’ll make dinner," she told him as she exited the room. She didn’t need to turn back to know that he was staring at her in puzzlement. She could feel the weight of it burning into her back. She moved to the kitchen, set upon her self appointed task. She had no idea what he’d planned to go along with the pasta she’d set out and didn’t really care. Her movements were mechanical as she refilled the pot with fresh water and started the stove. The noise she was making didn’t register in her mind as the cacophony of thoughts tumbling in her mind took over. She chastised herself for such a stupid, obvious mistake. In some part of her, she knew Alec didn’t like being tickled. Well, for the most part. She’d figured it out again tonight. Yet everything had been going so well between them that she hadn’t given thought to doing exactly as she pleased.
And what had she wanted from him? His attention? A reaction? Well, she’d certainly received both. She bit her lower lip softly. How had one simple moment turned around so horribly? She’d just meant to get him up so they could eat. And he’d almost bitten her head off. She shook slightly, remembering the anger in his eyes. It was amazing he hadn’t instinctively lashed out. She would have, in his position. Max inhaled sharply as this thought burned through her mind. Was this how Alec had been feeling all those many times when he’d actually reached out to her, only to have her viciously rebuff him? Her hand trembled, spilling the macaroni she’d picked up over the stove and counter and onto the floor.
"Max? Max!" Alec’s voice finally penetrated and she turned from staring at the spill she’d made to her husband, holding the cordless phone in one hand out to her. Habitually, she smoothed her face to a blank mask, knowing it wouldn’t fool him. But like the covering of her robe, the mantle of neutrality was comfortable and soothing and she needed that desperately now.
"Yeah?" she asked quietly. His face scrunched up a little, worrying at this complex issue that he had no idea how to begin unraveling.
"It’s Cindy," he waved the phone at her. "Didn’t you hear the phone ringing?"
"Sorry," she shrugged a little then gestured to the stove. "Got caught up in what I was doing."
His mouth twisted wryly. "Yeah," he glanced down at the floor as well. "I can see that."
Max didn’t bother to explain. She really couldn’t at that moment. She just held her hand out for the phone, which Alec handed over with a sigh. He nudged her out of the way and retrieved the broom and dustpan, setting out to sweep things up. Max watched for a moment, the quirky, wifely thought of how quick he was to clean up some food but never seemed to pick up his clothes crossed her mind. And then a loud feminine voice reminded her of who was waiting. Max took a deep breath, forcing her voice to be cheerful.
"Hey O.C.," she chirped. "What’s up?"
"Damn boo," her friend launched into the conversation as if it had just been yesterday that they had spoken last. Which, knowing them, was probably the case. "Took ya long enough to answer."
"Sorry," Max apologized easily enough to her best friend. "I was getting dinner started."
"Oh, don’t tell me you’re just eatin’ now?" Cindy demanded. "Never mind. I don’t wanna know what else you were doin’."
"Don’t ask, don’t tell, is that it?" Max chuckled. She could always count on Original Cindy to keep her on the positive side.
"Always a good policy when it comes to you and hot boy," Cindy responded with her own chuckle. "But I don’t have much time. Got a hot date myself tonight. Just thought I’d let you know that Normal’s down with the plan. So all my stuff is good."
Max froze slightly. There was a plan? And Normal was in on it? What the hell dimension was she in now? Sure, Normal had changed his opinion of transgenics, but what grand scheme had they come up with and why on earth had they turned to Normal? But here was Cindy chatting about it as if it were the most, well, regular thing in the world. Her eyes widened as she realized she needed to make some sort of noise. "Uh… good. I’m glad that… worked out." She nearly winced at how pathetic she sounded. How was she going to figure out this new development? She murmured her good-byes and good luck for O.C’s date and hung up the phone.
She moved to set the phone in its cradle, to charge up again. She heard Alec rustling around behind her and turned to see him rifling through one of the drawers. He pulled a knife from it and then pulled out the cutting board towards him and began slicing up the vegetables he’d retrieved. Max’s mouth fell open to ask him or drop a hint about this newest development, her inquisitive nature asserting itself. But then realized that he probably knew her well enough now to tell when she was fishing for information. He’d seen her do it enough in the past. And then something else occurred to her. Maybe this plan had something to do with Alec. Certainly Normal would be quick enough to jump on the bandwagon if Max was planning a surprise for Alec. Had she been doing that? It would be a very wifely thing to do. Max smiled as she realized that that was exactly what she wanted to do for him. Plan a little something to bring that pleased, surprised, little boy look of excitement to his eyes.
"So what did Cindy say?" Alec asked, his back still to her, startling her out of her thoughts. "Did Normal agree?" Damn! Alec knew?
"Um, she said that it was fine with him," she informed him quietly. Alec stiffened up, slammed the knife down and spun around to face her.
"Max it’s no big deal," he spoke softly, but determined. "Look, I’m sorry I reacted that badly. I didn’t mean to." She understood that he was still brooding about earlier, as she had been only minutes before.
"No," she shook her head, "don’t apologize to me. It’s my fault. I should have remembered and I didn’t."
"All right," he gave her a half smile. "Can we get over this now?" She nodded hesitantly, even though she knew that there was so much more to that moment than he realized. "Then smile Maxie," he growled under his breath as he began to advance on her, his posture animalistic as he stalked her. "Or I just might have to tickle you," he shouted as he bounded after her. Max, finally giving in to his pleading had seen the twinkle in his eye and had begun backing away from him. She shrieked as he leapt forward and twirled around, flight taking over her moment of self-pity.
He chased her a few minutes around the furniture until Max tired of the little game, slowing enough to finally be caught. With a triumphant shout, Alec vaulted over the couch, wrapping his arms around her, gently knocking her to the floor. With the forethought of having done this to her before, he’d straddled her thighs and caught her flailing hands up in one of his own as his fingers searched out those tender places that Max was barely aware of. In seconds he had her squirming and squealing.
"Come on Maxie," he taunted, his fingers never stilling. "Give."
"I give! I give!" she laughed, wheezing slightly. Alec grunted and eased up a little, letting her hands loose, tensing slightly. Max took this in, realizing that he was waiting for the expected smack somewhere on his body, like she had done in the past. ’Well, no more,’ she decided. Her hand shot out; gripping him by the T-shirt he’d pulled on and yanked him down to her face. His lips met hers roughly, but he was quick to move from tension to sweet passion as he took her over, his mouth exploring her own. Her lips parted, still a little out of breath from their play. His tongue plundered her mouth, until her eyes began to glaze over. He pulled away, giving her a quick brush of his lips over her forehead.
"Mmm," she sighed happily.
"Ah, revenge is sweet," he chuckled. He pushed himself off of her and held out a hand to her. "Dinner?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow upwards. She nodded and took his hand, getting to her feet as well.
*****
Max stared at the bedside alarm clock. The numbers slowly changed over to the next. Two o’clock in the morning. She groaned a little. She was wide awake, her mind going over the conversation that they’d had over dinner and afterwards. She’d asked about his day, pleased with herself that it was more out of interest than any other reason. Well, there was the determination to figure out this new life. But she really had been interested in what was occupying him outside their home. She had a good handle on where his interests lay in the apartment. After rambling on a bit about all the people he’d met with and how they’d resolved some problems, Max realized her error. She would have had a little more luck deciphering the day’s information if she knew whom the people he was discussing where. He’d mentioned Mole, but only in passing. And he’d seen Gem and Angie when he’d gone to the bakery for a donut. But none of the other names were familiar. And he was talking about something called TC&E and TS. What the hell were those? She’d tried to cover with noncommittal responses and he didn’t seem inclined to press her. He’d asked after Joshua and she’d given him vague answers.
Max briefly entertained the notion of waking her husband up, but twice in one day should have been enough, shouldn’t it? She moaned again, biting her lip as the noise made Alec grunt in response. But he didn’t wake, for which Max was at once grateful for and sorry about. She watched him a little, as he snuggled deeper into his pillow. One hand was resting across her stomach, the other, tucked under the pillow he was using, had caught up in one of her curls, grasping it loosely. Finally deciding that Alec needed rest more than anything, as much as she hated to admit it, she slid carefully from the bed.
She pulled open the drawer of the nightstand, considering leaving him a note, in case he did wake up. She wasn’t in the mood to watch television or read and figured that maybe in the dead of night, she could do a little reconnaissance on her life. But to her mirthful amusement, instead of a pad of paper that she normally kept in the drawer, there was a sheaf of pre-written notes. Tilting them slightly to see them in the moonlight streaming in the bedroom window, she leafed through them. ‘Gone to HQ. Gone to Joshua’s. Gone to Gem’s. Gone to Jam Pony.’ Max frowned. She obviously spent a lot of sleepless nights away from home. She wondered if Alec minded that. But there was no help for it tonight. She plucked out the one indicating head quarters. It was slightly crumpled and worn, telling her that she’d used it more often than she had the others. Without realizing it, she slipped it into the hand that had been caressing her hair and replaced the others in the drawer.
She dressed swiftly, remembering to add her woolen coat that she preferred in cooler weather and was soon on her way. There was no one else about as she jogged towards the familiar building across the way. The silence that greeted her when she entered the building was like an old friend. Here there was no one to watch her, to worry if she slipped, to ponder her odd moods of contemplation. Just her and the bricks and mortar that held the strongest of her acceptable memories. She climbed up to the second floor, walking down the catwalk towards her office, noting the minor changes that had occurred.
There was more desks and computer equipment. Things had been cleaned up quite a bit since her last visit. No more were bits and pieces strewn around as the masses huddled together in shared confusion and with no direction. Max’s steps were even, though no light bathed her path. She could see well enough and she’d traveled it often enough not to need hints. Which really hit her hard when she realized then that she’d already walked past the door to her office. She stopped, confused as she glanced back at the closed wooden door. Then turned to her left and looked at the door beyond it that had recently for her, not been there.
She remembered that other room, where a conference table had been set up. The door had been destroyed long before the transgenics moved into the city. It was pretty much a casual, blow off steam type meeting room. Curious as to why she was headed there, Max continued on. She turned the handle of the door and let the door swing in, and gasped. It was an office now. Her office. She could see that immediately. And even if she hadn’t recognized her possessions she’d gathered here and there all deposited in this room, there was a sense of familiarity about it. Nodding quickly to herself, she stepped in, her hand finding the light switch on the wall and shut the door behind her.
The desk was slightly messy, as if she’d left in a little bit of a hurry. ‘Alec probably dragged me out of here for some reason or another,’ she grinned to herself. He’d done that often enough before. She set about straightening the papers, glancing over them as she did. There weren’t many clues there, other than recognizing the orders for food and necessities from a well-known warehouse that seemed to be supplying the city. Max wondered idly if they’d ever put their plan to produce some of their own goods into action. Biohazard filled vegetables wouldn’t have been saleable, but they figured they could eat them themselves without harmful side effects. And then Normal’s name jumped up at her.
‘Someone check with Normal about Christmas stuff,’ she read her own scrawl. "Well that really narrows things down," she muttered sarcastically. Lacking anything better to do, she grabbed a pen and made a checkmark beside the notation. She set the paper in her pile of things to be looked at again. She heard a light knock at the door and glanced over, surprised.
"Hey Max. I should have known you’d be here."
Chapter Ten
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