Fiction OtL- Chapter Eleven

Title: Only The Lonely

Chapter Title: Life In The Dark

Author: Restive Nature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Dark Angel. They belong to Cameron/ Eglee. No infringement is intended and this fiction is for private enjoyment only.

Rating: NC-17

Genre: Fan Fiction

Type: Romance, Humor

Pairing: Max/ Alec

Summary: A remake of the "Pretty Woman" movie, with Max and Alec in the lead roles.

Spoilers/ Time line: This takes place pre-series. Due to the nature of the fiction, some information will be different, butt should not overly affect the fiction.

Feedback: Always welcome!

Distribution: Ask first please.

Chapter Eleven

Life In The Dark

494 followed after Max as she unlocked the door to their suite. He trailed along watching as she left her purse and fancy little dress jacket on the side table after she had carefully removed his tuxedo coat from around her shoulders. Her carefully up swept hairdo was starting to slip and tumble down, but to his slightly jaded eyes, it made her look all the more sexy. He slipped up behind her, catching her bare shoulders with his hands, where they curled slightly inward and gently pulled her back against his chest.

He leaned slightly lower, to whisper in her ear, “you're all sorts of amazing, did you know that?” he chuckled when her head turned and she gave him a puzzled look, mixed with what he hoped was a fond smile.

“And just what is so amazing about me?” she rolled her eyes slightly and shook her head.

“There are too many things to list,” 494 sighed, which was true and there were things he was thinking of that he simply, for her sanity and more importantly, her life, he couldn't explain. “It just seemed the thing to say.” He shrugged one shoulder and when he felt her shift, let her loose, but she only turned on her heel, not putting any more space between them.

“Well thank you for the compliment then,” she simpered a little, making him smile.

“Huh,” he groaned softly. “You know, I've always thought that compliments were minorly exaggerated grains of truth meant to flatter and ingratiate. So that wasn't a compliment honey. That was one hundred percent truth.”

“Oh,” she spoke so softly, as if he had taken her by surprise. But 494 wasn't about to rescind the statement, though he did recognize that they had already moved well beyond the normal relationship between a hooker and her john. But he liked the thought of that too. And despite what she may have thought, the way her teeth had captured her lower lip and were worrying it slightly, that he hadn't told her that, just to be fishing for pretty words in return. He had wanted to say it, the opportunity for it without censure and potential damage from other sources was null, so he did so.

“Come on,” he urged, reaching for her hand. He didn't have to tug at her, which pleased him and he led her to the lusciously appointed bathroom. He stripped his shirt and bow tie quickly and once it had been thrown to the side, he reached into the shower to turn it on, quickly adjusting the temperature so it wasn't too hot. He turned back to see that Max had cottoned on to his idea immediately and was removing the pins from her hair and tossing them onto the counter nearby. Once accomplished, she lifted the mass of curls and pivoted on her heel.

“Could you get my zipper please?” she asked gently and 494 complied, lowering it just as slowly as he had earlier. She left her hands where they were and the dress succumbed to gravity. 494 felt a wolfish smile curving his lips as her nearly naked form was revealed and he had to hold back the urge to bend her over right there. Not, he was sure, that she would mind. She had already shown and proven that she was up for whatever he wanted. But what he actually had in mind was just allowing them to relax a little from the roles that they had been playing, his as well, though she wasn't to know that. To that end, he busied himself with unhooking his trousers and removing them, his boxers, shoes and socks. He kicked them out of the way, while Max used the small stool provided for the vanity table type counter, to deftly roll off her stockings. She placed these carefully on the counter where they were joined by her garter belt.

He hadn't realized, 494 decided, until that moment, that for the most part, how well she looked after things. It was just another facet of her personality that he liked. She was so very conscientious about things that it had seemed to become second nature to her. He turned to check the water once more and finding the heat to his liking, climbed in. He expected Max to be right behind him, but found, peeking out of the curtain, that she was rummaging through some shelves.

“You coming?” he asked, amused.

“Not at the moment,” she chuckled, “but I expect I will be soon.”

He laughed outright at her double entendre. “I expect so too,” he rejoined and then turned to step fully under the spray, enjoying again, the large stall that allowed him to move his full height under the shower spray without having to duck, like back at Manticore. After just a moment more, she stepped into the back of the stall, settling something in the niche in the wall and 494 glanced over to see what she had grabbed. There were several bottles and he squinted through the water that was making rivulet paths down his forehead and cheeks, dripping from his eyelashes to see body wash and some shampoo and conditioner. Knowing again from previous missions with females that this stuff was considered necessary, he said nothing.

Max had also produced, rather than a washcloth, a white poofy thing that 494 wasn't familiar with. But as she reached around him to wet the poofy thing, he caught her arms and smirked down at her. She grinned widely up at him and squirmed to free one arm. He allowed it and she reached back, glancing over her shoulder at the selection before choosing one. She flipped the cap open and brought it up close to his nose. She didn't shove it at him, which he appreciated, given how sensitive his nose was. He obligingly took a sniff at it, and then his eyes widened and he leaned in a little closer.

“That's nice,” he offered simply. “I like that.” And he truly did. It smelled fresh, like the ocean stirred up after a storm, but clear and bracing. Like when you were truly out at sea instead of the shore, littered with the flotsam and jetsam that always appeared where humans dwelled.

Max smiled and nodded, bringing it to her own nose and inhaling deeply. “One of the little shops we hit the other day,” she offered as she then brought the bottle around him and as he checked over his shoulder, found her pouring a generous dollop onto the white poof. “They had this line of his and hers body washes. There were a lot of nice ones, but they mostly seemed just too... fruity? I guess. Anyway, I thought this one was nice for you, so I grabbed it.”

“All right,” 494 nodded. She had recapped the bottle and had settled it back. He let her loose, at least the trapping of her arms, but he didn't move further than that. But she seemed content in her position as she soon began swiping the poof and it wasn't as scratchy as he'd expect it to be, over his back. It felt good and the low groan that escaped his lips must have encouraged her.

In moments that were sensual and sweet all wrapped together, Max proceeded to wash him off. 494 would have thought that she, being the professional she thoroughly was in some moments, would have paid more attention to some more... prominent areas than others, but it all held the same level of absorption for her. And he was enjoying it. There was no rush and he had intended to be the one doing this for her. When she had rinsed him clear, he deftly changed their positions and moved her back into the spray gently. He moved slowly because he had found, to his young dismay, that another girl, some ordinary that he couldn't care to remember her name, that she had panicked when the water suddenly hit her face without warning. But Max appeared to have no problems with it, tilting her head back and allowing the water to cascade where it would. Once she had sluiced it back from her face, drenching her hair and letting it hang away from her clear features, 494 reached for the shampoo she had brought with her. He held it up for her nod of approval and then motioned for her to turn around. She did so and he began the process of cleaning the product out of her hair that had been necessary for it's arrangement earlier.

He found himself enjoying being on the giving end of this procedure. The sounds she was producing went straight to his already throbbing groin and when he turned his attention to utilizing the special body wash that she had purchased, he quickly forewent using the special applicator and used his hands instead. He could see how she enjoyed it, his fingers pressing into muscle groups that eased of their tension under his ministrations. She was enjoying it so fully, sounding so natural that it turned 494 on that much more.

But at the same time, he found that prolonging this time, this moment, was an enticing proposition. Hovering on the edge, the verge was not something he was attuned with. There had never been time to wait. Time to take time and let things blossom on their own. But he had that time now and was enough of an hedonist that he wanted to give it a try. Therefore, he was quite willing to deny himself this small moment of gratification, to see a larger payoff later. That's what his brain urged for, at least.

Once he had allowed the soap to rinse away from her body, from his hands and the water was running clean, 494 couldn't resist nosing along the skin of her collarbone. The scent was so fresh and appealing and suited her beautifully and the fact that it momentarily, minorly matched the scent of his own skin locked into a primal part of his brain that made everything feel right to him. The scent of her was ingrained in him and he knew that it would be a long time before his body forgot. No matter what else Manticore might take from him, it would not be able to take that from him and it reassured 494 just that little bit that he was able to push the old alma mater from his thoughts and concentrate on her satisfied sounding giggles.

“I take it this was a good purchase?” she teased.

“Very nice,” he agreed, reaching for the taps after turning the shower head aside slightly.

“Hmm,” she murmured, “I wonder what you'll think of the bath oils then.”

“Bath oils?” he repeated, glancing back at her, cocking one eyebrow, trying not to appear annoyed. Baths were... not really his thing.

“Yeah,” she nodded enthusiastically. “Nice hot water to luxuriate in, some candles, wine, relaxing scents. It's a whole experience, especially when you share.”

“That does sound nice,” 494 chuckled, stepping out of the stall onto the bath mat on the floor. He'd never realized that simply lying about in heated water that wasn't a hot tub could be classified as an experience. But if she said so... He reached for a towel to wrap around his waist, more to catch stray moisture dripping from his body, than for any modesty. He grabbed another, larger one and gestured to her to come to him. She did so with alacrity and he smiled, pleased as he wrapped the fluffy, soft towel around her, trapping her in close to him. She wiggled a little, but was moving against him, instead of away and he just moved one arm to further capture her.

“Maybe we'll get a chance...” she murmured, but was distracted by his lips and tongue following the trail of moisture trickling between her breasts. Again the possibilities that lay out before them, before their time was done and he returned to Manticore and she to the streets of Seattle rushed through his mind and 494,

“Alec?” she whimpered as his lips hovered near the peak of one pert nipple. He smiled against her skin. For her he was more.

Eager to share that with her, even if he couldn't explain it, he leaned over to catch up her legs, lifting her high in his arms as she giggled with abandon. She reached to open the bathroom door for him and he moved swiftly to the bedroom. Their bed was already turned down and when Max saw his quirking eyebrow she explained.

“A coupe dollars extra, but when we're scheduled to be gone each night, it's nice.”

“It is,” Alec agreed. He settled her on the bed before whipping his towel to the side and climbing in after her as she wriggled and scooted closer to the center to make room for him. “So,” he sighed, content, but feeling just a little bit playful, “I think we left off earlier,” he pushed her towel covering aside and Max pushed herself up on her elbows to watch the progress as his head moved lower. When he was hovering over her lower abdomen, he grinned up at her. “Right about here?”

“I thought we finished,” she smirked. “Or at least I did. But an encore is good.” She winked at him and with a pleased chuckled, Alec pressed a slow slide of lips across her still damp skin.

*****

“Can I ask you something?” Alec asked softly. He was watching the play of her thoughts in her eyes, heavy lidded and sated, though with just one lamp burning in the room, there wasn't much light. After he had worked her body, playing her responses to his tune and his only, he had donned protection and slid into her, happy that she had wrapped her arms and legs around him, even as boneless as she had seemed. Their sexual contact was slow and languorous and a completely different animal than what it had been before. As Alec had suspected, it was intensely satisfying and on more levels than he had appreciated before.

“What's that?” she murmured.

They were laying on their sides, on their respective sides of the bed, but facing one another. Alec had found that her liked watching her like this, when the lights were low and the defenses she had, ones that he understood, since he had them himself, were gentler, not so glaring.

“I guess,” he hesitated, not because he didn't care, but because he worried how she might take his quest for information. “I guess I wondered how it is... what it was that... brought you to this life?”

She didn't seem to take it badly, though her eyes did get a little darker, a little sadder. There was a moment that her lips trembled and then she smiled softly. “You're not the first to wonder. Probably won't be the last. I wonder some times myself.”

“Sorry,” he uttered. “I know, it's not my business. It's just, I can't imagine someone waking up and deciding that this is the life they want.”

“I didn't,” she confirmed and Alec reached for the hand that lay between them, squeezing it gently. “You know I lost my family when I was young?”

He nodded, encouraging. He would listen to anything, whether it was about her profession, her family, whatever.

“It was the Pulse,” she offered, with a heavy swallow and he winced. He could only imagine the devastation that the electromagnetic bomb had created. Manticore had remained solid, for the most part, but it was government. They had ways and means of putting themselves first, for the “good” of the people they served. “I ended up being passed around from foster home to foster home, when authorities finally realized that I was on my own.”

“Was it a lack of money, or something else?” he asked leadingly.

“A bit of both, I think,” she smirked for a moment. “Either they couldn't afford to keep me when payments weren't comin' in regular from the government, or my smart mouth was too much for them to worry about. I was... a problem child.” The intonation of those words told him that it was probably something she had heard often. Probably with bad inflections and he had to work a moment to push aside his own insecurities that Manticore psy-ops had worked to instill in him.

“So what changed?” he asked gently, stroking his fingers over hers. She seemed to do better when he was touching her, he realized. A common human condition, and maybe not so foreign to a transgenic either, since he had noted the relaxation he was able to find under her fingers and not just in relation to sex.

“There was this one family,” Max spoke, wetting her lips thoroughly and Alec could see that it still bothered her, to this day. He waited and her eyes lowered, staring at their now connected fingers on the bed between them. He felt the movement as her knees came up just a little and he recognized the movement towards fetal position, a protective position and he shifted his hips to move closer, providing more contact with his legs. She relaxed marginally and bit at her lip. “Lucy, their daughter, was wonderful. Everything a big sister could be. But...”

“But?” he repeated, waiting.

“Her father,” she sighed and brought her eyes up and he could see the clarity in them. “He liked to drink. He liked to hit. And he liked little girls.”

Alec swallowed heavily. He knew about this. He had learned about these abnormal humans that were perverted, criminally insane and the bottom of the barrel in morals. But until now, he had never encountered another being that had endured. He had to breath deeply, center himself, stay calm, but Max seemed to recognize instantly what was passing through his mind.

“It never happened to me,” she explained quickly, though her words were careful. “Lucy always protected me. He smacked me around a bit, but...”

Alec let out a breath, relieved, even though he knew it would be short lived. “So you knew what was going on?” he prompted, wincing that a child, a normal little girl would know this. It disgusted him on a level that he hadn't realized he carried. A code of some morals that had developed somewhere. Definitely not from Manticore. There were some things, aside from the evils he had been taught, had already perpetrated, that were just wrong. And child molestation was about at the top of the list for him.

“Finally, one night,” Max sighed, her eyes dropping again and he felt the strength of her fingers squeezing at his, surprising, the will of steel that she had, transmuted through her body. But he ignored that thought, focusing on her, what she was telling him. “He knocked me around pretty good. I was hurt and he came and got Lucy. He didn't seem...” her face twisted and when she spoke again, it was like she was choking on the words. “I heard him say... she was getting too old for him. I knew...”

Alec knew too. “What did you do baby?” he asked gently, his legs sliding against hers as his other hand reached to brush the tendril of hair that had dried in curls, away from her cheek.

“I ran,” she admitted and he could see the pain, the disappointment written so clearly over her face. “I saved myself and I left Lucy with that monster.” It was better than he could have expected, but it was still horrible to contemplate. Alec simply pressed a kiss to her forehead, hoping that she would understand what he couldn't say. And she seemed to.

It took a little while for her to speak again, but he waited patiently.

“I took off and learned how to avoid authorities,” she mused. “Finally ended up in San Francisco and, well, being a kid still, couldn't really be hired for anything. That's when Marie found me. Older woman,” she explained before he could ask. “She was on the move, heading up to LA. I was sick and she took care of me.”

“Sick how?”

“Well, foraging for food wasn't getting the best results,” she sighed and then chuckled. “It was just a cold, but I felt so cruddy. And she had this blanket. It was thick, warm and the colors! The stripes were so bright and vibrant. I loved that blanket.” And then she giggled and Alec recognized the absurdity.

“Blankets are good,” he agreed, remembering how often he'd made do with a thin scrap of material that Manticore deigned to toss in his cell. “I suppose it's normal,” he hedged, “in a situation like that for a child to ascribe importance to an item, rather than the people. Blankets can't hurt, huh?”

She nodded, seeming pleased that he had understood so easily. But he did because it had been the same for him. The few items that he had had, never failed him. It was the people, the trainer's, the guards, the scientists that took his things when they couldn't just take him.

“Anyhow, Marie and I got to LA and I had recovered, of course,” Max went on. “She told me that I had to help out, earn money.”

“So she's the one...?” he started to ask, but Max shook her head.

“I was still young,” she explained. “I was panhandling. But LA was...” She screwed up her face. “It was a big place, there were a lot of riots still and we found pretty quickly that an old woman and a kid were prime targets. So Marie found us a gang to join.”

“You were in a gang?” Alec was slightly disbelieving, only because of the disparity of the ideas.

“I was,” Max giggled in confirmation.

And Alec smiled to hear the sound. She continued on with her story. “Moody, the leader of the gang that Marie wanted to join, thought that I was cute enough to make good money panhandling. And that was fine. But I was growing up, you know?” She lifted her free shoulder in a Gallic gesture and Alec nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. She, a young girl was developing and at some point it would of course make itself obvious.

“So this Moody?” he began and Max nodded.

“When I was fifteen,” she moistened her lips and lowered her eyes. Alec wanted to reach out and lift her chin, but he knew that it probably wouldn't be a welcome gesture at this time. “Moody called me into what passed for his office and told me that he had noticed that the boys were noticing me.” Alec nodded slowly. “I knew what he wanted. That he wanted me to join Skinny Marie on the streets.” She frowned and then quickly said, “that's what we called the other Marie. My Marie was pretty... large.” Alec didn't say anything, since there wasn't comment that needed to be made.

“I fought against it, at first,” Max continued, heaving a deep breath. “But when I was getting more propositions than money in my hat,” she groaned, “I kinda stated reconsidering.” Alec knew, he could see that there was more to it than that. This time his finger did make it's way under her chin, but instead of forcing her to face him, he just stroked gently. “He threatened Marie. My Marie. Told me that if I didn't start hookin', then he'd throw her out, leave her to the mercy of some chick that was lookin' for revenge for Marie stealin' her clientèle. She was a fortune reader. Some hokey gypsy type. But she was pretty good at her con.”

Alec smiled softly. He could just imagine. And from what he knew and sort of guessed about Max, who had so little in the world that she'd have to fight tooth and nail to protect it, that wouldn't have sat well with her. “So you gave it up to protect your friend?” he clarified gently and Max nodded shakily.

“It wasn't... so bad,” Max hedged. There was no way that Alexander would ever really understand just how bad that night had been. It had coincided with her first true heat cycle. She had been climbing the walls, not understanding what was driving her. When she'd realized the time and had gone out to the streets with her ploy ready, Moody's threats ringing in her ears, torn between strangling the old man and jumping him in a thoroughly disgusting manner, it had not been a good combination. The first guy that had come her way, asking how much she had charged, she had grabbed and pulled into an alleyway.

She had given the slob, a drunk and one that didn't care too much for hygiene, her virginity and she could only thank whatever presence of mind that ass had had, that he'd used a condom.

“I suppose that means that it couldn't have been that good either,” Alec commented hesitantly and Max shrugged again.

“It was my first time,” she chuckled morosely. “In an alleyway, with some drunk looking for a good time. He thought I was experienced. I don't even know if he even figured it out. When he was done, he just zipped up, threw some money at my feet and wandered off.”

“God,” Alec ground out softly, stroking her hair as he contemplated that. Max remembered how she'd stared at the few tens at her feet, blood making a rivulet down her bare leg, finally dripping on the money before she realized that it was for her. For services rendered.

“I picked up the money and that was that,” she sighed. But Alec was shaking his head.

“That can't be,” he said and it was like he knew. Just knew that it wasn't the end. “No matter who you are, it's a life changing time and the way you...”

“Yeah,” Max agreed shakily. “I actually...” She moistened her lips again and then got out in a rush. “I actually went back to my little room, at our place and I locked myself in the closet and cried the rest of the night.”

“I don't blame you,” Alec shifted even closer.

“Eventually,” Max continued on, her voice a little stronger now that she had gotten that admission out and experienced no censure over it, “I found I was making more money there than at panhandling. And Moody let me keep some of the money for myself, since I was still doing other odd jobs for him.” She didn't expand on the art heists she had committed for the eclectic leader of their gang.

“Well,” Alec sighed as he managed to slide one arm under her and urge her close, “I think that it was a matter of survival. Your own, Marie's, and you may not think it to look at me, but I know about survival. You did good Max. You're still here, still strong, right?”

“Yeah,” she agreed, tears pricking at her eyes. “And you know, there are some compensations.”

“Like what?” he asked, sensing the seriousness easing. He bit at his lower lip as he waited for her reply. She shifted to roll to her stomach a little and his hand roamed to smooth at the blanket over her hip.

“Like every once in a while, I meet a really great guy that kind of restores my faith that not every single one of the male of the species are complete dumb asses.”

“Oh yeah?” he grinned.

“Uh huh,” Max grinned as well. “Like Ramone. He's got a lot invested in taking care of girls on the street. And then there's you.”

“What about me?” Alec puzzled. “I just offered you a business deal.”

“And all the extras?” Max pointed out. “You could have got me for cheaper, or less time. You certainly didn't have to put me up here and let me share space with you. You listen, actually listen and you treat me like...”

“Like what?” he asked softly.

“Like I matter,” she replied shyly and Alec had to laugh.

“Because you do,” he assured her and when she finally looked back up to him, he took the chance to share just the amount she mattered, pressing her body to him, head to toe and was absurdly pleased when her eyes lit up as proof of his desire for her remained. As it had since seemingly since the moment that she had first climbed into his car.

*****

Alec woke, his body sanguine, his mind only slightly fuzzy. There was a weight on him that took him a moment to realize what it was. The scent of Max's shampoo gave him a good clue. He glanced down, realizing that his arms had realized before his mind had, that she was sleeping on him, in the circle of his arms. Made sense, he chuckled to himself, since she had pretty much collapsed on him after their last bout of sex. They must have just drifted off, amidst all the murmurs of conversation.

Alec had never known himself to actually hold a conversation that didn't have some agenda or motive behind it. Max had said earlier in the evening that he treated her like she mattered. Well, the same could be said for her, he mused. She took in everything he had to say, no matter if it was truth, lie or somewhere in between and retained it, bringing it out for perusal later. She asked for his opinion on things that didn't matter to the mission, hers, obviously. She truly seemed interested in hearing about his life, his likes and dislikes and though it might have been conjecture, he liked sharing it with her.

He shifted just a little under her weight, though it was a welcome warmth and then silently cursed himself as he hear a small noise from her. He stilled, hoping that she'd stay asleep. She needed it, he was sure. As a trained super soldier, he could go for days longer than a normal human without sleep. But he had noticed that she finally had been able to flip her days and nights. Now she was pretty alert all day and more inclined to sleep in his bed when he did.

But his hope was for naught as she was suddenly rubbing her lips over his chest and then sleepily raising her head as puzzlement played through her eyes.

“Hey,” he greeted softly, not wanting her alarmed at her position. She blinked a few times and then that soft, special smile that he loved, graced her face and she moved her arms to push herself up a little. His arms tightened a little.

“Hey,” she returned, just as quietly. “Sorry, this must be uncomfortable.”

“I'm not complaining,” he winked and shifted his hips again. She giggled, her voice a little hoarse, which he attributed to the emotional subject she had shared with him earlier. Alec had been thinking that it was a dangerous line he had walked with her, allowing himself to become just the slightest bit of emotionally invested. But it was a craving that he found he did not know how to deny.

“You won't hear any from me either,” she murmured. Alec tightened his grip and hitched her up his torso and let her take a moment to wiggle about, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder. “This is weird,” she muttered and then sighed.

“Oh, should I...?” he began and trailed off. He didn't want to ask and have her say yes.

“Oh, I didn't mean that,” she nuzzled at his neck. “It's just... I guess you realize that this isn't usually how my gig goes down.”

“Yeah, we covered that,” Alec grinned, turning his head to rest his cheek against her.

“I'm not used to sharing space like this,” she explained. “And the thing is, it's weird that I'm not weirded out about it.”

“It is strange,” Alec smiled widely. How alike their thinking was this night. “I was thinking that earlier.”

“You were?” she sounded slightly amazed and amused at the same time.

“Uh huh,” Alec agreed. “It's like you fit in all the right places. And not just against me, physically.”

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly and they both fell silent. Alec realized that there were on that tightrope again. And one of them had to give, pull back to safety. It wasn't easy.

“So I was wondering,” he began and felt movement, indicating that she was listening. “How did you end up in Seattle? Was there something special that brought you here?”

“Well, nothing specifically, for me,” she hedged, thinking quickly, briefly, of the news blurb that she had seen. The one where she had been able to identify her brother Seth, falling to his death from atop the Seattle Space Needle and her driving need to find out what had happened to him. She sighed and licked at her lips a moment.

“Someone else then?”

“Skinny Marie had family up here,” she explained, though it wasn't by any means the whole story. Realizing that Alec would just keep asking, she gave in easily. “That girl I mentioned? The one that had it in for my Marie?” She felt his rumbling growl of assent. “She got the gang she was with all rumbled up about Moody moving in on their territory. We, Skinny Marie and I were out the night they showed up and torched Mann's.”

“Mann's?” Alec asked, his body stilling. The word was familiar and for the life of him, he couldn't remember where he'd heard it, which shouldn't have been possible. He was an X5 and he didn't forget things. Unless of course... could it have been from that time he had been overseas and Manticore had had to intervene to get the soldier in him back. That was plausible, he decided. Then he realized that he hadn't given Max any explanation of what had bothered him. “I vaguely remember that there was something about...”

“Mann's theater,” she explained quietly. “I guess it was big news when they torched the place,” she admitted. It had been big news to her because her investigation into the fire had shown that it wasn't a gang, as had been reported to media, but a foray by Lydecker to find her. Someone had recognized her, or thought they did and dropped a dime on her, obviously. That was what had convinced her to get gone and the fact that Skinny Marie had family in Seattle and a ride there was a good enough excuse for little Maxie to tag along.

“Yeah,” Alec agreed. “So you took off with Skinny Marie.”

“Like I said, she had family up here,” Max sighed. “Of course, family to Marie, meant whatever guy she had glommed onto that scored her crack or any other drug she could get her hands on.”

“Ouch,” Alec winced. “That doesn't sound good.”

“Mmm,” Max agreed. “The very first night we got to Seattle, Skinny went looking for her ex and a fix. I went looking for her and found her dead, in a dumpster.”

“Jesus,” Alec breathed out raggedly. That had been completely unexpected. He felt Max's shrug.

“I knew her habits,” she explained. “The possibility that this was going to happen sooner or later was always in my mind. And maybe it was a little mercenary of me, but at the time, I was just glad that she had managed to get us to Seattle before she blew.”

“Small favors,” Alec grunted, sounding bemused. Max didn't bother to mention that she'd also scored her Ninja 650 from Marie, that having been the transportation that she'd found. The woman had had absolutely no appreciation for the sweet little machine. “Sounds like you two uh...”

“Got along like cats and dogs,” Max teased, “she obviously being the bitch.” Her own little joke and she tried to smother her laugh until she felt Alec's rumbling chuckled under her cheek. “No,” she finally sighed. “Skinny was pissy with me because I was stealing the clientèle that Moody had set her up with. I think the only reason she let me come along was she was planning on pimping me out to her friends so she could concentrate on gettin' high.”

“Helluva friend,” Alec grunted. “So I take it you weren't sorry to see the last of her.”

“Not really,” Max agreed. “My only problem was that I didn't have a place. Didn't bother me much and I found Kiki almost immediately after I bugged out of that alley.” She glanced up at his shift and saw the question in his eyes. “Cops were coming down, ambulance, someone had called it in before I got there. I took off and a couple blocks over, found Kiki's john roughin' her up. Needless to say, I wasn't too pleased to see that and what with everything else that happened, I sort of, um...”

“Kicked ass?” he teased, but Max had to nod. “Seriously?”

“Broke his nose,” Max began to list, “his wrist and gave him various bumps and bruises. Let's just say that I heard through the grapevine later that he's very careful who he touches for fear that I'd carry out my threat.”

“What was that sweetheart?” the endearment slipped out in a moment of bemusement, but both chose to ignore it.

“That I'd find him, burn his clothes and then hang him from his ankles three stories up so all the world could see what a tiny dick he had,” she explained quickly. And she would have done it too. But Alec, obviously thinking she was exagerating, still found the humor in it, if his harsh barks of laughter were any indication.

“Oh Christ, that's awesome,” he finally gasped, his body still shaking a little.

“Kiki thought so,” Max agreed. “She was so grateful that she offered me a place to stay.”

“That worked out well then, huh?”

“It did,” Max nodded. “We've been looking out for each other ever since.”

“So you didn't go back to a gang or a... pimp?” he asked quietly. Max immediately shook her head.

“We liked bein' our own bosses,” she told him. “Settin' our own times, fees. Plus we got to keep everything we made.”

“But doesn't a... pimp,” there was that hesitation again that told Max that the word was distasteful to him, “afford you a little more protection?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “They might scare off the rivals, but they can't be everywhere at once and most don't really care about what happens, as long as they get their money.”

She felt him nodding. “That's good then. But still, it's a dangerous world out there.”

“It is,” she agreed calmly, wondering why this all seemed to be hitting Alexander now. Surely he had to have known this. But then maybe, she wondered, there was a difference between being aware of something and actually knowing it. And now, Alec was knowing it. It warmed her a little that no matter what their business relationship was, and that was all it could be, he felt something. It was part of what she really liked about him. He was just a little more real to her than the other males in her world. “I'm glad that I've gotten really good at judgin' character.”

“I've noticed that about you,” Alec interjected and Max grinned.

“And we have more in the line of defense than you'd think,” she murmured, thinking of Ramone and the clinic and herself as well.

“Like what?” Alec asked and she wondered how much she could say.

“Well, there's someone,” she offered slowly, “actually, I think it's a group of people that watch out for us girls. And some of the guys, too.” That didn't seem to shock him, so she went on. “They make sure that we get taken care of at the clinic. They circulate information about what johns to watch out for. They take care of the johns that do cause trouble. Kind of a bunch of gold hearted vigilantes,” she murmured, thinking more of Ramone and Angelique, than she did of herself.

“Well thank goodness for that,” Alec sighed. “I'm glad someone's been watching your back Maxie.” He didn't, couldn't tell her that it sounded an awful lot like his unit. There for one another, no matter what was going on, what was happening. If one of them needed, the rest were there.

“Yeah, I'm glad too,” she sighed, luxuriating in the feel of his arms around her, gathering her closer still.

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